The decline of racing

I was considering the idea of racing recently. Not any particular kind of racing, but all kinds of racing: of motorsport, of flat /jump racing, of harness racing, and of greyhound racing. What I thinking was that all these sports appear to be in decline. And I was wondering why I assumed that, and wondered if my impression of decline was a realistic perception.

So I decided to go looking in the recent literature. When it comes to flat and jump racing, "47% of racecourse revenue" in the UK comes from on-course attendees (Buraimo et al., 2021, p. 5883), with 53% coming from gambling (bookies, and winnings-levies  (Buraimo et al., 2021). It appears that, as a society, we have a "growing distaste for using animals for entertainment" (Buraimo et al., 2021, detailing a Florida referendum which "overwhelmingly backed [the] prohibition of greyhound racing" (p. 5894). It is suggested that racing's "sport’s spectator appeal identified here underlines that British racing could become non-sustainable at its present scale" (Buraimo et al., 2021, p. 5895). Ouch. I didn't have the heart to look at harness racing. The sport of kings could well fade to unsustainability in the 21st century, taking greyhound racing with it. 

And speaking of greyhound racing, this is being phased out in the USA, apparently due to distaste about racing dogs, and a fall in gambling revenues following Covid-19. It now is illegal in 40 states (HSUS, 2022) and there are only two US tracks still operating (McEwan & Ananda, 2022). In Australia greyhound racing is only illegal in ACT, with not yet enough public will to shut the industry down. While Tasmaniana have vigorously petitioned their government to halt racing, State government is ignoring the 13,000 signatures. However, statistics such as those showing that of the "97,783 greyhounds bred in NSW over 12 years" nearly 70,000 were euthanised early (McEwan & Ananda, 2022) may make the clamour a roar. 

So what about motorsport? Interestingly, a paper taking the temperature of peak national sports organisations in Sweden, Denmark and Norway noted that motorsport organisations appear to pay lip service only to climate change (Sandvik & Seippel, 2022), with passive, third-person, "non-committal" language used in documenting sustainability goals. Motorsport has issues of rubber pollution, circuit design, noise and other potential pollution which it is trying to 'manage' by explaining, instead of mitigating. Ski sports - where existence is threatened by lower snow falls - is much more active and vocal about climate change (Sandvik & Seippel, 2022). It appears that motorsport may be out of step with society, being "perceived as the most unsustainable sport" (Zdobina, 2022, p. 4, emphasis added). Further, stock car racing is falling in the US due to a range of issues, but it is suggested that fossil fuel consumption, carbon footprint, climate change and noise pollution are four key elements (Jax, 2022), not to mention the industrial deafness on the part of the race drivers enduring noise around 140 decibels for hours on end. Formula 1's transition to Formula E does not seem to be taking off as anticipated, yet the costs of racing have increased hugely with batteries (Borucki, 2017).  It has been suggested that the continued fall is in part due to the lack of free to air coverage of motor racing, and our changing viewing habits (Jax, 2022). Maybe. 

While this has been a short tour through the literature, I think I have convinced myself that my perceived decline in non-mano e mano racing is a reality. As to how long it will take for decline to be irreversible... well, who knows.

Sam

References:

Borucki, W. (2017). How “Green” Is My Green Flag?: Environmental Initiatives in Major Auto Racing Circuits. The International Journal of Sport and Society, 8(3), 25-40. https://doi.org/10.18848/2152-7857/CGP/v08i03/25-40<

Buraimo, B., Coster, N., & Forrest, D. (2021). Spectator demand for the sport of kings. Applied Economics, 53(51), 5883-5897. https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2021.1931010

HSUS. (2022). Greyhound racing FAQ. The Humane Society of the United States. https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/greyhound-racing-faq

Jax, J. (14 April 2022). 9 Unflattering Facts NASCAR Does Not Want You To Know. https://www.hotcars.com/9-unflattering-facts-nascar-does-not-want-you-to-know/

Sandvik, M. R., & Seippel, Ø. (2022). Framing of environmental issues in voluntary sport organizations. Environmental Politics. Advance online publication, 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2022.2075152

McEwan, A., & Ananda, J. (16 June 2022). Greyhound racing: despite waning public support, governments are spending big to keep the industry running. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/greyhound-racing-despite-waning-public-support-governments-are-spending-big-to-keep-the-industry-running-184849

Zdobina, E. (2022). Global warming crosses the line: exploring sports events as a communication tool to address climate change. The case of Russian motorsport fans. [Master's thesis: Hanken School of Economics]. https://helda.helsinki.fi/dhanken/bitstream/handle/10227/486180/Zdobina_Ekaterina.pdf?sequence=1