Racing Has Some Value

This morning:

Time Inc. looked around for a buyer and finding none, declared that the new owner would be "You"!

— Jack Shafer (@jackshafer) April 28, 2017

How's that for a kick in the teeth. You have a historically important media brand, and no one wants to buy you.

Racing and Time Magazine should have a lot in common - they've been attacked by new outlets, they're old, etc - but they really don't.

Racing's environment is enhanced because of things like i) Pennsylvania looks at taxing online gaming so it never really has a chance and ii ) since being regulated, DFS, which is being taxed quite hard, is bad - I looked at the $300k MLB game today and the takeout is a massive 17.5%. This is about double what it was in the free market.

If the Huffington Post or Drudge were taxed at a high rate, or told they have to only run in 24 states, or told what advertising they could or could not run, or legislated that they had to be behind a paywall, while Time is left to its own devices, Time would be worth something. 

While Time can't sell itself, and online gaming and DFS are being squeezed, racing happily chugs along.

Racing's value lies in data (which it owns), legislation edges (where they are protected), and their regulatory capture.

The sad part of that matrix is, the sport is not doing much with it. Losing 1% or 2% of handle per year is considered growth. Sitting on a data haul with no innovation is considered a business strategy.  With the protection and edge the sport has been afforded, the lack of growth - like the wordsmith the Donald likes to say - is, in my view, "a disaster."

Time Magazine is gone. Most things like Time Magazine are gone, and they're never coming back. Racing on the other hand has ridiculous potential. I just don't think the people in power realize how much.