And with the Tour de France now paywalled as a live event, ever more of the non-footballing sporting world becomes available only to those rich enough to be interested. It’s quite depressing how much football’s financial dominance has sucked everything down with it
And that needs some urgent and radical work to ensure it doesn't become a fig leaf for the most lucrative sports that allows them to give away coverage the can comfortably afford not to monetise.
On the point of success stories for British sport: Royal Ascot. Competitors, both human and equine, from all over the world. Behind the flummery and nonsense of going racing in a morning coat, it mixed people at all levels of the wealth scale wanting to race their horses in Britain. And the head of state attended all five days. I know he owns the place.
It's a range of things. There's the prestige, the history. It's world-class sport that the leading players from all over the world want to be part of. Ascot works hard at bigging up the social side of things and how different the experience is from a regular day at the races, but the quality of the sport is what it's all about. The dress requirements and the presence of the Royal Family make it unique, too. I’m guessing many people believe everyone has to wear morning dress to go, which isn't true. That either puts people off or make others make the effort.
You only need to look at all the football content on this platform to realise just how ridiculously dominant football has become. The decline of athletics coverage, for example, in main stream media is depressing and not very healthy.
What about my beloved Leinster winning back to back URC Championships 🤣🤣
And with the Tour de France now paywalled as a live event, ever more of the non-footballing sporting world becomes available only to those rich enough to be interested. It’s quite depressing how much football’s financial dominance has sucked everything down with it
There will soon be little free to air sport beyond the protected Crown Jewels events I fear
And that needs some urgent and radical work to ensure it doesn't become a fig leaf for the most lucrative sports that allows them to give away coverage the can comfortably afford not to monetise.
On the point of success stories for British sport: Royal Ascot. Competitors, both human and equine, from all over the world. Behind the flummery and nonsense of going racing in a morning coat, it mixed people at all levels of the wealth scale wanting to race their horses in Britain. And the head of state attended all five days. I know he owns the place.
What is it about Ascot that it is succeeding where so many other racing festivals aren’t Ralph?
It's a range of things. There's the prestige, the history. It's world-class sport that the leading players from all over the world want to be part of. Ascot works hard at bigging up the social side of things and how different the experience is from a regular day at the races, but the quality of the sport is what it's all about. The dress requirements and the presence of the Royal Family make it unique, too. I’m guessing many people believe everyone has to wear morning dress to go, which isn't true. That either puts people off or make others make the effort.
You only need to look at all the football content on this platform to realise just how ridiculously dominant football has become. The decline of athletics coverage, for example, in main stream media is depressing and not very healthy.
Completely agree re athletics Duncan