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USA is certainly increasing their exposure thanks to Fox Sports 2

For only the second time, harness racing will be featured on Fox Sports 2 (FS2) on back-to-back nights. What makes this weekend’s shows unique is for the first time they are originating from two different tracks.

The Meadowlands will kick off the broadcast doubleheader tonight (Sept. 8). On Saturday (Sept. 9), Scioto Downs will make their FS2 debut.

According to the New York Racing Association’s (NYRA) senior director of TV broadcast operations Eric Donovan, a weekend like this would not have been possible without their existing rapport with The Meadowlands president/chief executive officer Jeff Gural.

“If we didn’t have that first year [2021] with The Meadowlands, I don’t think there’s Breeders Crown coverage last year [at Woodbine Mohawk Park],” said Donovan. “I don’t think there’s the general appeal to the industry and then reaching across to the Caesar’s properties and then the Little Brown Jug, and possibly something at Red Mile, too.

“So, yeah, I mean, it all started with that relationship with The Meadowlands and we’re very, very appreciative of all the support we’ve gotten from Jeff and his team, and, I hope we’ve been able to deliver for him.”

Gural had felt for a long time that harness racing belonged on national TV more than just once a year and in 2021 his relationship with NYRA produced a two-hour Meadowlands Pace show on FS2 (detailed here in HRU).

Following the success of that inaugural broadcast, the next month there was a Hambletonian “look in” on FS2 and then three-and-a-half hours of Breeders Crown coverage on Saturday (Oct. 30).

It wasn’t until last year with the Crown from Woodbine Mohawk Park, that the broadcast expanded outside the border of The Meadowlands, opening up a slew of possibilities to NYRA and the rest of industry.

This year, the broadcast offerings broadened even further adding the Dan Patch from Hoosier Park in August to the eight shows — plus a cut-in on Hambletonian Day — already on the schedule with The Meadowlands.


https://harnessracingupdate.com/2023...s-tv-exposure/
It's all how harness is sold. If it's sold as a glamorous, shiny exciting prospect with data and facts to build interest and conversation, then yeh it will fit in perfect on Fox Sports. If it's shown with grainy, dull filmed from 2000m away footage with moths buzzing about then no, it wont gain traction. We will never grow as a sport with the poor quality of footage and poorly lit tracks that we currently have regionally.