Today I was thinking as most days how do we grow Polo, I decided we need something and all the smart people have an answer but it has never worked for 20 + years. WHY ? Is it because it is a game ? Maybe because when you look at other sports maybe it is the same tennis gets Tennis players for fans boxing gets boxers for fans or want a bees , Golf does better but I read there are 50 million golfers in the US alone and they do get 1% watching. WHY this is what I want to know? It is not that simple why people do not support sports , look at LA supposed to be around 37 million people in the general LA area and they support no NFL teams around 20 thousand at Lakers and do not sell out anymore at Dodgers or Angels . WHY ? San Francisco at less than 15 million have 6 teams two in each making money and rarely winning the Giants were the first in a decade .I am sure it is all press and I think press is stories good or bad and I think POLO needs Press. Not from me but real press I know they say no one reads the paper but then print gas is 3 bucks some where in Ca. and only print it and see who all is in line. We need stories of People in Polo and a gimmick of some kind to make them come . Last year the arrival of A. Cambiaso filled the house when he played it should be even better this year we have 3 of the 10 goal players here Sapo Casset and Gonzalo Pieres jr. but will it make a difference? On the Polo field it is game time as in the UK at the Queens Cup I think there are just two more places open for the Quarters as 1870,Dubai,Bama,Zacara are all in for sure and today and tomorrow will finish the field . Out west it is Grants Farm and Andy Busch going for their second title of the season as they take on Geof Palmer and Antelope so it should be a fun day for POLO.
see ya
Polo should rake in crowds because the cost is so cheap to attend. Problems are that there is an illusion to people in general that polo is for “rich people” and nobody else so they don’t support it. I also think that the venue is too large..hard for people that do not understand the sport to follow it from one end of the field to the other.
Then there’s the issue of personalizing the game. Making the players and their ponies, their lives, their grooms etc. part of the background. People LOVE to feel connected. It’s difficult in polo.
Good luck to you Crowder! I too wish it were covered more and made more “real” to more people so they’d come and watch it.
I am in Aiken for three weeks, where you would think the locals would be very educated about polo. Was meeting with a realtor who has been a social member of Aiken Polo Club for years – attends Sunday games, tailgates with a group of friends, etc. Yet she told me that until very recently, in spite of attending close to a 100 polo games, the game was still something of a mystery.
Her firm sponsored a “Connoisseurs of Life” seminar for the locals which featured Justin Pimsner and Adam Snow. She said it was fabulous and only then did she really understand and enjoy the game itself. She says now when she goes to polo she actually enjoys watching the game.
I mentioned that it was the announcers job to educate the spectators. She replied, “Who listens to the announcer? We are all busy socializing.”
For what it is worth …