Category Archives: Racing

Marathon Races

Posted on by

By way of tipping our hat to one of our own who ran a half marathon over the weekend past, today’s market size report is all about marathon races run in the United States. While still an elite group, marathon running has been gaining in popularity over the last two decades and the number of races has been growing steadily.

Congratulations, Bob!

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2000 and 2011
Market size: Marathon races, 300 and 720 respectively
Market size: Number of runners who finished a marathon: 353,000 and 518,000 respectively
Source: Running USA’s Annual Marathon Report, February 26, 2012, available online here.
Original source: Running USA
Now, how shall we categorize this entry… hmm…?
Posted on June 4, 2012

Commercial Casinos

Posted on by

According to a report put out by the American Gaming Association the commercial casino business in the United States, in 2010, employed 340,564 people and paid $7.59 billion in direct gaming taxes. Commercial casinos as a category include Tribal Casinos as well as privately held land-based casinos, river-based casinos and horse racing tracks which are now referred to in the industry as racetrack casinos. While the industry saw year-over-year revenue declines in 2008 and 2009, by 2010 it was recovering.

Today’s market size is the gross gaming revenue earned in the United States by all commercial casinos. By way of comparison, it is worth noting that total commercial casino revenues in 2008 equaled 67.2% of total lottery ticket sales by all government entities ($53.7 billion). Gaming is quite a big business…

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2002, 2007 (peak year) and 2010
Market size: $28.07, $37.52 and $34.60 billion respectively
Source: “U.S. Commerical Casino Revenue Shows Slight Improvement in 2010,” Casino Journal, June 7, 2011, BNP Media, available online here.
Original source: American Gaming Association
Posted on September 19, 2011

NASCAR Attendance

Posted on by

The first decade of this century has been one of great change for auto racing, the sport we call NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing). TV audience ratings have been falling and despite ticket price reductions, so has attendance at NASCAR races since peaking in 2006. The struggles of the auto industry in general may be part of the pall which seems to have fallen upon this sport. Some people blame changes made to increase the safety of the vehicles after the death of one of the sports’ most recognizable drivers, Dale Earnhardt Jr., during a race in 2001 for the declines in NASCAR audiences. Others suspect the recession is having a harder impact on fans of NASCAR than it is on fans of other sports. Whatever the cause, the sport is, for now, in decline.

Today’s market size is the estimated attendance at NASCAR races in the United States for the 2006 and 2010 seasons.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2006 and 2010
Market size: 4.6 and 3.6 million respectively
Source: Nate Ryan, “Action on Track Isn’t Helping NASCAR Attendance, Ratings,” USA Today, February 18, 2011, page 2A.
Original source: NASCAR estimates