The closure of Wimbledon has led to plenty of introspection about greyhound racing in general. Are we really a shrinking industry, and if so, at what rate? There are various fields that we might study, and here is just one. Open racing.
We looked at the number of open races staged so far this year – up until April 17 – and wondered how it compared with previous years, the last five and then ten years ago. Here is what we found.
The number of open races – 1,218 was indeed down a little on 2016 (1,257) but overall no great decline, though there is a 24% fall over the longer term from the near 1,600 races stages in 2007.
What about win prize money? This is what we found..
The win prize money total of just under £394,000 was also marginally down on last year (£411,000), but overall not too far away. Not surprisingly, given the fewer races, the prize money was nearly £48,000 lower compared to 2007.
The next obvious question is? How does that average out?
Here the news is better, an average of £323 per race, compared to £327 in 2016 and a mere £277 back in 2007.
The final thought must then be – so how would that compare if inflation was taken into account? The news isn’t great – based on 2007 figures, the average winner is receiving £45 less than the £368 that they might have anticipated.
