The race that no longer stops the nation gets a shake-up
The Melbourne Cup is expected to draw fewer than 85,000 people to Flemington and continue a long-term decline in television ratings, but organisers are responding with a music festival, improved amenities and by letting the punters wear shorts.
The popularity of the race with younger crowds took a blow in 2019 when pop superstar Taylor Swift cancelled her performance after a public outcry from animal rights activists. The Cup was then hit by the pandemic – it was run without crowds in 2020, and just 10,000 people were allowed in 2021.
Crowds at Flemington for the 2019 Melbourne Cup race. Getty Images
Then there was a record low of 73,816 people last year in bad weather. The flood wall around Flemington racecourse, which left nearby homes inundated with water, also did not help the public relations cause.
This year’s Derby Day – now the bigger social day – drew just 73,000 on Saturday. The crowds are a far cry from the 122,000 people who packed the track in 2003. The numbers were still topping 100,000 by 2015.
Television numbers are also waning. Channel 10 reached record low viewers last year, a total of 1.35 million, compared to 1.7 million in 2021, according to OzTAM figures. The audience sat well above 3 million before 2015.
But Victoria Racing Club chief executive Steve Rosich said the 100,000-plus crowds did not provide racegoers with a great experience. This year, the predicted crowd of between 70,000 and 85,000 on a forecast 29-degree day would have more room to move and enjoy improved amenities in the opened-up 10,000-square-metre space, he said.
“There’s nothing like it in Australian sport and entertainment,” Mr Rosich told The Australian Financial Review.
“This year we will surpass our 244,000 attendees that
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