Just read an interesting article in Horse Journal that the WEG should be discontinued and each discipline go back to having it’s own Championships. Written by someone who has attended many WEGS, so does have some perspective over time.
Basically says now is the time to make such a decision as the 2014 WEG is just completed, so things are fresh in everyone’s mind. They think the problem lies with accomodating the people, not the horses. Extrapolated out the problems that could happen at Bromont as well.
Interesting article. Your thoughts? Discussion?
I have never heard of Horse Journal. Do you have a link?
Author is John Strassburger, former Chronicle publisher.
A lot of different sports have annual championships, World Cups, etc., but once every four years they all come together to become a Games — this is what makes the spectacle, the prestige and brings in the crowds.
Now if the discussion were to be around taking equestrian out of the Olympic Games, I’d be quite agreeable to the suggestion, and making the WEG the prime event.
Part of the problem is that WEGs are godawful expensive and don’t have the TV revenue AFAIk that the Olympics do. Think of the number of cities that were in the mix for 2018 in the beginning that filtered down to just one, then just two.
It’s possible that the WEGs could work with two homes–Aachen and Lexington with an open spot every twelve years for other cities. But the Longine’s contract is going to be a problem with both of those venues.
Strassburger is right. Taking horses out of the Olympics won’t help WEG make money, serve better food/hotels, have better facilities, or cheaper ticket prices.
The reason WEG always has a problem is because it’s a large expensive horse only event, without spectator numbers and TV ratings.
I really enjoyed having all the sports at Kentucky. Even though I did not buy tickets for the other disciplines (others in my party bought last minute tickets to the reining freestyle, which they had never seen and enjoyed), I did watch the other competitors warm up and school; I walked the driving obstacles; I enjoyed the total festival that it was of multiple breeds and disciplines everywhere I looked.
That said, I have to agree that building all this infrastructure for a one-time event makes no sense.
My proposal would be, let’s keep WEG but feel great about rotating it between Kentucky and Aachen, and then any other city that actually has or will build the permanent infrastructure to host it similarly.
Well, maybe, but I realized part way through that he wasn’t at Normandy. Plenty to criticize there but the food was not one of the things I would have targeted. Plenty of good places to eat in the Village, plenty of good restaurants in Caen that you could reach with the Games shuttle. So I’m kind of 
about that comment.
From all I’ve heard about Bromont, choosing that over Lexington is also confusing. It presents one heck of a logistical challenge.
Do the Olympics actually make money? I would think that if FEI could break even, or come close, they would consider it a success.
As a Lexingtonian, I would have loved to have had the 2018 games back here. I really wish it could have happened. I was at both Kentucky and Normandy and I loved both. Logistically, Kentucky was better. Easier to get places, parking, shuttles, better trade fair, ticket prices were cheaper, etc. Normandy was a bit more of a challenge but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
Im puzzled at the bloggers comments on the food in KY. Did he never venture out of the KHP? We have tons of great restaurants and places to eat. Surely he couldnt have eaten all three meals a day at WEG?
I do wonder how the 2018 games will go without the main title sponsor. I dont think people realized just how much Alltech put into the games beyond the initial $10M.
The Bromont choice was made mostly because Rolex has the rights to the big staidum and KHP refused to give it up and WEG would not come up without the Rolex sponsorship of that ring dropped.
Has Alltech definitely given up WEG sponsorship?
[QUOTE=vineyridge;7777880]
Has Alltech definitely given up WEG sponsorship?[/QUOTE]
Yes.
Bromont ought to make a big push for CN sponsorship. They’ve a long record of supporting horse sport.
I have to say after reading JS’s rantings about fox hunting and animal rights groups in COTH magazine years ago I take anything he says with a grain of salt. FINALLY he came to realize that land development is the real arch nemesis of fox hunting. The length of time it took him to get there really made me give him the side eye.
One thing that makes WEG unique is that it’s not just a horse show. Making kind of a festival and commercial exhibit out of it, getting a wide audience from the surrounding area and from all over the world, and siting it in interesting areas makes it interesting enough that folks from all disciplines come to watch and experience it, even if they aren’t particularly invested in some of the disciplines.
Break it down into 7 separate championships and you’re back to 7 horse shows without much broad appeal. No way each of those 7 shows can support a big commercial exhibit or all the demonstrations offered.
My sister and I and our vast enjoyment of vaulting at the WEG are a textbook example of this - no way would I travel to the vaulting world championships, but we did buy tickets and attended many of the vaulting sessions at Normandy because we were there. Same for the driving. I also met quite a few people who experienced reining for the first time and really liked it.
You just can’t get that kind of participation when there’s only one discipline at a show, world championships or not.
I would be sad if they quit offering it. We had a super time in Lexington and Normandy both.
CN stopped sponsoring the CN International 2 (?) years ago at Spruce Meadows and CP took over. I can’t see either taking over sponsoring WEG. There is only so much money in Canada!
I did not realize Altech was out… 
IIRC correctly the LA Olympics in 1984 made money. One contributing factor. often cited for this is that most of the infrastructure was there. Do we see a theme here? The expected traffic jams did not materialize as the city banned certain types of commercial transport during the day. traffic was actually lighter than usual.
Not it sure why John obsessed so much about the food. That’s generally not the driving force for me wanting to attend a horse event. The food at the KHP wasn’t great for the most part. Thus we planned (and smuggled in food of our own) and didn’t eat there much. We had some great meals around Lexington though.
