Kentucky Horse Park?
to MILOUTE55 … it’s in geneva next year April 14-18, 2010.
I know, I was just replying to the person who seemed to say that every other year in Europe was more than enough… you can’t compare a country (US) with a continent (Europe)… Most European countries have never hosted the WC and I find it only normal that they get their chances.
Now for those of you who live on the East Coast, the trip back and forth to Europe won’t be much more expensive than the one to Vegas (it won’t even be such a longer flight)… and trust me there are beautiful things to see around Geneva. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Nevada desert and the Vegas parties but there are other things out there…
Oh, and the food in Europe… :yes:… you guys should go just for that…
I actually thought that maybe the Las Vegas venue distracts from the World Cup event. People are so much more likely to spend their time and money at the World Cup if they come strictly for the horse event, but when you toss Las Vegas into the mix you have shows, shopping, attractions, gambling, partying, etc. I thought that there was a far better turn out in the past at events such as the Equine Affair in Ohio. Why not try to organize a future World Cup along with an Equine Affair at a locale such as the Kentucky Horse Park? Maybe throw in the Young Dressage, IHF, and/or IJF finals, too? This is a better deal for sponsors and vendors as there will be a larger spectator draw and it benefits the event coordinators also in that the overhead is shared.
Maybe they should rename the event the Western European or EU Cup. The United States is almost as big in size and population as all of the countries that have hosted the cup put together. If the Cup is always held in the EU, it shouldn’t claim the name World Cup. I know it was held in Kuala Lumpur once, but obviously the FEI doesn’t care about global reach for its jumper program.
While Europe may be a continent, the Cup is only held in Western Europe; and people from all Western European countries have very little distance (comparatively) to travel to spectate.
I hate it’s not going to be in the US, but glad it will not be in Vegas. LV withdrew their bid as they needed to presell 70,000 seats and only sold 65,0000.
And she did bring Judgement (and Onlight) as backups.
You don’t have backups, the horses have to be qualified. She wasn’t going to be coming, but Danny Boy qualified at the last minute. Judgement has been on vacation with Authentic.
Out of curiosity does anyone know how much they charge for seats in Europe for similar events? The nosebleed tickets sold from $45 to $65 per person and went up from there to $1000 per person for the VIP series. Did it ever occur to anyone that perhaps the price was prohibitive?
A trip to Las Vegas is prohibitively expensive for most people. Lodging is high, food is, flights are, it’s just a very expensive place to go. I didn’t even consider it for a second. The time issue is also a problem. You lose a lot of time coming back east, and you’d be a wreck on Monday unless you lived in California. Not everyone can take a lot of time off to go to a horse show.
I think an ideal venue would be Edinburgh, Kentucky Horse Park or Atlanta. Something centrally located a lot of people can get to with a shorter flight, with a lot of different options for lodging and food costs.
Tickets should be cheaper, the cheapest seats are double what most people could pay, kids should get cheaper seats. If you are short 5000 people from breaking even, expensive prices don’t do you much good. They didn’t even come close to break even. You’d be better off having a lower cost, and getting more people in. You’d have twice as many people with lower prices and a centrally located venue.
The stadium is COOL and all that, very Euro and all, but to be honest, most Americans seem to like horse shows to be outside, or at least, in a fairly informal setting where they can get closer and not look so far down, the issue is having facilities that work well in spring and handle a lot of people, which might make a stadium the only option.
Florida is not too bad, there are a lot of cheaper flights there and a variety of accomodation, but Wellington is not exactly a place middle class people go for vacay. It’s expensive.
The smart thing would be to offer cheaper packages that include tickets, lodging and a flight.
And your point is?
I’m perfectly aware of what constitutes a country, and what constitutes a continent, thank you.
Okay, the 2011 & 2013 WC Finals will be held in Europe and Scandinavia, respectively. Happy now? :rolleyes:
It’s possible to get more than one horse qualified. Beezie is listed in the programme as having Danny Boy, Onlight and Judgement. Many of the other riders were listed as riding more than one mount, and several did.
Why are you all so negative ? WorldCup finals will probably be back to North America in 2014.
Don’t you think that this is an acceptable average when you take in consideration that the sport in Europe is much more populair then it is in the USA ?.
Next to this in Europe the risc of having a negative balance in organising such a competition is much smaller, because very often the cities, provinces, or national government is covering the possible negative balance.
The fact that the FEI has degraded the GrandPrix to a competition which is only held to determine the startingplaces for the big finals isn’t also a very good thing for the amount of visitors at the GrandPrix
And last but not least : In Europe you can take your mobile home or caravan, drive for a couple of hours (with 5 or 8 people covering the costs) and watch the whole competition for around US$ 400,=.
Theo
Theo, you forget the problem of the two continents… Europe and Scandinavia!
It really should be held at the KY horse park now that we have the facility.
I loved Las Vegas! That arena is perfect, there isn’t a bad seat in the house. I don’t think you could get the same musical quality outside. Ok, it was a bit on the LOUD side, but I still prefer it to outside.
It is also nice to have so many other non-horsey things to do. The shopping (away from Thomas & Mack) was fabulous, and so many great restaurants and shows.
My only wish would be that the warm up arena was accessible to the public. Watching 15 minutes of each rider come into the main arena doesn’t count. I was also disappointed to have only two days of competition. We bought the 4 day package, and two of those days weren’t even competition! That was really the only thing I thought was a a rip off. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the young horse stuff and thought the Pas de Deux was fun, but it wasn’t worth $85!!!
The double World Cup Finals–dressage and show jumping-- will be back at Las Vegas in 2014 barring unforeseen circumstances.
Robert Ridland made this announcement at the last press conference at World Cup.
you don’t really get my point… ok, I’ll try to say it another way:
the United States = 4% of the world population
the Unites States has been organizing World Cup almost 50% of the time… and some people seem to say here that it is unfair that the Cup is going away for a while!
You really want things to be fair? Then the US would get it 4% of the time…
But the United States = a FAR greater percentage of the world’s population that has a major interest in equestrian sport.
That said, of course Europe has had the major championships the most; it is up to the rest of the world to produce a culture and a foundation and sponsorship and general business-sport atmosphere that allows anyone to successfully put on a major competition.,
Just think back to the championships that were supposed to be in South America and also in Russia and both times, a European venue stepped in at the last moment when finances fell through in the original countries.
Dressage is much more popular in Europe than in US. There are more people who are used to pay $ to watch dressage in Europe. (Even at the smaller shows) Here in US, the concept is still fairly new. Just look at any US dressage shows.
That brings me to the point that I wonder if some even consider? World Cup is not a US created event. US didn’t work hard to nurse it to its current supper popular state and made the start up investment in creation of this event. Many other countries did for many years. US come to it when already only a name of World Cup will automatically bring $.
If US really wants to have a supper-star dressage event, US can make an investment and create its own supper-star dressage event that can potentially bring dressage mega stars from all over the world. Currently US doesn’t have, didn’t create so far, anything even close to World Cup in size, prize and star value. Yes, that will take lots of start up investment and will take time, but this is what other countries had to do to nurse World Cup to the current state.
If we have a venue, if we have $, if we have the support of sponsors and audience: why not create a new US dressage event in Las Vegas the size and quality of the World Cup? Some posters make it sound quite easy to do 
The World Cup is an indoor event, so it does need an indoor venue.
I went the very first year, and it was a really wonderful time. I would have loved to go this year, but it was not in the cards. With the financial situation as it is, I imagine many people didn’t feel that this was the most important use of their money right now. It’s possible they’re also getting some mild competition from the WEG in Kentucky in 2010.
I am glad to hear it will be back in 2014. I will put it on my calendar.
I was struck by the fact that both winners were Californians. I’ve been wondering if that makes it more or less likely Las Vegas will get it again… 
Amen Dressage Art :yes:
