A year after horse racing’s biggest event was enveloped in a health scandal that rippled throughout the sport, the 2024 Kentucky Derby posted across-the-board increases in key business metrics reflecting the extent of the recovery thus far. 

Marking a significant contrast from a 2023 event that was marred by seven horse deaths leading up to the race and several more thereafter—ultimately leading to a suspension of operations at Churchill Downs for more than three months and an extended investigation—this year’s event was a massive hit in person, on television, and on betting platforms. Among the foremost results:

• An average audience of 16.7 million on NBC Sports platforms, a 13% boost from a year ago, the race’s best total since 1989, and the network’s most-watched program since the NFL divisional playoffs in January
• A peak viewership figure of 20.1 million, the most for an NBC Sports presentation of the Kentucky Derby
• NBC Sports also announced a rights renewal with Churchill Downs Inc. in which it will continue to air the Kentucky Derby through 2032 
• A Churchill Downs attendance of 156,710, up 4.2% from a year ago and the highest total since 2018, with the famed racetrack debuting a $200 million set of renovations, including a new paddock 
• A series of betting records for the Kentucky Derby: All-sources wagering for the derby day program itself reached a record of $320.5 million, up 11% from last year’s mark that also had been a record. The all-sources handle for the entire derby week also set a record of $446.6 million, up 8% from last year

Mystik Dan, an 18–1 long shot going into the race, won in what was the Kentucky Derby’s first three-horse photo finish since 1947. But even with that drama, the brief duration of that race means that nearly all of the totals still would have happened even if the derby ended in a runaway. 

No Triple Crown Winner?

NBC Sports will now look to take this momentum into its coverage of the Preakness Stakes, scheduled for May 18. Mystik Dan, however, is not yet confirmed for that race, and trainer Kenny McPeek said it will be a “last-minute” decision. 

“Horse racing is contracting around the big days and best meets and that’s a good thing IMO,” posted Mike Mulvihill, president of insights and analytics for Fox Sports, on X. The network will carry the Belmont Stakes in June, and it also stands to benefit from a boost in horse racing. “We’re headed toward a sport that’s smaller, safer, more digital, more event-driven, [with] fewer tracks but better experiences. Embrace it.”

A quarter of a century ago, the Arena Football League was riding so high that the NFL held an option to purchase a majority interest in the league. But the NFL’s move to not exercise that option, two bankruptcies, and years of additional turmoil later, the third attempt of the AFL is showing further issues almost immediately out of the gate. 

Just since the beginning of the revived league’s 2024 schedule April 27, the AFL has faced a litany of problems that once again call the entity’s long-term survival into question. Among them:

• The Iowa Rampage folded after just one game, with team owners Trevor Burnett and Mike Taliaferro blasting league officials for failing to disclose the full costs associated with the reboot. “[Commissioner] Lee Hutton and his team have destroyed not only the revival of the AFL, but they have destroyed the hopes of players all over the U.S.,” the pair said. Hours later, the Rampage players competed in a second game, but the team is no longer listed among the AFL’s franchises.
• The Philadelphia Soul’s initial game, against the Louisiana VooDoo, involved mostly replacement players from the American Arena League 2’s Dallas Falcons in a last-minute switch after coach Pat Pimmel resigned the day before the contest and much of the original roster did not make the trip. 
• The Billings Outlaws changed a Week 2 game against the Oregon Blackbears to one against the Washington Wolfpack due to concerns about unsafe field conditions at The Pavilion in Salem, Ore., including the alleged use of cattle fencing. Nonetheless, the Blackbears went on to host a game there, anyway, on Saturday against the Georgia Force. When asked how that was possible, Outlaws owner Steven Titus said, “Your guess is as good as mine.”
• Even a team fully committed to the league, the Rapid City Marshals, released a statement acknowledging they “expect to see some schedule shuffling in [the] coming weeks]” amid “complexities that have emerged.”
• The NFL Network was due to show 30 AFL games this season in a distribution deal announced in March, but no games were aired and the pact has been terminated, industry sources tell Front Office Sports. Non-payment by the AFL to a production company working with the network initially scuttled the Week 1 broadcasts, but sources said “it became quickly apparent they had much bigger issues that were likely hard to overcome,” leading to a full demise of the agreement. 
• Much of the league that still exists is located in smaller markets such as Salina, Park City, and Dodge City, Kan.; Rapid City, S.D.; Odessa, Texas; and Billings, Mont. 

Titus is now calling on the league’s current leadership, including Hutton, to step down from their roles. 

“Some questions need to be answered sooner rather than later about what’s going on,” Titus told SWX Local Sports.