Hooters Horse Racing Deal Goes Bust

Another year, another horse racing triple crown denied. And so was a sponsorship deal by restaurant chain Hooters. But this year it looked like a blessing in disguise.

Hooters simply wanted to place its logo on the pants of Big Brown jockey Kent Desormeaux for an undisclosed sum. And if Big Brown pulled off horse racing’s first triple crown since 1978, viewers worldwide would see the emblem.

The New York Racing Association denied Hooters the opportunity, stating a “conflict of interest” with a sponsor that did not wish to be identified (imagine that, a sponsor that doesn’t want any publicity…).

Since any amount of money given to the Big Brown team must have been returned, here’s what the chain got for nothing:

· Almost 42,000 Web impressions, according to a Google search of “Hooters ‘Big Brown’,” including 4,000-plus news articles.
· The Hooters girls were already at Belmont Park on Saturday, and had been all week for photo ops.
· Endless on-air mentions of the sponsorship deal during television coverage on ABC-TV.

Something else Hooters got was a saved face. Big Brown tanked at the Belmont Stakes after convincing victories at the Kentucky Derby and Churchill Downs races. Big Brown struggled through the first third of the race, was fading by the second third, and was pulled by Desormeaux with a half a mile left to race.

It was a last-place finish for Big Brown and primary sponsor UPS, which paid for all its publicity. Maybe UPS’s new slogan could be “UPS… Like Big Brown, ultra-reliable until it really, really matters.”