Taking a page out of the marketing handbook of Los Angeles Angels baseball team owner Arte Moreno, the Breeders’ Cup has left the name Arcadia off the logo for this year’s two-day event at Santa Anita Park Nov. 2-3. Updated 8 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 1: For that matter, there’s not even any mention of Santa Anita on the primary new logo, though there is an alternate logo that says Santa Anita instead of Los Angeles.
Like Moreno, who changed the name of the Anaheim Angels to the bigger and more advertiser-friendly Los Angeles Angels (of Anaheim) — for which he took a lot of ribbing, Los Angeles is now the only city noted on the Breeders’ Cup logo unveiled this week, with searchlights in the background evoking the glitz of Hollywood.
According to the announcement, “the logo captures the prestige of the Breeders’ Cup with the Hollywood esteem of Los Angeles.”
I suppose this was to be expected when the press conference announcing the decision to stage this year’s Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita was held last year at a hotel in downtown Los Angeles, with L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa being given the primary spotlight.
Both Santa Anita and Breeders’ Cup are targeting a much broader range of customers these days from much further away than the San Gabriel Valley. Ironically, Santa Anita has been advertising its current meet on the electronic billboard at Angel Stadium near the 57 freeway in Anaheim.
More curious is not having Santa Anita mentioned on every version of the logo, since the track is considered one of the finest in the world.
The 29th running of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships will mark the sixth time that Santa Anita will host the event, returning for the first time since back-to-back years in 2008 and 2009. Total purses for the two-day event are more than $25 million.
Tickets for this year’s event are scheduled to go on sale to the general public in early June. Fans may register today at www.breederscup.com/tickets to receive a special pre-sale ticket offer in late May which will allow them to purchase tickets before they go on sale to the general public.
— By Scott Hettrick