Forget about "it needs more marketing", or "the
owners haven't done enough" or "have more tournaments"
and other excuses for the decline of the sport. Below are the
real reasons in my opinion of the decline of Jai Alai and why
it will be very tough financially to compete against.
The Florida Lottery started with a single scratch off now it has
dozens of scratch offs and many other games.
De-Regulation of the Pari-Mutuel Industry, every facility could
open year round putting each facility in direct competition with
each other instead of dividing the year into seasons for different
track/frontons
Gambling cruises to nowhere offering full casino games and slots.
Horse, Dog, Jai-Alai betting and Poker brought into the frontons
and directly compete with the 'live' product.
Minimum bet lowered to $1 resulting in getting your pools cut
in half. It used to be a minimum of $2 for quiniela and $3 for
perfecta.
Florida Indian casinos offering poker, bingo and slots (they are
always packed)
The Internet ... poker and other games to gamble on.
No Jai Alai amateur programs whatsoever (except Orlando) to create
new fans. Not even an American team to represent the US in World
Tournaments. Also, it is a very expensive sport to practice, you
have to buy cestas, and pay to repair them, buy helmets, pay for
court rentals etc.
Many more attractions now in Florida, several theme parks, (remember
when it used to be Disney, the Dolphins & The Bucs) NBA, MLB,
NFL teams to take share of the entertainment dollar.
In a business sense, you can easily go broke trying to 'market'
Jai Alai back, and I guess for the pari-mutuel owners the phrase
"if you can't beat them, join them" comes to mind.
