Once considered one of the biggest events of the year the Kentucky Derby has lost some of its shine. The Derby's date was moved due to the pandemic to Labor Day weekend. This weekend set all time lows for the 146th Kentucky Derby which was moved from May to September.
Now it did have the highest ratings for a sporting event since the NFL Draft for 2020 but it did see a 49% drop from 2019. Peak audience according to Nielsen for 2019 was 18.5 million as opposed to 2020 at 9.8 million.
The Derby will never be the event it once was because Horse Racing has become very niche in the last few decades. Millennials and Zoomers would sooner watch a gaming tournament to a horse race. Horse racing needs to adapt or be prepared to slowly become irrelevant.