2025 Kentucky Derby: How the 151-Year-Old Sporting Event and Its Partners Attracted Younger Fans

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A crowd of 147,406 spectators gathered, down from last year’s attendance of 156,710, a decline that’s likely due to the rainstorms that rolled in throughout the day.Photo: Getty ImagesLOUISVILLE, KY.— On May 3, Churchill Downs hosted the 151st running of the Kentucky Derby in Louisville, Ky.
ICYMI: Sovereignty rallied down the stretch and was crowned the winner of the historic Run for the Roses.
The victory was watched by a crowd of 147,406 spectators, down from last year’s attendance of 156,710, a decline that’s likely due to the rainstorms that rolled in throughout the day. However, more fans tuned in at home, with an average of 17.7 million viewers on NBC and Peacock, the largest audience since 1989 and the biggest since NBC took over the rights in 2001. The audience peaked at 21.8 million during the actual Derby race.
In the week leading up to the first Saturday in May, Churchill Downs hosted a full roster of events—the equivalent of six Super Bowls, said Casey Ramage, vice president of marketing and partnerships at Churchill Downs Racetrack.
They included 502'sDay, Thurby, Kentucky Oaks (when fans watch 3-year-old fillies compete), and Winsday, a new event for 2025 that spotlighted Louisville’s nonprofit community.
The racetrack worked with the Community Foundation of Louisville to partner with 50 local nonprofits that were able to sell event tickets as a fundraiser; the organizations received a portion of their ticket sales. In addition, 20 of the 50 charities were drawn at random and paired with one of the 20 horses in the Derby race. The organization that was paired with the winning horse won up to $25,000.
Last year, the venue revealed a $200 million transformation that included new balconies and suites and a reimagined paddock. This year, Churchill Downs announced even more expansion and renovation plans. But during the company's latest quarterly call on April 24, Churchill Downs CEO William C. Carstanjen said there was now a pause on the projects, which involved spending around $900 million to create more premium seating options by the 2028 event. He cited the new tariffs levied by President Donald Trump as one of the reasons for the halt.
Churchill Downs still plans to renovate the sixth-floor space known as The Mansion and the Finish Line Suites in time for next year’s Derby.
This year, the venue renewed its partnership with Ford, making the company the exclusive automotive partner of the Kentucky Derby. Under the agreement, Ford was granted exclusivity in the automotive category along with an expanded footprint with vehicle displays. Ford also gets naming rights to the First Turn Club, a premium hospitality space that overlooks the first turn of the racetrack. The location is now officially called the Ford First Turn Club and features Ford memorabilia.
The auto brand also crafted a mocktail called the Ford Pony Drink, which contained Q Mixers ginger beer, lemon simple syrup, muddled blackberries, and fresh mint, “really leaning into Gen Z and their interest with more nonalcoholic drinks,” Ramage said.
One of the things Churchill Downs is focused on, from a marketing perspective, is growing the brand through globalization, in addition to attracting the Gen Z demographic, she explained.
Which is why Churchill Downs brought on Cygames, a Japanese video game company that hosted a hands-on demo booth on site in the Infield. The booth featured previews of two game titles ahead of their English-language release later this year.
Ramage said that the partnership made sense as there were two Japanese horses running in the Derby, in addition to the race series known as the Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby.
“We really liked the connection with Cygames because their demographic aligns with our Infield, which is 18 to late 20s,” she added.
Keep scrolling to see more from the 2025 Kentucky Derby and the brand activations and parties surrounding the historic event...