How do you go bankrupt running Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga???
[QUOTE=Madeline;2565959]
How do you go bankrupt running Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga?[/QUOTE]
Easily after years of corruption, fraud and waste. Saratoga operates well in the black but the same cannot be said for Belmont and the Big A. Those small turnouts weekdays and very thin weekend crowds - while still having to pay for the infrastructure, staffing, etc - makes for a tough proposition.
Off-track betting is massive but as to how much NYRA has been getting in exchange for the racing signal and the like hasn’t been enough to help right the ship. Again years of bloated staffs and salaries, uncompetitive bidding for service contracts, generous payments and special services to some runners when cutbacks were in order all came back to bite NYRA last year.
This is terribly sad!
I grew up in NY, went to school at PS 108 directly across from the Big A and used to watch morning workouts and catch a race between classes!
Most of my TBs came from either Belmont or Aqueduct. The thought that the Big A might be developed makes me ill. If Belmont is lost, years of history would be destroyed. What a mess.
I remember watching the races on TV on Saturdays…mostly remember seeing Round Table win continually. I’ve been to Belmont many times, most recently for the Breeders Cup in '06. I sincerely hope that NY racing will continue and grow…not be destroyed.
One good thing about Chapter 11 has been that it has afforded the organization more breathing room plus an injection of money from the State - which has resulted in visible investments into Saratoga, for example:
Troy Record July 10, 2007 “NYRA unveils Saratoga improvements”
… more than $1.3 million worth of improvements at America’s most historic track.
Other visible changes are new metal red-and-white awnings above the picnic area’s 37 television monitors, replacing worn canvas versions; a bright red-and-white snow slide atop the grandstand roof and 7,800 square-feet of gleaming new flooring at the trackside breakfast area.
“We didn’t stain it dark, we wanted to save the color of the wood,” Facilities Manager Charles Wheeler said.
For the first time ever, betting terminals will be available in the clubhouse’s fourth-floor restaurant, and just to the right of the main Union Avenue gate, NYRA is setting up a new simulcast facility where races from the United Kingdom will be shown at 9:30 a.m. daily except Tuesdays and Sundays.
Less noticeable, but equally important are renovations to five 1880s-era barns, totaling 90 stalls, and hot water in all public restrooms, a $400,000 state Health Department mandate. Barns that had settled were jacked up more than a foot in some cases, while new walls and floors were put in the 9-foot-by-13-foot stalls.
The 350-acre racecourse property has 220 buildings and NYRA has also taken steps to address environmental issues by installing six test washing areas for horses. Water will drain to a separate collection system instead of going into storm water runoff. If successful, more wash facilities will be installed in the future.
The new copper roof extends the width of the lower clubhouse and part of the grandstand, a $260,000 project. Before it was installed, workers replaced old wooden decking, and scrap copper was sold for $21,000 - one of several money-saving steps Wheeler instituted since joining NYRA last year.
“People are going to go wild,” Hayward said. “This place looks great. It looks better than it has in 10 years. We want to make sure the physical plant remains in tip-top shape.”
As an interesting side point is the discussion of Spa switching to polytrack.
Putting it at Saratoga’s main track might cost $11 million, but maintenance expenses are much less because there’s no need for constant watering and harrowing. Also, artificial surfaces have helped increase field sizes at some tracks, which in turn boosts wagering revenues.
“When you combine that with the savings, it’s a good deal,” Hayward said.
NYRA would first install polytrack at Belmont’s training track and then Aqueduct, followed by Saratoga three to five years from now.
Hints of the Governor making a decision the first week of September with it being likely an operator for the tracks and another for the VLTs. A very poor decision choice …
My guess is that NYRA will retain the track operating rights
Times Union 7-20-07 “Racing franchise could be split”
Gov. Eliot Spitzer revealed today he is entertaining the notion of splitting the state horse racing franchise between two bidders. He expects to decide by Sept. 4.
Ow. This is all starting to hurt my head a little. What a mess.
If I file chapter 11, can I get a new copper roof on my barn and synthetic footing in my ring, too?
Capital Play (the Aussies) are trying to entice the Upstate crowd into backing their support with this dangling treat. Although it makes no sense to have a year-round track in the Capital Region.
Albany Biz Journal Aug 6, 2007
Capital Play, one of four groups vying to run three state thoroughbred tracks, will build a 500-stall, year-round horse training track in the Capital Region if it wins the state racing franchise.
Capital Play announced last month that it had teamed up with Mohegan Sun, a Connecticut tribal casino operator, to run video lottery terminals at Aqueduct as part of the state racing franchise.
O’Farrell said the training facility would ease the current shortage of thoroughbred barns near Saratoga Race Course.
The training facility would include three tracks, one of them would have a surface that would allow the horses to be trained all year.
Capital Play currently is shopping for a 300-acre tract in the region where the training facility could be located. The property also would include housing for about 300 that would include training facility workers as well as visiting horse trainers.
NYRA worked damn hard to put on a good show this last year and clearly NY Governor Spitzer (already tainted with scandal) decided it was best to recommend them to retain operating control of the tracks.
The VLT (Virtual lottery terminal) rights are still open and likely going to someone else.
Also the NY Legislature still has to approve of NYRA reacquiring the rights for for another 30 years but I doubt that will encounter problems.
DRF 9-4-07 “Spitzer to recommend NYRA retain franchise”
“After careful consideration, I concluded that a reconstituted NYRA is the best entity to operate Thoroughbred racing in New York,” Spitzer said in the release. “The state, in consultation with NYRA, will choose an experienced gaming operator to operate the VLT franchise at Aqueduct.”
Spitzer’s recommendation would need to be approved by the state legislature. The Senate’s Committee on Racing, Gaming and Wagering has already scheduled a hearing for Sept. 12 to discuss the franchise.
EDITED to correct my statement regarding the property dispute and saying it was unresolved - it isn’t. Per the press conference this afternoon (from NYRA) as part of the deal:
NYRA vice chairman Jim Heffernan said the end of the land-claims dispute with the state means NYRA is relinquishing its ownership in about $1-billion worth of property at the three tracks. In return, the state is forgiving about $130 million NYRA owes it, including about $30 million provided over the past year.
Bottom line this is good for horse racing in the US
Aqueduct for sale?
HAs anyone heard any more about this? I bet the developers would love to get their grubby hands on that property…I am a NYer and do not want to see that happen but one never knows…
Gov. Spitzer’s plan is not being welcomed “as is”. Per the New York Times (9-12-07):
… during a morning news conference, the Senate majority leader, Joseph L. Bruno, said the governor’s proposal would require changes.
“I can tell you now that what the governor submitted is not going to be the final product,” Mr. Bruno said. The senator, who, like Mr. Spitzer, has ties to other individuals and companies that have sought the state’s horse racing business, also suggested that it was “not appropriate” to deny other bidders a portion of the franchise, which takes in $2.7 billion a year in bets.
The introduction of any other player for anything other then VLT’s is just wrong. It was done before (the 1955 award to a single entity to run the three tracks) and almost ruined racing in the State.
Racing likely to be dark in NY as of Jan 1
AP/Times Union 12-17-07 “Board prepares to take over NY horse racing”
A board appointed by former Gov. George Pataki is preparing to take over New York’s thoroughbred racing on Jan. 1 if closed-door negotiations between Gov. Eliot Spitzer and legislative leaders drag on past a Dec. 31 deadline.
The Non-Profit Racing Association Oversight Board authorized its chairwoman Monday to start negotiating to continue racing at Aqueduct in January, followed potentially by the Belmont and Saratoga race tracks. If NYRA can’t or won’t continue to run racing after its franchise expires at the end of the year, then board Chairwoman Carole Stone is authorized to negotiate with others, including NYRA’s competitors. They are Capital Play, Empire Racing, and Excelsior Racing.
The interim agreement would stay in place until Spitzer and the Legislature agree on a new operator of the tracks for as long as the next 30 years. Spitzer and NYRA already have a formal proposal to do that as part of a deal that includes NYRA relinquishing a claim it owns the race tracks.
The massive rub to this is that the new ‘Oversight Board’ wishing to step in and allow another party to operate racing until the franchise is finally granted is wishful thinking. NYRA has a rather credible claim to the land [see below] and I cannot possibly think they’d allow racing to operate in the interim by another before the franchise is awarded. They’d seek - and I fully believe - get an injunction to stop any racing before it reaches noon on Jan 1.
Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno welcomed the board’s action, but called for immediate public negotiations to resolve the issue and avoid uncertainty in an industry that employs 40,000 people statewide.
State officials, including Spitzer, contend that the state owns the track and NYRA ceases to exist as a legal entity on Jan. 1. But forcing the issue could mean a court would decide NYRA owns the property – worth more than $1 billion – on which it’s run racing and paid taxes since 1955. NYRA says it will seek to enforce its ownership claim if its franchise isn’t continued.
NYRA isn’t taking up an offer for what amounts to an extension, saying it is confident Spitzer and the Legislature will agree to awarding the franchise now.
One spooky comment regarding how long this could be as a shutdown:
NYRA President, Charles Hayward on this ‘gap’ offering to NYRA circumventing a full shutdownl:
“We’d have to be convinced that we’re on our way to somewhere …Because, say we do 90 days from now, if there’s no more progress then on March 15 we’d be doing what we’re doing today. And it would be more detrimental for racing to stop then, right before the Wood Memorial, than it would on January 1."
Sounds like NYRA is prepared to allow racing to stop and use that pressure to force the legislature to stop jerking around and honor the endorcements they were verbally given.
It would appear dark days loom ever closer.
This doesn’t seem real somehow.
BloodHorse 2/13/08 - “NYRA Franchise Deal Approved”
Excerpt
The New York Racing Association will run racing for the next 25 years under legislation approved February 13 that provides hundreds of millions of dollars in direct aid and loan forgiveness to NYRA and new oversight abilities by the state.
The legislation, which stalled for several hours in the Senate due to back-room jockeying on unrelated issues, was approved 92 to 40 in the Assembly and 39 to 17 in the Senate.
Its demise thought certain a year ago when it faced considerable opposition to another franchise, the measure creates a new NYRA, according to Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno.
The legislation, a copy of which was obtained by The Blood-Horse, is part of a package that includes a $105 million bailout by the state of NYRA to help it emerge from its Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and NYRA ending its ownership land claims for the three tracks.
In case anyone is wondering, the NYRA deal does not appear to be in jeopardy despite the impending [read: done deal] resignation of Governor Eliot “Client 9” Spitzer.
The uber powerful Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno - who has hated NYRA - will get more powerful but doesn’t appear to have the ability to unweave this as per say.
As Alan at leftatthegate blog pointed out, interestingly, Client 9 was cutting deals (six separate FBI intercepted calls) between Feb 12th and Feb 13th with the operators of The Emperor’s Club instead of focusing on the matters of it being the date NYRA 's temporary extension set to expire. That deal which went down to the wire and impacted thousands of jobs and folks livelihoods - seemingly was taking a back seat to other more important matters in DC involving Kristen.
Flashback - “Feb 12, 2008 - NYRA Workers Protest at Capitol”
If a new deal isn’t reached, NYRA has threatened to shut down Aqueduct, the only one of its track currently operating.
“I love my job. The thought of losing it makes me sick,” said Lisa Scheppeke, a worker at Aqueduct.
Gov. Spitzer said this morning that negotiations continue and are in the “backstretch.”
No more prophetic words were spoken, save for Eliot’s election campaign theme - "“Day One, Everything Changes” or rather One Day, Everything Changes.
Ah, if only Capital Play had just relied on that classic old standby of supplying hookers and booze they might have won the franchise 
Actually the Spitzer problem may impact NYRA’s emerging from Chapter 11
TB Times 3-11-08 “Racing industry caught in crossfire of Spitzer scandal”
A bankruptcy confirmation hearing is tentatively scheduled for March 19 when NYRA must detail how it will pay off creditors and emerge from Chapter 11 protection. Between now and then, NYRA’s lawyers must work out the settlement agreement with Spitzer administration staff.
Accomplishing this during the next week might be an almost impossible task, however, given the upset that Spitzer’s scandal has caused.
On September 4, Spitzer signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding that awarded a 30-year franchise to NYRA, but Senate Majority leader Joe Bruno (R-Brunswick), who would assume the role of lieutenant governor if Spitzer resigned, balked.
