2002 - Harness Tracks of America, Inc.

HARNESS TRACKS OF AMERICA
Executive Newsletter
A daily fax and e-mail report on racing and gaming developments in North America and beyond
Stanley F. Bergstein, Editor
MORE ON ROSECROFT
More details on the offers for Rosecroft Raceway
have surfaced. Tom Winebrenner, president
of the board of directors of the Cloverleaf Standardbred
Owners Association, which owns the track
and last week announced it would choose one of
three bidders by Oct. 17, told the Baltimore Sun
that the $68 million offer by Magna Entertainment
included $12 million for the track itself, plus capital
improvements, backstretch upgrades and guaranteed
purses for 10 years. Magna guaranteed
purses of $80,000 a day for six years and $55,000
a day for four years after that, with a kicker if the
track gets slot machines. The offers of $49 million
by Greenwood Racing, the parent of Philadelphia
Park, and $47 million by Centaur Racing, part
owner of Hoosier Park, also included guaranteed
purses as part of their packages. Lou Ulman, chairman
of the Maryland Racing Commission, told the
Sun that if Magna is chosen as the successful buyer
and winds up owning Rosecroft and Maryland’s
two thoroughbred tracks -- Pimlico and Laurel --
“it could be very positive or very negative,” and
that the commission would have to evaluate that
situation.
CAN TRACK SLOTS HURT A.C.?
A question that no one thought would ever be asked
is now on the table in New Jersey. It is if slots at
the state’s race tracks would seriously impact the
goose that lays golden eggs in Atlantic City. At
least one legislator thinks not, and stood up and
said so at a meeting of the Assembly Tourism and
Gaming Committee. “In my opinion,” said Assemblyman
John S. Wisniewski, a Middlesex Democrat,
“you’re never going to hurt casinos by putting
slots at tracks.” He noted that slots in Delaware
have not kept people from there from
going to Atlantic City, and thoroughbred
lobbyist Barbara DeMarco Reich told the
committee that Jersey tracks must have that
help to meet out-of-state competition.
September 23, 2002
The committee was told that track attendance in
New Jersey has dropped 30% in the last five years,
and handle has plummeted 35% in that time. Green
space -- acreage devoted to horses -- declined from
120,000 acres 15 years ago to 80,000 in the decade
following.
No casino representatives attended the hearing,
but you can be sure they were burning up the phone
lines, and that they will fight the idea every step of
the way. The very fact that the issue is being discussed,
however, has to be a positive sign.
BIG PLANS FOR THE COMPLEX
“Ambitious” is perhaps the best description of the
plans for the Meadowlands Sports Complex that
were submitted by six developers last week, and
which will be considered by the Sports Authority
between now and the end of the year, when the
winner hopefully will be announced. One observer,
the Bergen county executive, called them “Grandiose
and comprehensive.” They included:
An $815 million proposal by a partnership of Hartz
Mountain Industries and Forest City Ratner for
an Expo Park that would include a convention center,
offices, hotels, and indoor Formula One-style
racing center and an extreme sports center.
Two motor racing themes, one a $451 million hotel
and office complex around a 1.35 mile oval with a
100,000 seat grandstand, and another a $1.5 billion
plan for a Garden State International Speedway,
with stores, entertainment and a rejuvenated
Meadowlands Race Track.
MeadowFest, a $41.5 million shopping and interactive
entertainment center, and Arena Place, a
$989 million urban village. And at $1.2 billion,
Xanadu, with indoor surfing and skiing, a
children’s recreational village, and a luxury
spa. The old block will never look the same.