Belmont/NYRA

[girly]

Anyone hear what plans if any the NYC OTB or State of New York have for a payment/loan? The local papers here in Upstate are starting to talk about imminent closure for Belmont-Maybe right after the main event, just to try to save Saratoga. Some people are talking about a lawsuit against the State over the dropped plans for VLTs at Aqueduct....I know it could be posturing, but it\'s all over the papers that NYRA is BROKE.

[joekay]

Good, let them close.  The New York breds can go to Finger Lakes where they belong and the rest of the horses should make for a fantastic Monmouth meeting.

[Boscar Obarra]

I just had a terrible thought.

 That this is the last meeting Belmont ever holds and Rudy Rodriguez goes out as the leading trainer.

 Pass the smelling salts.

[girly]

I don\'t know what\'s so funny about the possible demise of Racing in NY. It\'s hard to imagine Saratoga being affected, but they have closed down 50 State Parks due to a lack of budget.They will have a hard time justifying keeping a gambler\'s pastime alive while State Parks are closed. It\'s hard to imagine the administration voting to subsidize NYRA while deciding on VLTs in Aqueduct has failed for years- They may be facing a lawsuit over it because that is exactly what they agreed to do should a VLT option not be put in place.

[moosepalm]

If I might paraphrase, H. L. Mencken, no one ever went broke underestimating the competence of the NYS legislature.  However, those dependent upon them, will.

[miff]

\"Monmouth, operated by New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, reportedly has been inundated with requests for stalls given the record purse structure\"


Girly,

NY Racing about to become second rate under the stewardship of the clueless Albany politicians/NYRA and their appointed stooges.NY racing czar Sabini still not calling for management to step down at NYRA and board,disgraceful.


Mike

[TGJB]

My understanding is that the primary prblem is that NYRA has been stiffed by OTB, without that there would be no talk of having to close.

[miff]

JB,

definitely part of the problem, otb stiff job.otb in present form a cancer on ny racing.

going forward NYRA salvation was slots, not innovation/creativity, difficult time or not.just look at the coup pulled off by New Jersey while NYRA sleeps and awaits another bailout.

private ownership would be the only salvation for ny racing(will never happen imo). politically appointed stooges must be banished from the ny racing scene.

Mike

[dodie]

Guess my spa vacation will be reminiscent of those 1990\'s meets with the short fields mostly caused by the heavy rain.  Sounds like the only thing that could possibly make Saratoga racing preferable over Monmouth racing this summer will be turf.

[TGJB]

Lots of developments in the industry in the last few days which look like 10 people fighting over 5 seats in a lifeboat.

OTB,fighting for survival, stiffs NYRA, endangering that one.

Churchill (which is not liked-- to put it mildly-- by the rest of the industry) announces it is dropping out of the NTRA, and ends Tracknet-Media, its relationship with Magna. Which means it smells blood in the water and wants to destroy Magna, and anybody else it sees as competition.

Santa Anita (Magna) announces it may not renew Oak Tree\'s lease to run the fall meet at SA (Oak Tree owns the dates, not SA). Probably related, Ron Charles announces he is resigning as president of SA, effective tomorrow. Ron is arguably the best and best liked racing official in the game.

\"We must all hang together, or assuredly we will all hang separately\"-- B. Franklin.

[trackjohn]

As far as my sources tell me this is the current situation:

- NYCOTB owes NYRA between $14 - 17 million in back payments

- NYCOTB is essentially bankrupt and is turning over every political stone to stay open

- As part of NYCOTB\'s \'on-going bankruptcy/restructuring\' the NYS legislature has allowed NYCOTB to reduce their payments to NYRA by an additional $2 million per month (this has been effective for the past 6-8 months, further squeezing NYRA.

- While NYRA\'s Hayward is posturing a bit, NYRA\'s financial situation is serious.  They were counting some of the advance payment of the $200-300 million for Aquaduct\'s VLT\'s franchise to offset the reduced NYCOTB payments and there will be a significant cashflow problem within the next 3-4 weeks, hence the rumors that the Belmont meet will close early to conserve cash to fund the Saratoga meet

  I\'m not a big fan of NYRA, but, given the failed 38 year business plan of NYCOTB (along with the political patronage between OTB/Albany, backroom deals, etc.) NYRA is \'stuck\'.  There have been quite a few meetings being held by the state senators who represent the Saratoga region and to assure that the Saratoga meet will not be affected.  I think that most on this board would agree that if anything happened to the Saratoga meet that it would be the death knell for NY racing.

  My guess is that: 1) Belmont will close 2-3 weeks early; 2) Some emergency plan will be passed by Albany (loans?? more $$$ from OTB to NYRA??) to assure that the Saratoga meet won\'t be affected...After that all bets are off (no pun intended)

John

[miff]

Good money after bad, same old same old!

Paterson Says NYRA Will Get State Bailout
 
State officials in New York have agreed on one point that they will not let the New York Racing Association shut down after the Belmont Stakes (gr. I) or for the Saratoga summer meet.

How exactly the racing group, which is running out of money, will stay afloat is still the sticking point.

\"That’s not going to happen,\" Gov. David Paterson said May 18 of a looming NYRA shutdown.

The NYRA board was told two weeks ago it was running out of money as early as June, in part because the New York City Off-Track Betting Corp., which is in bankruptcy protection, has delayed payments to NYRA and other tracks as it deals with its own cash flow problems. NYRA says NYCOTB owes it $17 billion, and NYRA officials have said they could be forced to shut down the day after the Belmont Stakes.

\"We have a plan to loan NYRA, in the short term, money to get through Saratoga and we’re working on a long-term plan to help them beyond that,\" Paterson said.

The new plan, sources said, involves a direct loan by the state of at least $17 million--which could resolve NYRA’s financial problems through the year.

\"I think they’ll pass it,\" Paterson said of lawmakers and the new bailout plan.

But Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver did not commit to passing the NYRA bill. \"I haven’t seen the bill yet,\" Silver said.

Nor has Assembly Racing Committee chairman Gary Pretlow. But he said he is confident state help for NYRA is on the way. \"We’re not going to let Saratoga fail,\" Pretlow said of the upcoming race meet.

Negotiators are working on an alternative to a $17 million loan plan recently floated by NYRA. That plan failed because, lawyers told NYRA, it would be illegal for bonds to be used for the operating expenses NYRA had planned for the proceeds. Now, a new lending mechanism is being pursued in which the state would still provide a loan to NYRA, which could use the proceeds of this particular lending device for operating expenses.

NYRA officials have said they would not be in the financial trouble now facing the track operator had the state gotten a racino open at Aqueduct. A deal signed by the state several years ago provides that the state will make a good faith effort to help NYRA if it faced financial trouble if the long-delayed Aqueduct casino was not operating by April 2009.

Further, NYRA officials argue that the state--because it now owns NYCOTB--is on the hook for the money owed NYRA by the OTB giant. NYCOTB, in its Chapter 9 bankruptcy filing, acknowledges a $15 million debt to NYRA; officials at NYRA have said that amount has since grown to $17 million.

\"NYRA has a good case for the money,\" Pretlow said. \"OTB is the state and OTB owes NYRA, ergo, the state owes NYRA.\"

Legislators were being briefed on the new borrowing idea on May 18, with hopes of passing a measure when lawmakers return to the Capitol on May 24. One idea is to include the financing as part of an emergency appropriation bill expected to pass that day, part of a weekly exercise lawmakers have been performing since the state began its fiscal year April 1 without a new, 2010 budget in place.

Negotiators, however, have been cautious about getting too many of the details about a NYRA loan package out in public, in part, because the state is facing a $9.2 billion deficit, and a whole range of popular programs are facing sharp budget cuts.

[girly]

That\'s what I mean-it\'s not going to be popular to loan NYRA 17 mil when all the State Parks are shut down and construction projects on hold. But Upstate legislators  aren\'t going to be the blame for Saratoga not having a meet, so maybe they will work something out. It will have to be voted on by the legislature. All will  be revealed, I guess in due course.

[kensharkey]

what do they say willturn this ship around? no slots ....game over

[moosepalm]

Someday, someone will write a book about the VLT saga at Aqueduct, and it will promote mounds of incredulity, except for those of us who have had the misfortune of trying to work with the New York State legislature on just about anything else.  Here are a few tidbits I gleaned from a quick Google search.  I can\'t vouch for accuracy of all:

- Authorization for VLT\'s was passed in 2001, about 6 weeks after 9/11.  Since that time, racinos have been thriving at small tracks throughout New York State, including one operated by the Western Regional OTB at Batavia Downs.  They might be the exception to the \"thriving\" piece, at least at the outset, but if OTB were a bettor, it would find way to lose money on a one-horse race.

- In April of 2003, MGM Mirage was authorized to operate VLT\'s at Aqueduct.  In August 2003, they pulled the plug as the Feds undertook a probe of NYRA.  Nonetheless, there is still a web site informing you that they have begun construction in 2005.  They pulled out, again, in 2007

- In 2008, Delaware North was selected to run the casino.  In 2009, they pulled out.

- In 2010, Aqueduct Entertainment group was selected to run the casino.  Here is where it really gets dicey.  Allegations were made that decisions were made behind closed doors; that two key operatives of AEG were closely connected to NYS political leaders; that Penn National had submitted a bid $100 million above AEG\'s.  As a side note, two of AEG\'s investors included rapper Jay-Z, and political heavyweight, Rev. Floyd Flake, who, at the time had been making serious noise about backing Andrew Cuomo for governor, when Paterson was still in the running.  Of course, the AEG deal fell through when they failed to meet some of the licensing criteria, including providing financial details about some of its investors.

It has taken over nine years for them to get nowhere at all in trying to do something which has been successfully done elsewhere in the state, and other states, including those not necessarily known for legislative competence.  However, there is a big pie to be divided up here, and there are a lot of forks in the hands of downstate NY politicians, who don\'t play well with others, or even among themselves.  Horse racing continues to be the big loser.