How do they make money by capping attendance? People are buying general admission for $12.50 on Ticketmaster and then trying to re-sell on Stub Hub for between $20 and $128.61. NYRA\'s not getting any of that action, are they? Are the people who do attend going to say to themselves, well attendance is capped so I better bet more and buy more food and drink? Say AP comes and without a cap they would have drawn 70,000 - that\'s 20,000 people who\'d pay admission, bet, eat, drink. Without AP, they\'d still get a big crowd, they were well into the high 40\'s last couple of years. So the trade off is the frenzy gets an extra 2,000 or so to get them up to 50, in exchange for losing out on far more than that if AP comes. To me, the cap as a money-making move doesn\'t make sense.
I agree that the Spa gets uncomfortable at anything over 40,000, but I was there for both the 2001 and 2003 Travers, two biggest non-spinner crowds ever, I think. I did have seats, which admittedly makes things easier, but still, those years weren\'t anything like the nightmare that was the 2014 Belmont. You go in to an event like that knowing it\'s going to be packed, a little crazy, and you deal with it. People I know who hate big crowds just stay home on Travers Day every year.
They\'d never consider it, too much planning/creative thinking involved, but opening up the infield would allow them to handle more people.
