Be Very Afraid New York race fans

[miff]

STB, your points are scary given the mentality and general ignorance of the ALBANY crowd as to their opinion of the NY Racing Industry. MAGNA\'S control of racing in NY would surely be a disaster to all of us who love the game.

[Wrongly]

Magna is a major threat to racing.  Here in Ohio they have done nothing with Thistledowns.  Purchased over a year ago by Magna, racing has continued to decline.  Shorter fields and small purses, all centered in a terrible neighborhood.  So much could have been done to improve the situtation.  What has Magna done?  Free parking, added self betting machines, and redesigning the central bar.  I would rather pay a dollar for parking if they added security and cleaned up the dump!  It\'s no wonder people travel to WV to wager.

[beyerguy]

Wrongly,

Doesn\'t that sound familiar?  Maryland, Gulfstream, NoCal, Santa Anita, Lone Star.  Grand promises, little accomplished.  This guy is a definite threat to racing.

[Silver Charm]

All of my joking aside JB is a minnow in a pool of sharks. You guys are dead-on about Stronach he is a disaster.

So why does he want the Properties, is it the Handle or the Content??? Figure that out and you have a better chance of stopping him. The \"We Will Rebuild This Place\" lie is the same one he uses in every acquisition presentation. And all of his wide-eyed listeners believe him because they are so tight for Cash they think he will actually pull it off.

Let me tell you he can\'t, the gross profit margins are too small and after the Series of Acquisitions he performed a few years ago he knows it by now, IF??? he didn\'t before.

Technology has changed the game, the NY Handle is about what 20% of the total Racing Handle ?? But like I said, the game has changed and the handle CAN MOVE. He has already proven he will close off access to the Content to only his paying customers.

Figure out where he is going with this and you are a long ways towards beating him head-on.

Right now with the interest in Racing starting to build momentum, access to Content should be made easier not more restricted.

Stronach is absolutely the wrong guy for what is beginning to look like the right time for Racing.



Post Edited (05-18-04 15:47)

[miff]

It\'s simple why he wants ALL race track properties.Total control gives him all the cards, his game, his rules.This guy has successfully mononoplized the  multi billion dollar canadian retail auto parts market. If anyone sells him short in trying to do the same thing to US racing, they may be mistaken.He is hotly after Monmouth Park to establish a foothold in the Northeast which brings him in close proximity to NY Racing.

[TGJB]

I think where SC is going is that control of the content (signals) gives him a very strong bargaining position with simulcast rates and home betting. I agree, that\'s where he\'s going, or trying to. Boy, is this game changing fast.

[asfufh]

Miff, For the record, MagnaAuto sells its products primarily to OEM manufacturers like GM, Ford, Mercedes, etc., not to retail customers and does not come close to monopolizing this very competitive business. Asfufh

[STB]

Agree with the control of content theories. To a lesser extent, but still probably worth a few bucks, is a desire to sell off and/or develop land he\'s acquired through all these buy-ups. To wit:

\"We believe that MID\'s real estate business and Magna Entertainment are a natural fit due to MEC\'s highly attractive underlying real estate assets...MEC\'s assets include under-utilized excess lands in some of the premier real estate markets in the United States. They are prime locations for premium retail, entertainment, and/or residential development.\" Brian Tobin, CEO of MI Developments, as quoted in a bloodhorse.com article earlier this year.

MID, by the way, owns a big chunk of MEC equity, and they hemorrhaged money last year, posting a big fourth quarter loss.

[phil45]

STB, thanks for a great post.  I think everyone is exactly right about this guy.  As a Canadian I\'ve seen what a self promoter this huckster is.

I think the one hope racing has is that he hangs himself with his own words.  How could anyone, ever the blind fools in Albany, have watched his attempted takeover of the post Preakness celebration on live tv and come away thinking this guy is anything but an absolute arrogant blowhard.

And I\'d like to commend Bob Costas for realizing this and basically just cutting Frank off.  There are not too many sports reporters that would have had the balls to do this, but Costas is smart enough and experienced enough (see his fine history of interviews on the Later program and now HBO) to smell a rat even when it\'s going on live with chaos surrounding him.  To me, his ability to quickly cut away from Frank was one of the highlights of Preakness day.

Most other reporters in the sports industry (such as almost all the fools/hacks working for ESPN) would have just let Frank go right on talking.

Let\'s just hope that Frank, given enough rope, hangs himself with his own words.

But as many have pointed out this is unlikely.  If I were a betting man... (lol)...I\'d set the odds as follows

MEC at least partially involved in NYRA within 2 years:

YES-180
NO +160

Hope we\'re all wrong about this though, as clearly he is just about the worst possible thing that could happen to New York racing.

[phil45]

And one other thing...is there an honest politican out there anywhere?   I mean for heavens sake...the son of the senator is the one lobbying for MEC.  

That sort of insestious conflict of interest just makes me sick.

We are very ill served by most of our public representatives...all partisanship and very little actually focus on the greater good.

[cozzene]

Gentlemen

Magna takes over the NYRA race tracks. OK now what?  Nothing.

Nothing, their will be no response.  The politicians know this.  

As long as people wager on horses and demand nothing they will recieve nothing.

My visits to the track have been infrequent since november 2003.  Previously i attended almost every day.  When computerized wagering was available in NJ life was very good.  But I am fedup with getting nothing.  I started playing Hold em Poker and while I do not enjoy it as much as the horses, the rake is very, very, low and card clubs are forming all over the Greater New York area.  You want change stop betting on horses for a few months, if the handle drops 20% - 30% then the politicians will notice.

Thank You

Cozzene

[bdhsheets]

Frank isn\'t all bad. Without his intervention, Santa Anita would now be the site of $million dollar homes and fancy shopping malls.

The true intent of MEC is getting a gigantic foot in the gaming industry through the \"racino\" door. There have been pushes at virtually all the states where his properties are located, for slots and other forms of gaming. He\'ll take the smaller tracks and pull an Atlantic City, having very short meets to justify the simulcast portion of its existence. Also don\'t be surprised to see racing at just a few centralized locals. It\'s coming, you can book it. Lower upkeep, more profits.

\'sheets

[gowand]

Having lived in Albany all my life nothing surprises me re:NYS gov\'t.  Ken Bruno was a D.A. in a local county before he realized that people would throw money at him because of his last name.  Joe Bruno and Shelly Silver will do anything that is in their best interest.  If this also is good for racing then this is a pleasant coincidence.  If not, they could care less.  If stronach ever had an easy mark it would be the NYS legislature and the Govenor\'s office.  NYRA clearly has its problems.  However, I have attended hundreds of days of racing at Saratoga along with a number of big racing days at Belmont.  For the most part I have never left dissatisfied with the way the track was run.  I cannot say this strongly enough.  THE NYS POLITICIANS DO NOT CARE ABOUT THE PEOPLE WHO ATTEND THESE TRACKS.

[Silver Charm]

Nice post Sheets, however in Franks case he has acquired an awful lot of Plant over the last five years. If he starts to close those assets down strictly to use as simulcast outlets and can\'t provide some sort of potential zoning approval for development of the idle space to his bankers. He has real problems.

His monthly Borrowing Base Certificates will not add up to enough collateral on his loans and his Bankers will say:

Show Me The Money