Churchill is screwing the tracks it recruited to TVG

[NoCal Boy]

The amazing thing about this is Churchill is screwing the very tracks that they encouraged to join TVG as exclusive tracks many years ago. Churchill is simply taking advantage of the fact their exclusivity ended a few months or a year before everyone else. If Youbet did what TrackNet demanded, all the exclusive tracks and horsemen would suffer, yet Churchill Downs does not suffer as they are no longer exclusive.

Why should Del Mar, HollyPark, NYRA, Los Al and others get screwed on significant handles because Churchill is now no longer exclusive? Wouldn't the proper thing to have done is to pressure these tracks not to renew exclusivity contracts as they legally expire rather than force Youbet to drop these tracks now?

There is a tort called "intentional interference with contractual relations." What TrackNet is doing to the third party contracts between TVG and Youbet and its tracks sure as hell starts to go down the road of a civil tort.

Exclusivity is bad. Youbet has railed against it for years. But the way to deal with it is not the way TarckNet is handling it. There are legal and bonafide contracts between TVG and these tracks. Don't deal with these tracks if they renew exclusivity. But do not punish them simply because their exclusivity expires later than Churchill's did.

[ponypro]

Lets get some emails rolling Churchills way, their web site email is disconnected. I found these. How about someone getting the email for the clown that runs Tracknet

churchill corporate communications juliek@kyderby.com

investor services mikea@kyderby.com

Lets get some internet mojo going and let these idiots know WE pay their salaries

Tom

[csperberg]

sounds like tracknet has been trying to work out a deal with TVG.

http://www.bloodhorse.com/articleindex/article.asp?id=38579

[Tom]

Like Gotti "worked out deals?":eek:

[JustRalph]

I think we have seen this crap before. I don't know why everybody is up in arms ...........at least so quickly. They always seem to work this stuff out. I would give them some time before I started bombing them with emails.

[Valuist]

For years people railed on Magna. I've always said CDI was every bit as bad, if not worse. Now people are realizing it.

[westny]

For years people railed on Magna. I've always said CDI was every bit as bad, if not worse. Now people are realizing it.

No surprise to me...Churchill jettisoned Hollywood Park to developers for millions..screw racing...Churchill is interested in ONLY shareholders..

Now, TrackMedia is pretending they have the bettors interest in mind...such bs and so transparent. Their objective is monopolizing the betting industry. ..no matter the corporate-speak they spew.

IF I had a company and could drive my competition from the market, I'd do the same...just like ALL corporations like to do...vanquish their competition.

[Hajck Hillstrom]

Lets get some emails rolling Churchills way, their web site email is disconnected. I found these. How about someone getting the email for the clown that runs Tracknet

churchill corporate communications juliek@kyderby.com

investor services mikea@kyderby.com

Lets get some internet mojo going and let these idiots know WE pay their salaries

Tom

Julie,
Mike,

This missive finds your Email box in hopes that you might pass it along to someone that cares......

........Not allowing long-time Youbet customers to bet on this year's Kentucky Derby is "in the best long term interest of the industry." (TrackNet Media CEO)

In an opportunity of a lifetime, I will be attending the Derby this year, so this decision will not directly effect me, but it appears once again that the industry will implement their will over the life-blood of the game, the wagering fan.

I literally push thousands of dollars through the windows every Derby day. The last 6 years have been wagered via the Youbet platform, getting hundreds of people introduced to the sport through an annual gala event. I don't think that I am alone in this practice.

I understand that there are issues at play that the racing fan will never be privy to, but the concept that "I'm going to take my bat and ball and go home" is what I see here.

Maybe someday the industry will figure out the greater good, instead of what is good for a select few. There is an undercurrent present though, and the most loyal fans of the sport are getting a little tired of being stepped on. Contrary to film dialogue "Greed is not a good thing," and dedicated handicappers are finding the the greed likened to the taste of the bile it creates, but doesn't take away any of the pain caused by the red hot poker that they have had shoved where the sun don't shine.

I'm not pointing the finger at anyone, because no one in this industry takes responsibility for anything as they are too busy pointing the finger at each other.

When thoroughbred racing grasps the concept that a "house divided cannot stand," only then will it move forward on a positive path.

Here is wishing you great success with this year's Derby, and hopefully it will take the game in a direction that will benefit the fan. An equitable solution would be acceptable.


Carry on, Carry on,

Hajck Hillstrom
Seattle, WA

I would have come up with a few more cliches, but I have to handicap tomorrow's card at Keeneland and Hollywood Park. I'm in an artificial surface state of mind..........

[Hajck Hillstrom]

........Not allowing long-time Youbet customers to bet on this year's Kentucky Derby is "in the best long term interest of the industry." (TrackNet Media CEO)



and Julie Koenig's timely and appreciated response.......

Mr. Hillstrom,
Thank you for taking the time to contact us and share your very candid comments. If you don't mind candor in return, I'll tell you simply this is not about greed. It's about making sure everyone -- and we mean everyone -- has a chance to offer all of the content available.
The key to that is TVG, who continues to believe that exclusivity -- meaning they get to offer something that other ADWs can't -- is the way to go. The only way they share content is through sublicenses with other ADWs, through which they get a greater percentage of revenue than do the tracks and horsemen who put up all the capital and operating expenses to creating horse racing. All this, and TVG doesn't bear any of the cost of putting on our "show." They don't renovate grandstands, maintain racing surfaces, provide hotdogs and beer, or split their revenue 50-50 with horsemen.
All we ask is that TVG share its content with everyone else.....Youbet, AmericaTAB, TwinSpires, XpressBet...everyone...so that you, the customer, who we very much want to serve, can wager on Churchill Downs, Santa Anita or Yavapai through any means you want. At a track. In an OTB. Or through the ADW platform of YOUR choosing. That's the way it should be.
Youbet's ability to accept wagers on Keeneland, Del Mar, NYRA, Monmouth and several other tracks is completely dependent on its sublicense with TVG, and that's why Youbet's caught in the middle right now. Youbet doesn't have exclusive agreements with anyone. So the key to making this work for everyone is TVG. TrackNet Media is more than willing to offer its content to TVG -- if TVG is willing to reciprocate. We have an offer on the table and have year to hear from TVG. The folks at Youbet know this, but they decided to critcize our efforts for reasons we still don't understand.
We wish this wasn't causing problems for customers and negative news stories. That was never our desire. We absolutely understand that taking a stance against exclusivity could lead to short-term inconvenience. But we're willing to fight for the broadest distribution of content possible -- even if it means taking undeserved hits from Chuck Champion or the media. What we are doing will help you long-term, and I hope you come to see that at some point.
I am very glad to know you will be our guest at this year's Kentucky Derby. I hope you have a fantastic time and pick one winner after another.
Sincerely,
Julie Koenig Loignon
Vice President of Communications
Churchill Downs/Churchill Downs Incorporated
700 Central Avenue
Louisville, KY 40208
(502) 636-4502 (office)
(502) 262-5461 (mobile)
(502) 636-4407 (fax)
juliek@kyderby.com

[Indulto]

... I would have come up with a few more cliches, but I have to handicap tomorrow's card at Keeneland and Hollywood Park. I'm in an artificial surface state of mind..........HH,
Put to a polygraph, my own pursuit of profits from predicted polytrak performances have proven pointless; stimulating artificial bankroll insemination for subsequent synthetic surface soirees. ;)

Thanks for sharing your entertainingly candid '"missive" as well as the less forthright response. The "CASTOR oil" argument suggests that the definition of CANDOR has regional -- if not institutional -- nuance.

Good luck at the Derby which you obviously recognize as racing's foremost recruiting tool.

By not exploiting its exposure -- and not enabling its being enjoyed to the fullest extent possible by everyone, everywhere -- any claims by (C)losing (D)owns (I)ncreasingly to be working in the best interests of the industry are dispelled by such disservice. Rather, it casts deserved doubt as to their desire to expand, much less maintain, New York racing's pre-eminence in the sport.

They are within their rights to not to give Youbet CD's signal for all other races in the meeting, but IMO the Derby belongs to all of us, and holding it hostage is as un-American as it is intolerable.