Quote:
Originally Posted by o_crunk
Monmouth will likely be standing in 2025.
For all the talk about how valuable for development the area is, the "extra" land around the track that actually has turned into developments has been mostly a dud, IMO. Maybe the residential has done okay but surely not the commercial / retail. Yet they still build. It does not fit the area.
I think the decision to do the elite meet back in 2010 (*7* years ago!) was ultimately a poor decision. The horsemen got to gorge one last time on the AC purse subsidy but they traded race days and races for it and that ultimately was a bad decision for any track to make in retrospect. The consolidation of races because of foal crops has affected tracks that have given in and run fewer races the most and many of the tracks likely to close are the ones running fewer races no matter what the purse situation looks like. This is the old "buy when the market is down" thing that the Stronach folks have been playing at GP and LRL. Both those tracks are well positioned for the future and I'd note that GP's purses are not that much better than MTH's - so I don't want to hear it's about purses.
So it's hard to say where Monmouth goes from here. It really can't grow beyond running a couple days a week only in the summer.
The stuff they did after the elite meet has been mixed IMO. Many here a quick to criticize what they did but once they made concessions for the "elite meet", which was pitched as a "home run", there was really no place to go.
Yes, they've overly focused on bringing in casino gaming and sports betting. And yes, the slots boat has mostly sailed as bringing them in won't do much IMO. Also, it's not clear that sports betting would be a boon either. Do note how far off the projections were with online poker in NJ - they are not even close to realizing the revenue they thought they would get. What's never discussed with sports betting is what the government's take will be for getting it above board. It's more than likely it will be high and your neighborhood bookie will still be in business, perhaps in better business than before. So I'm very skeptical about the sports betting thing should it come to fruition. The likelihood it "saves" Monmouth has been overstated by the powers that be.
What they've done on the grounds - min-golf, a new restaurant and some of the things done to woo the BC a decade ago are pretty mixed as well. I can see wanting to diversify and bring in families, it makes sense, but there's no serious effort to convert any to gambling on racing. This has lead to increases in parking and admission fees in an attempt to grow a slice of the attendance. Makes sense in a certain way but also kind of desperate too.
On the racing side of things they should be commended for getting the exchange done but here again, they've hamstrung betfair and launched something that at 12% take is basically a non-starter for the market.
I'm not sure what I would have done different but I probably would not have done the "elite meet".
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You have brought up many good points. The first one is the facility itself. They lease it, why spend a penny on doing anything to the structure itself? It is evident no one has since 2007 when the Breeders Cup gave them millions to step back and let the BC group run the show. Just look at the grandstand seating and the bird crap all over the owners boxes, unacceptable to anyone and everyone. The state owns the building, set aside some money and keep the structure sound NJ deserves better.
No one ever said SW will save the live racing in NJ, it is something well needed that can add to the purses and make the racing competitive with NY and Pa. It may also get the breeding program in NJ going as well.
William Hill has the sports betting room all ready to go, it is all wired up!
