Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Turf_Monster
(S)he can't run it at Laurel and if s(he) tries, Baltimore City uses eminent domain on Pimlico and it gets run there. It's not leaving Baltimore City, Stronach should probably lobby a little harder or put up some money to redevelop Pimlico. Love it, hate it, who cares - that's the reality of the situation and why it's still being run at Pimlico despite Stronach's planned obsolescence of the facilities.
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Um, no. The Preakness is intellectual property (specifically a trademark) protected under the federal Lanham Act. Under Article VI of the United States Constitution any attempt by Maryland or Baltimore to interfere with those rights is entirely void. (In addition Stronach has contractual rights under the agreements with NYRA and Churchill which create the Triple Crown and which Maryland and Baltimore also cannot in any way impair, but we don't even have to get to that.
Again, that is why we are here. The only way Baltimore can ensure Stronach doesn't take the Preakness somewhere else is to pay to keep it there. They can't pass any laws to try and force Srronach's hand- thise laws will be unenforceable and the race can be held anywhere Stronach wants it.
I might add: even if Baltimore somehow COULD seize it, they'd still have to pay just compensation to Stronach under the 5th Amendment, which would be a ton of money. Indeed, it would be an even more blatant misuse of public taxpayer money than even subsidizing the renovation of the track.
And in the end, they would end up purchasing a worthless trademark, because Stronach could just change the name of the race, put it on NBC and make the renamed race rhe second leg of the TC.
Baltimore needs to just stop.
