"Big Lies" about NYRA

[alysheba88]

http://www.drf.com/drfNewsArticle.do?NID=84006

[Ron]

Subscribers only - DRF+

[aaron]

It was a strange article that Crist wrote. If you take it at face value and I have no reason not to.What he seems to be hinting at is there is no way to improve racing in NY or anywhere else.He doesn't come out and say this,but it sure seems to be an underlying theme of the article.
Crist states the NY racing product has thrived in the simulcast era,that it has a higher share of the national handle.
So, if racing is thriving in NY in the simulcast era as Crist states,then what can be done to improve the overall business model of racing,because something is wrong with the business model when the product is thriving,but the business is not.

[the little guy]

Originally Posted by aaron

It was a strange article that Crist wrote. If you take it at face value and I have no reason not to.What he seems to be hinting at is there is no way to improve racing in NY or anywhere else.He doesn't come out and say this,but it sure seems to be an underlying theme of the article.
Crist states the NY racing product has thrived in the simulcast era,that it has a higher share of the national handle.
So, if racing is thriving in NY in the simulcast era as Crist states,then what can be done to improve the overall business model of racing,because something is wrong with the business model when the product is thriving,but the business is not.

The point I suppose you are using is that a misconception is clearly being forwarded regarded NY Racing and NYRA. The simple fact is that the facts of the situation are in direct conflict with the comments being made by the other bidders. Calling NYRA " plagued by corruction ", when a multi-million dollar investigation was only able to uncover minor violations by mutual clerks effectively betting out of their tills, a violation committed at every racetrack in the history of this game, is a complete misnomer however you want to cut it. Saying they want to return NY Racing to the forefront is also in direct conflict with the FACT that it is still the leading product in this country. Steve's article is an attempt ( and an extremely good one ) to present the facts, as they are, to correct the lies being perpetrated by others.

[weegee]

Steve Crist has written another insightful column, and it's truly a shame that only subscribers to DRF get to read it (before two weeks are up). I wish his articles were more widely available so more people could read things like this. The mainstream press has no clue and keeps repeating the same half-truths. I also think Matt Hegarty does an outsanding job of reporting on the proceedings.

[alysheba88]

Originally Posted by weegee

Steve Crist has written another insightful column, and it's truly a shame that only subscribers to DRF get to read it (before two weeks are up). I wish his articles were more widely available so more people could read things like this. The mainstream press has no clue and keeps repeating the same half-truths. I also think Matt Hegarty does an outsanding job of reporting on the proceedings.

Several posters on this and other forums keep repeating the half truths and downright lies as well

[aaron]

Originally Posted by the little guy

The point I suppose you are using is that a misconception is clearly being forwarded regarded NY Racing and NYRA. The simple fact is that the facts of the situation are in direct conflict with the comments being made by the other bidders. Calling NYRA " plagued by corruction ", when a multi-million dollar investigation was only able to uncover minor violations by mutual clerks effectively betting out of their tills, a violation committed at every racetrack in the history of this game, is a complete misnomer however you want to cut it. Saying they want to return NY Racing to the forefront is also in direct conflict with the FACT that it is still the leading product in this country. Steve's article is an attempt ( and an extremely good one ) to present the facts, as they are, to correct the lies being perpetrated by others.

I believe Crist is stating the facts correctly,but the underlying tone of the article is that if everything in NY racing is the best in the country,then what can be done to increase revenues and conditions at Aqueduct and Belmont ? Are slots the only way to help racing ? If,that is the case racing will probably never be a major sport again.

[the little guy]

Originally Posted by aaron

I believe Crist is stating the facts correctly,but the underlying tone of the article is that if everything in NY racing is the best in the country,then what can be done to increase revenues and conditions at Aqueduct and Belmont ? Are slots the only way to help racing ? If,that is the case racing will probably never be a major sport again.

You seem to draw things from the article that I think others don't. I'm not sure the article has and " underlying tone " other than to point out the inaccuracies forwarded by other parties.

[OTM Al]

Daily News had something on this in the Op Ed column today too

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/..._on_track.html

Its all good until paragraph 3 just parroting these same misconceptions. You'd think they might have asked their racing reporters.....

[aaron]

tlg-
Your probably right,I just thought it was obvious that each group involved in the bidding would say anything to discredit the other bidders. I haven't seen any group come up with a solution that would be beneficial to racing.

[the little guy]

I have been given permission to reprint the article in its entirety here....



Columnists | Posted 4/13/2007, 7:07 pm
New York bidders twist reality
By STEVEN CRIST

NEW YORK - The four-ring circus in Albany, N.Y., last week that passed for public hearings on the New York racing franchise was above all else an illustration of how fiction becomes accepted as truth when repeated often enough.

The three private-equity groups seeking to replace the not-for-profit New York Racing Association - Capital Play Ltd., Empire Racing Associates and Excelsior Racing - are motivated primarily by the prospect of operating lucrative slot-machine parlors at Aqueduct and perhaps Belmont Park. To get that opportunity to shower themselves and their investors in public money, though, these bidders have to pretend that their real interest is in racing, and that they have quick and easy solutions that will make the sport wildly popular and profitable.

Their arguments boil down to three massive falsehoods:

Big Lie No. 1: Racing in New York has declined while the racing industry is flourishing elsewhere, because of the corrupt management of the NYRA.

In truth, New York has exactly the same standing and prominence on the national racing scene that it did 20 years ago, and its business fortunes have been subject to the same phenomena as every other track in the country. Ontrack business has declined as business has moved to offtrack sites and now into homes. The New York racing product, however, has thrived in the simulcast market, and commands a higher share of the national betting handle than ever.

This doesn't make a compelling case for change, though, so the bidders who want to replace NYRA pretend that something aberrant has happened here, ominously linking it to "investigations" and "legal problems." Even the august New York Times now feels free to describe the NYRA on first reference as "Long plagued by scandals and mismanagement," as it did in a news story last week. A reminder: NYRA's documented criminality amounts to a single low-level incident where mutuel clerks were betting out of the till, something that routinely happens at every parimutuel facility on the planet, and then improperly deducting the repayments on their personal tax returns.

Big Lie No. 2: New York racing will reach new heights by marketing itself to a younger audience and promoting jockeys as star athletes.

In some of the hearings' most embarrassing moments, Capital Play said it would make racing great again by hanging big banners on city buildings and construction sites, while Excelsior's celebrity partners, Jerry Bailey and Steve Wynn, talked about how giant TV pictures from jockey-helmet cams would send the sport's popularity soaring. All three groups talked excitedly about how advertising would fill up the grandstands again, as if this were an exotic and untried idea.

Having additional promotional money from the slots will of course help whoever gets the franchise, but there is not a single example of successful youth-oriented or jockey-oriented marketing in American racing. Bailey, who emerged as Excelsior's racing guru and seemed to dazzle starstruck legislators, actually argued that New York racing's decline stems from its failure to promote him the way that the National Basketball Association did with Magic Johnson and Larry Bird in the 1980's.

Maybe the panelists listening to these presentations, a collection of legislators and bureaucrats with little expertise or experience in the industry, actually believe that people go to the track because of their interest in the personalities of jockeys rather than to watch and bet on horse races. That would be a reasonable conclusion, given the panel's seeming complete lack of interest in issues pertaining to actual racing and wagering, including Empire's and Capital Play's outrageous yet unchallenged plans to jack up the mutuel takeout on customers.

Big Lie No. 3: Slot machines on the premises will attract and convert the masses into racing fans.

This was the thrust of Wynn's bizarre and rambling remarks, in which he called racing a failed sport that could be resurrected only by surrounding it with slots. He said new crowds will come to Aqueduct and Belmont for the opulence of his Vegas-style retail, entertainment, and one-armed bandits, and then turn into racing enthusiasts. Asked precisely how that would work, Wynn said, "Trust us" and "We'll figure it out."

Perhaps between now and its Memorial Day deadline for naming a new franchisee, the panel could try to locate a single racino operator in the country who has found Wynn's scenario to work. They won't find one. Slots provide a welcome subsidy to racing but they do not create racing fans, ando in the long run the sport and its customers become increasingly marginalized and squeezed off the casino floor.

At least one of the panelists has seen it firsthand. John Sabini, a state senator from Queens County, recalled a recent visit to Monticello, a harness track that recently added slots.

He said, "It was almost like the horses were in the witness protection program."

[the little guy]

Originally Posted by OTM Al

Daily News had something on this in the Op Ed column today too

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/..._on_track.html

Its all good until paragraph 3 just parroting these same misconceptions. You'd think they might have asked their racing reporters.....

Forgetting about how dispicably uneductated that Op-ed piece is, you have to be kidding about asking their " racing reporters ". Their so called " racing reporters " have done virtually nothing with the biggest story in NY racing's history. It is mind boggling that they have done next to nothing with this story.

[Robert Fischer]

Imagine if baseball wasn't on Television. Wasn't in the news paper (maybe just some numbers on the last page), or on the radio.

Just 5 or 6 games a year on Espn - the yankees red sox first game of the season , a couple others and one or two days on network tv for the world series...

We have mass media and horse racing isn't a part of it and the year is 2007.

They should have a major track on every thursday night on espn or espn2. Run a call-a-bet just for that program, run commercials for beer and cars. I don't care if it is out of pocket for the first season. This business is run(into the ground) as if any investment is a LOSS, meanwhile other sports have flourished through the media.

organized efficient use of TELEVISION is wayyy bigger than SLOTS could ever be for the sport.

[OTM Al]

C'mon tlg, don't you know we are just a bunch of disgusting skels and problem gamblers and the great and mighty gov Spitzer will fix this whole mess for us? Actually I was totally shocked that they printed anything at all. It seemed ok til I got to that 3rd para. Its true though that the Daily News has crappy horse coverage despite giving 3 pages to it every day. The Post has pretty good coverage, but the rest of the paper is so bad I just can't go there. Sherry Ross is ok but the whoever else they have at the News can go IMO.

[garyoz]

Two celebs, Steve Wynn and Jerry Bailey...pretty pitiful. They just want the slot cash flow. Wonder how much equity Bailey got in the company to be used? He has made enough money in racing that he owes the sport more than this.

Toss in that sleazeball Spitzer, and things look pretty bleak. Talk about vision--they may give the franchise to an entity calling racing "a failed sport." I see no way out--they will chase all the players from this game. At this point I'd rather see Empire get the franchise, and I thought that I'd never hold that view.