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Originally Posted by lamboguy
most racetracks have decided that they are selling their signal's to cheap and have raised their host fees for the new contracts. some tracks have also raised television fees as much as 2%.
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I certainly got the message. I've created an excel spread sheet, which I've combined with HANA's takeout chart for 2013. For the sake of accuracy, I routinely visit or contact different tracks to ascertain that I have up-to-date takeout figures. It took me over an hour to update this last round of changes. I discovered at least 15 tracks that increased their signal fee.
Anyway, what surprised me most about the latest round of signal fee hikes was how they were often divorced from the track's actual performance. This was especially true for greyhound racing and many of the smaller tracks in general.
One thing I found curious was a higher signal fee for a track like Beulah, which averages like 6.7 runners per race and has been forced to cut dates. With the new signal fee hike, it's actually cheaper for me to play Woodbine and Keeneland! Perhaps these tracks see that off-track revenue is doing comparatively well and they figure they might as well enjoy more of the fruits of that success. Unfortunately, by raising the price on their low quality product, they destroy their tracks main selling point.
