She doesn't get it. She never will.

I think this is less about the money and more about horse players getting pissed about being played for fools. First you have to battle the takeout and pay for the privilege of doing it and now they want more.

they could charge 15 and 30 it would still be worth it

Yeah, $15 or $30 would really bring the fans in droves.

If you bet only $100, you are already paying $18-20 in admission...but everybody seems to forget that. Let's just keep tacking on more and more.

I can tell you each day we have people who show up just to watch the races and who don't bet. Some just want to take pictures, some want to get drunk and watch the races and hang out, some just like the sport.

I believe you can't bet on the races on track in Dubai, but they still get a fairly decent crowd no?

Also addressing someones points about vagrants showing up if admission is free, we haven't charged for admission or parking since I've been here and any undesirables who are actually behaving badly, it's quite easy to just give them the boot.

I've always been in favor of free parking and admission and we get many fans who come down from Emerald and comment that they appreciate it because i think admission is like $7 up there and parking with any closeness is $7 as well. I will say that most new people are surprised when they find out we don't charge admission, most said they expected a charge FWIW.

They don't run 5k claimers in Dubai and they don't run 5 days a week, 50 days a year. Pretty sure people do bet in Dubai, even if it isn't official.

Of course there are always going to be a few people that show up and don't bet, but we all know that number is miniscule here in the US.

im saying that the product is worth it..not that they should..if you cant afford 8 bucks ..you shouldent be gambling..imo

It isn't a matter of if you can afford $8. We're already paying enough. That is my only point. The $8 is just tacked on top of what you lose...and at the end of the year nearly everyone loses.

so you think it should be free to walk in to saratoga and bring your own food and beer in the best racing venue in the usa?

I have said I can understand Saratoga, but not Belmont. Saratoga is unique and there is a demand.

do you charge less for timeforms at belmont and aq?

Dubai? The average net worth of people attending the Dubai meet has to be 10 mil plus and that is because a few business people go how are only worth 5 mil.
Dubai vs. Arlington you do the math..lol

I'm late to the party here, but coming from someone in CA who has always paid admission to get into the track, even the OTBs here charge admission, I understand that people don't like when prices go up, but as has already been stated, in 2014 $5 is not a huge charge, indeed Santa Anita has been at $5 for several years now.

Out here we have the thoroughbreds program, it's a card that you scan at the gate that gives you discounted admission, the more you go the less expensive it is, to ease the burden on the most valued customers, the guys that show up 3-4 days a week. Couldn't NYRA do the same thing, or do they already?

I have no idea how that applies, but I have no idea what we charge. I obviously don't pay. I also have no say, just like I doubt Andy Beyer is consulted on the price of DRF.


The defense of these price raises is the very reason bettors take it in the shorts constantly. We're an easy mark.

Somewhere, somehow racing needs a brand new business model. Like many of the comments, I remember going to Churchill in the 70's and it was $2 for the Grandstand and $5 for the clubhouse. Today it's the same. I haven't been in the past 2 years, but CD raised the price to $10 on their night cards, but they had a lot going on.
Attendance is down for a myriad of reasons. So here's my observations:
A day at the track is very long for the average person. Do we need 10, 11 race cards.
Customer Service at most tracks isn't the best. I've been all over and most tracks act as if you're in their way. I'm not a casino type, but the places I have visited the employees are so welcoming.
Concessions seem to be a sticking point. At the casino here in Cincinnati, they have several bars, and restaurants such as Margaritaville, Bobby Flay burgers etc. At Churchill Downs, I brought up the price of a drink and they're answer was other sports charge that. Racing isn't other sports. It's a gambling entity.
Women. Some tracks are so, shall we say in disrepair, and it's not a great place to take the wife or girlfriend.
In regards to Saratoga and Belmont. Both tracks to me are amazing. The racing is great, but Belmont is like a tomb. Saratoga is so awesome. I cheat when I go there though, I camp. It's a less expensive.
Bottom Line: If you increase admission, make sure there is value. Otherwise the economic situation won't improve in racing.

This has nothing to do with the argument, but Belmont is far from a tomb.

Carry-on.

I think that would help and create a sort of happy medium between horseplayers and management.

Exactly. Won't be my breaking point but for some it might be. As I think helicopter said - how does this attract more people to the track? If a couple has a budget of $200 for a day at the races, they are out around 30% prior to even betting.

Seems like they are following the real estate expression - If you own rental property , keep raising prices until someone move out.

.......yeah, it so so Big it does have a weird feel watching "live" but it is a legendary awesome place for sure.

Why? It's a business.

Would you demand as much elsewhere?

(We do need to discuss your women going to the track line some day but I don't want to take this thread in a whole other direction so I'll behave and play nice in the sandbox for now).

They can do what they want with prices. But most businesses raise prices when there is a demand. We'll see what happens, but I'd bet this will be a failure.

The secondary market often sells tickets for less than face value which is why the yankees have tried to set up their own with mandatory minimums. I went to a day game last year at Yankee Stadium and got 2 club level tickets with a $90 face value for $40 each. Of course I had to pay close to $40 to park.

This price increase isnt going to affect Belmont because pretty much no one goes there anyway. Most of the time when I stop by Belmont I see very few people that dont old racing licenses that gets them in free.

Nice long term plan for fan growth

I just have a hard time seeing why this is such a big deal. Good Lord it's not even the price of going to a movie.

... and we're talking Belmont.

Well worth it. :)

$6 is a deal breaker.

wow

i agree.
i paid more than that to walk thru a dead guy's house. and the house wasn't even that nice, but the memorabilia was-even if the tour guide wasn't historically accurate!

Can we not act like NYRA isn't being played like an accordion by the state here? The hatchet man they brought in is trying to come up with a 2014 budget that allows them to "make money" without the VLT revenue at the states bequest. Long term growth, fans, players, horsemen, breeders, horseracing, etc is not the focus here. Lets stop pretending that NYRA is run like some Fortune 500 company ok? It is a political pawn in a play to steal the VLT money currently going to it. It will be harder to take the money if the numbers dont show that they CAN make a profit, regardless of what tiny % that it is. The underlying theme is that they are going to try to make NYRA more "attractive" for the privatization but that is clearly just blowing smoke.

They are raising admission prices, it happens everywhere. It costs $14 to go to a movie on Long Island. It costs $15 to go over the Verrazano Bridge. It costs $40 to park at Yankee Stadium. Plus does anyone believe that if CDI winds up running NYRA that this will be the last rise in fees? Especially if the VLT money is cut?

I would move my training tack to Europe. More sustainable.

Like I said earlier, we don't just go to watch. You bet $100, you spend at least $20 on average just on betting. PPs, parking, food, etc. It all adds up.

Again how much did you spend last year watching live races. Was it more than zero? Just so you understand it is $6 times the amount of days you go.

Yeah if you train for the Queen

yes, definitely more than zero.
but, when i decide to go somewhere, i don't quibble over a couple extra bucks. now, if it went from 3 to 20 a day, you might be on to something. but knowing that other tracks charge more than 5, 5 just isn't that big a deal. especially when i've paid twice that just to park to wander around a city i'm visiting.

In your rush to defend price increases you do realize they have also indicated they will be raising the price on seats and parking. But since you do not buy the product it won't cost you a dime.

But arent there incidental costs involved with any kind of entertainment?
Every means of going to the track has gone up in recent years (and it doesn't look like it's stopping anytime soon), I would think that would be more detrimental to people not going track then the couple of dollar increase that's going in to effect now.

i've answered the question several times from you about if i went to the track. now i don't even buy the product? i have to go out of my way to load a green dot moneypak to refill my twinspires, but i do it to bet. yeah, i don't use the product....
i'm not defending them, i'm saying it's not much of an increase and that it's not a big deal compared to prices on other products. or are you like george bush, if you're not with us you're against us?
i honestly can't remember what we paid per person to get into louisiana downs. or if we paid to park there. i don't know what delta charged us either. i think oaklawn is still $2, don't remember if we paid to park or not. i'd have to ask my husband, he's the one who pays all that. he probably doesn't remember either.
we went to dallas a couple months ago for a hockey game. i don't recall the ticket prices there either. we took a taxi since we were going to imbibe, i think it was $20 each way. if it cost $22 instead, it wouldn't have mattered, we'd still have taken the taxi.

Sure, but none of these have the added expense of gambling.

In the end, the more I think about it, most people that go to the track are probably not serious bettors. So the $5 or whatever isn't a big deal to them. I think this thread shows that.

A serious bettor is actually being pretty foolish going to the track on a regular basis for a wide variety of reasons.

You do understand this thread is about price increases for admission, seats, and parking, at NYRA tracks.

'most people that go to the track are probably not serious bettors'.

thats pretty funny. horse owners are the biggest bettors..and those gold room guys put more through the system than most 50c partweelers on line

I'm not in New York, so I don't know about any gold room, but horse owners are the biggest bettors? Come on. Like anything else, some bet big, some bet small, some don't bet. And there is a difference between being a big bettor and a serious bettor, i.e. one trying to win money.

For someone who goes to a NYRA track on rare/infrequent occasions (except for spinners) this will likely not be a huge deal. For those that go often (not many of them that don't already have credentials) it could add up. Will it positively or negatively impact attendance remains to be seen. If it does end up negatively affecting attendance, then the more important question will be how, if any, it affects handle?