Belmont Attendance

Kasept · #1 06-10-2007, 07:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hockey2315

Well. . . The Belmont Attendance was MUCH lower than projected- They got around 45k and were expecting more like 65k. . . What a shame in my opinion- why wouldn't people want to see a classic American race like the Belmont? What does this mean for the sport, NYRA, Roger Clemens, etc? How much do people think that 20k costed NYRA today? I'd say between 1.5-2 million. .

Not sure how you arrived at that figure, but the turnstile count barely 'cost' anything at the windows.. Pool was $8.8MM, just $100,000 less than last year when there were 61,168 in the building. And ISW Pool totaled $54.4MM, up more than $10,000,00 from 2006 ($42.5MM) and 2005 ($45.2MM). In term of revenue from other expendatures at the track, 20,000 less in attendance than anticipated represents about $500,000 in unseen revenue.

So, to answer your question, the 20,000 less than expected was pretty much a non-starter financially with the big ISW increase. It was a perfect day at Belmont Saturday with enough people there to produce a fun atmosphere while making trips to the windows or concessions painless. And given Friday's news regarding the franchise, nothing was going to dim the successful tone of the afternoon.

ShadowRoll · #2 06-10-2007, 08:22 AM

I went to the Belmont and saw Smarty lose, and then went the next year and saw Alex win. Quite a difference in attendance between those two years. Got to say that it was much more pleasant to be able to actually look around a little between races the year Alex ran. For Smarty's Belmont, you had to get into line immediately after watching a race just so you wouldn't get shut out for the next one.

ateamstupid · #3 06-10-2007, 10:19 AM

Seemed like more than 45,000.

Samarta · #4 06-10-2007, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ateamstupid

Seemed like more than 45,000.

I figured it was down, because on tv there were a lot of empty seats minutes prior to the Belmont.....

hockey2315 · #5 06-10-2007, 04:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samarta

I figured it was down, because on tv there were a lot of empty seats minutes prior to the Belmont.....

My section was empty all day but filled for the big race. . . The only time it felt crowded at all was between the Manhattan and the Stakes

ateamstupid · #6 06-10-2007, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samarta

I figured it was down, because on tv there were a lot of empty seats minutes prior to the Belmont.....

It was packed as hell in the grandstand, but pretty empty in the clubhouse. My feeling is that most of the older folks took the day off, because there were A LOT of college kids and smokin' femmes..

hockey2315 · #7 06-10-2007, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kasept

Not sure how you arrived at that figure, but the turnstile count barely 'cost' anything at the windows.. Pool was $8.8MM, just $100,000 less than last year when there were 61,168 in the building. And ISW Pool totaled $54.4MM, up more than $10,000,00 from 2006 ($42.5MM) and 2005 ($45.2MM). In term of revenue from other expendatures at the track, 20,000 less in attendance than anticipated represents about $500,000 in unseen revenue.

So, to answer your question, the 20,000 less than expected was pretty much a non-starter financially with the big ISW increase. It was a perfect day at Belmont Saturday with enough people there to produce a fun atmosphere while making trips to the windows or concessions painless. And given Friday's news regarding the franchise, nothing was going to dim the successful tone of the afternoon.

Steve-

I only heard about the attendance numbers so I figured the handle went down, too. . .