Belmont Attendance
 

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. . .

For today only for NYRA: It was bad.

But IF Street Sense, Curlin, and Rags (and maybe Hard Spun too) all make it to the Breeder's Cup... There could be some new fanfare that has come out of Rags winning.

Now, the chances of that happening are slim to none... but I'm kinda hoping, just like asking a college basketball star to just stay 2 years, that these horses will run in the Breeder's Cup. If that happens, THE BREEDER'S CUP WILL REBOUND IN RATINGS THIS YEAR.

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.

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.

Seemed like more than 45,000.

Steve-

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

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

Belmont attendace and handle decline
 

http://tcm.bloodhorse.com/viewstory.asp?id=39314

I was interested in finding out what would happen this year compared to the 2006 Belmont. To be honest, I am a little surprised. Last year was right after Barbaro and was really no attraction to the race. This year you had a star filly and a potential star in Curlin. The people who came to Belmont got to see a great race. A 20 thousand decline in attendance is huge. For those people in New York, is there a reason why people didn't come out to the 2007 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

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..

Prob would be better to just send me a private message next time. I think the thread should be for the topic at hand, not personal problems with people.

Kasept, earlier you mentioned there was some news on Friday regarding the NYRA. What was the news? Thanks in advance.

Threads were merged... For christsake, talk the topic and can the peripheral sniping.

Gov. Spitzer committing to NYRA for a new 20 year term for racing management and sending the VLT operation out for a seperate bid.. Hasn't this been brought up yet? I literally haven't had an extra minute to keep tabs on thread content... Got home toinght at 6pm and fly out tomorrow at 6:30am..

Well that is certainly good news. The NYRA does a good job. They put on the best racing in the world in my opinion. Sure there has been money management issues, but nothing that can't be fixed. I do not know if it has been brought up for conversation. I also have been pretty busy the past few days. Thanks for the info.

Belmont day was excellent maybe because of attendance. I have a feeling the missing were generally $2 dollar Belmont Stakes bettors so add another 20 thousand and you possibly get an extra 40K in handle but 15 deep lines at the tellers. I think I saw the most exciting live race in my life and the trip from Chicago was well worth it.

Still not used to police carrying M-16's, though and although now common in NYC, it's still kind of strange for me, especially at a crowded racetrack.

Wow, that is great news.

sounds good to me. leave the horse racing to the nyra and the vlt etc to the gaming folks.

It's obvious you guys don't know how legislation passes in NewYork. There are two bosses. Sheldon Silver is theMajority Leader in the State Assembly and he rules with an iron fist. Joseph Bruno is the Majority Leader in the State Senate. There will not be a decision on NY racing until the bosses are paid off.