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Originally Posted by bnk
I'm not familiar with the size of the tract of land bought. But can they keep the Track open and build a new standard massive domed NFL stadium on the same footprint?
I'm not sure that is possible but if true than that's a knock out idea.
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Just a little rough calculating-
Arlington Park property occupies 326 acres.
The race track, infield, clubhouse, grandstand, portes-cochères, and paddock - 95 acres
Current parking around the track - 53 acres
According to Wikipedia, AT&T Stadium (Cowboys) is 73 acres, with 30 acres of parking.
326 - 95 - 53 - 73 - 30 = 75 acres left.
I did not include the barns/stables or horsemen's lodging. They can easily be torn down and rebuilt much closer to the track than they are now, with a smaller footprint.
At Hawthorne, all their barns/stables and horsemen's lodging are crammed along the backstretch between Cicero and Laramie, taking up a little less than 30 acres. For reference, the entire Hawthorne complex occupies 119 acres.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bnk
Id like to keep horserace going in Illinois. I remember when there were about 5 tracks in the metro area. AP is a newer park that is still a gem. But is horse racing a dying sport? I don't know. But its the best horse track in about a 300 mile circle. That's a lot of people in its catchment. I think it is a same the State of illinois no longer made horse racing a viable business.
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Yeah, Sportman's shot itself in the foot when they decided that auto racing would be a more profitable line than horse racing. Balmoral and Maywood met their ends as a result of the Blagojevich scandal, when the Johnston Family (who owned both tracks) pledged a large campaign contribution in exchange for Blagojevich's signature on an extension of recapture.
Is horse racing dead? It's doing alright in states that established racino programs years ago. It has resulted in larger purses, and larger and more competitive fields.
Illinois has scuffled since the Nineties/early 2000s, when Chicago harness racing was considered the most competitive in the nation. Long term, the casinos hit them hard, and inter-track wagering in the last 15-20 years has resulted in a huge imbalance between what comes in and what goes out. It doesn't help when the region's premiere track, Arlington, was rendered almost irrelevant, due to CDI's dwindling purse sizes, and their unwillingness to foster growth in the state. The state should have done more earlier. They've made up for the delay, but is it too late?
Also, on a regulatory note, when CDI decided to purchase a majority stake in Rivers in 2019, The Illinois Gaming Board and Illinois Racing Board should have jointly forced Churchill to sell Arlington (preferably to another track operator) as a condition for approval. Racinos were on the table in Springfield at the time and CDI's acquisition of Rivers should have set off alarms at both agencies.
The industry as a whole could do a much better job of marketing horse racing than they currently do.
Had things worked out as planned, Chicago would have had three racinos - -
-Arlington, running thoroughbreds late Spring to early Autumn.
-Hawthorne, running as a hybrid track. Thoroughbreds in Spring, standardbreds through the Summer, thoroughbreds October through December.
-Tinley Park (never named, though I suggested the name
Brementowne), running as a standardbred track all year.
If all three tracks were running and all three were generating casino revenues, it would probably take 3-4 years to properly turn around the fortunes of the racing industry in the state.
But, for the time being, we only have Hawthorne.