Quote:
Originally Posted by dilanesp
There was NOT 22,000 people there. It was empty.
That figure just tells me that even back in the day racetracks fudged crowd counts.
(BTW this whining over NYRA getting a slightly less tiny crowd is kind of orthogonal to the point that the same race at Santa Anita would draw 50,000 in those days. NYRA had driven away its live customer base while Santa Anita still had it, which was the point of my story.)
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The much bigger question is whether New York State's $455m loan to rebuild Belmont and related facilities does anything for attendance. From what I gather, the projections are rather rosy.
It obviously makes sense from a cost savings perspective relative to the old and much too large facility. It will also be a beautiful facility. But if you build it, will they come? If they don't and the loan looks shaky, the days of NYS being pro horse racing could be over. The public won't stand for it any more.
