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Originally Posted by Bold Brooklynite
Beautiful Belmont Park ... which can comfrotably manage a throng of 60,000 ... but which gets kind of close when 80,000 show up ... and is absolutely cramped when 100,000 squeeze in ...
... played host yesterday to 1,719 breathing souls ... on a drizzly day ... and about 1,000 more than that on the prior glorious late-summer day.
Yes ... we all know ... most of the betting these days is done away from the track ... but ... how can this game survive when attendance at the huge Belmont plant ... America's biggest thoroughbred showcase ... is no higher than that of a dog track?
And what is the NYRA trying to do about it?
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I share your concern with low attendance, but as long as handle remains high, racing will continue. When gambling was briefly banned in NY in... 1910? Was that when? tracks closed all over the state. It's always been about the money, and as long as people can bet at an OTB, why go to a track?
Unfortunately, as long as the horses are the stars, and race so infrequently and are retired so soon, it'll be hard to attract casual fans because they don't have anyone to root for with any regularity or length of time. I believe in Europe, jockeys are stars on par with the horses, and they at least have some sort of a career for a fan to follow.
And yeah, I'd cut the takeout, too (and thank you, btw, for explaining why it's such a huge deal to do so. I didn't know that).
BB, you brought up the topic-- what would you do?