Saratoga - 1 Change

[JBJake]

There is one thing they need to change for next year. I typically purchase clubhouse tickets second hand either outside the track or at the place we stay at. Including track admission in the ticket price created some consequences that they must note have considered. First off, my season pass became worthless as I had to pay admission each time. I was able to find a person at the box office that did refund me my $55. A nice surprise. If you haven't used your pass you can get a refund.

The second thing is I have a 6 and an 8 year old that come to the track a few days. I need to pay $16 for them since the price of the seat includes admission. Kids under 12 get into the track for free though. Makes no sense and paying $8 for each of them to turn the turnstile instead of going underneath does not seem to be a good value.

This needs to change for next year.

[pointman]

Can you get a 6 or 8 year old into a major league baseball park, NFL stadium or an NHL game, get a seat and pay $16 (or less) for both of them?

[JBJake]

Not sure but you might have missed my point. The seats were $23 on Friday and $28 on the weekend. I have minimal issues with paying for the cost of the seat. My problem is that within that 23 and 28 includes an $8 admission price that should not be applicable to them. The seats should be 15 and 20.

[Danzig]

Why would they charge lower? Why sell a seat for less than the going price?
Also, probably still cheaper than hiring a babysitter.
Now, I'd rather you hired a sitter...

[jnunan4759]

This is the tricky slope. The MLB, NFL and NBA profit from butts in the seats. Only. Horseracing is an active event with wagering. Most of the revenue is derived from that wagering. The more you have to pay for admission, food, beer and others detract from the wagering,

I can see what Kay and Panza are doing and it is making NYRA profitable.

[Travis Stone]

Originally Posted by jnunan4759

This is the tricky slope. The MLB, NFL and NBA profit from butts in the seats. Only. Horseracing is an active event with wagering. Most of the revenue is derived from that wagering. The more you have to pay for admission, food, beer and others detract from the wagering,

I can see what Kay and Panza are doing and it is making NYRA profitable.

There are indeed lots of levels to this discussion. At a venue like Saratoga, retail sales are huge - parking, admission, tickets, concessions.

If any random visitor pays $50 in the above categories, he/she would have to wager roughly $200-$300 for NYRA to acquire equivalent revenues, assuming you disregard taxes, purse contributions etc. Last year's Travers per capita was on the lower end of that range (note: I'm not 100% sure what handle sources were shoved into the figures in the story that reported handle/attendance from last year, but ultimately, $200 is rather high IMO).

So if you just let everyone in for free and charged them nothing, good luck getting each person to churn $50 into $200-300 via wagering alone. It would not be sustainable.