My Last Belmont

[jms62]

Originally Posted by PatCummings

You would think that with the average Saturday at Belmont getting 50,000 people, it would be really simple to handle double the crowd once every few years.

Or not.

They better expand that press box to keep the savages from killing each other because they just can't hold as many writers as they should. Tables were stacked tighter than anything I'd seen before. And there was at least almost one fight that I witnessed...cooler heads prevailed (all sarcasm aside - this really happened).

It's worth noting that the same crowding you may have experienced in some parts of the track was similar to some in the press box.

I get it - we want people to have the best experience possible at the races. What would everyone have been saying if California Chrome had won and they still had to deal with these issues? 100,000 on site, but revisionist history would have 300,000 saying they were there to witness it (and happily deal with the headaches).

If NYRA makes wholesale changes to refurb Belmont to be able to better handle a Triple Crown chance - guess what - the full exec team should be fired.

Surely, there are small things that could be done to increase some comforts, but whining about a singular experience is like being in the middle of a forest and standing right in front of one tree and complaining about the fact that this single tree is in your way. Step back and look at the big picture and just think about it all for a few minutes.

As the progressive racing entrepreneur Andrew Rideout @thoroughbredAR tweeted this weekend -

"Nobody comes racing. Empty grandstands. The sport is dying"
"Too many people here. OMG. Stop everything. The sport is dying"
See a pattern?

I do see the pattern that someone from the racing industry is blaming the customer when they complain about the expierence. Happens all the time. No changes just excuses and blaming the victim.

[Kasept]

Feel badly for anyone that had a negative experience. I've been through every side of these days in racing attending more than 60 Crown events as a patron, foodservice vendor and media member. I've also been to Daytonas (and most of the stock car tracks), World Series, NCAA's, Stanley Cups, Eagles games (14 year season ticket holder at the Vet). Mostly good experiences. Several bad. A few scary.

I remember post-Smarty Jones being really rough. Got soaked in the teeming rain while stranded in the Blue lot and then the impossible trickle out to Plainfield Ave. Didn't get to Valley Stream (5 miles away) until 11:00 or so. Even on non-TC years, when involved on LIRR, the trains out were hit or miss. Some year better than others.

Tina and I stayed late in the building -- till about 9:30 -- and there was some residual backup out of the Blue lot. The infrastructure for egress from arenas/venues is terrible in many places. Anyone who has ever been to Foxboro can identify. I can also recall a scary subway platform crowding experience leaving Yankee Stadium after a Series game in 1978. I spilled out onto St. Catherine St. after the Canadians won the Cup in '93 and experienced the riot.

As for the experiences in-track, I guess when you've been to 25 Belmonts, including 10 as a vendor serving the public non-stop for 7+ hours, you know what to expect in terms of the difficulties. It's very rare that any venue handles that many without struggle. Some of the missed executions are 100% repairable and others are not when you get 100,000 there.

Most of the voiced frustrations are very understandable and will undoubtedly be addressed for requisite improvement. Some -- like the blog entry decrying $5 pretzels, brusque patrons and cigar smoke -- are less of a concern. You have a difficult balance to strike in terms of giving everyone an opportunity to come ($10 general admission) and pricing the place so that you can better manage a smaller turnout.

[OTM Al]

Originally Posted by Kasept

Anyone who has ever been to Foxboro can identify.

Without a doubt the worst crowd/parking/access experience I have ever had. Still have no idea how you are supposed to get into the regular lots.

[ne to socal]

Originally Posted by OTM Al

Without a doubt the worst crowd/parking/access experience I have ever had. Still have no idea how you are supposed to get into the regular lots.

I'm old enough to remember when we used Dad's horseman's pass to get better parking at adjacent Foxboro Raceway and then sat out by the barns waiting for traffic to peter out.

[slotdirt]

2008 was such an unmitigated debacle that it is hard to believe based on firsthamd reports the situation wasn't any better this year.

[Linny]

Recent history indicates that when the TC is on the line the crowd will be around 100,000 and that number ought to be the baseline used in figuring transit, food supply, rest room needs and parking.

Steve, I agree with you with the exception of the first line of your last paragraph. It seems that (aside from the water failure) most of the problems of '08 were back this year. I know it was a different management team but one gets the impression that little or nothing was done differently, "crowdwise."

The crush of people standing on staircases in reserved sections was dangerous, ushers lost all control about 20 minutes before post time.

I understand that the Belmont's post time will never be returning to 5:20 but for many people unfamiliar with Belmont's parking lots, the dark expanse of parking after sundown was daunting. Many of the 100k were non regulars and most were probably not from Hempstead. Feeling stranded, at night, in an unfamiliar part of town seeing traffic snarled for miles, hoping to find a cab or car service going your way could make people ill at ease.

[VOL JACK]

Here's an idea, maybe they should stop selling 100,000+ tickets.
Sell 75-80,00 tops and give the patrons a better experience.
Think of an event like The Masters.

Do you think Augusta National would have any problems selling two to three times the tickets they currently release for The Masters? None at all!! They know how many patrons they can handle while not overcrowding the course and other attendees. It's like the tracks for these big events get so wrapped up in trying to sell as many tickets as possible, while not focusing on simple things that would make for a better experience and make them more money at the end of the day.

[GenuineRisk]

Originally Posted by Linny

Recent history indicates that when the TC is on the line the crowd will be around 100,000 and that number ought to be the baseline used in figuring transit, food supply, rest room needs and parking.

That's what has me scratching my head- attendance for a Belmont Stakes in a TC year has been pretty consistent over the past couple of decades- it was just under 100,000 in the 1990s and has hovered just over 100,000 in the aughts and now the teens (I know Smarty's was reportedly 120,000, but I've also read articles questioning that number). They can make a pretty good guess as to how many will show up if there's a TC on the line; they have the data.

If 120,000 had shown up Saturday, I could understand them being understaffed, but the numbers were right in line with War Emblem, Funny Cide and Big Brown.

[GenuineRisk]

Originally Posted by Kasept

Feel badly for anyone that had a negative experience. I've been through every side of these days in racing attending more than 60 Crown events as a patron, foodservice vendor and media member. I've also been to Daytonas (and most of the stock car tracks), World Series, NCAA's, Stanley Cups, Eagles games (14 year season ticket holder at the Vet). Mostly good experiences. Several bad. A few scary.

I remember post-Smarty Jones being really rough. Got soaked in the teeming rain while stranded in the Blue lot and then the impossible trickle out to Plainfield Ave. Didn't get to Valley Stream (5 miles away) until 11:00 or so. Even on non-TC years, when involved on LIRR, the trains out were hit or miss. Some year better than others.

I think you may have Funny Cide's and Smarty's Belmonts mixed up. It poured rain during and after Funny Cide's- I remember; I watched the race down at the rail, and got so soaked I had to buy a tshirt on the way out so I had something dry to wear on the ride home- but Smarty's had just a smattering of rain about an hour or so before the race and that was it. I also remember hoping it would rain more since he handled wet tracks well. Heh. Ah well.

I just went and looked up rain fall in Elmont for those dates (because I am a nerd who cannot stay away from the Google) and almost an inch fell in 2003 and less than a tenth of an inch in 2004.

For what it's worth, I don't recall the LIRR being bad Funny Cide's year. I imagine the parking lot wasn't any fun in the rain, but that, at least, can't be blamed on anyone but Mother Nature.