Tim Smith declined the NYRA job this week saying, "I can make a bigger contribution to racing in New York working on a new business model for the industry."
Would anybody care to speculate what that new model might be?
As I see it this is the crossroads racing is at: either tracks figure out how to get the $200, and $2,000 bettors back to their facilities or there is no long-term reason for regional racetracks to exist.
If simulacasting is the future of racing, then the economics of scale would dictate that a few tracks could be built in one centralized area of the country (think of any of the mid-western states with depressed economies and lots of cheap land) where cost redunancies for owners and operators would be eliminated and racing could be conducted on a twenty-four hour basis for the simulcast market.
In such a climate of cheaper operating expenses, combined with a legislature eager to welcome their new industry, takeout also could, and would, be greatly reduced.
But then, of course, I would like to see the regional tracks stay in business. And I was hoping that some alternative business models might be proposed that would insure not only growth in handle, but increased profitability for the regional operators.
Or, what do you think Tim Smith has in mind when he talks about, "working on a new business model for the industry?"