miff Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Churchill is 115 acres,170,513 at Derby
>
> Pimlico is 125 acres,131,680 at Preakness
>
> Belmont is 430 acres,90,000 cap for possible
> Triple Crown


Record attendance at Ky Oaks, Ky Derby and Preakness.

The Belmont attendance cap is especially egregious because after last year's
Belmont disaster, NYRA hired a "Chief Experience Officer". I believe this
woman, who has no previous "experience" in the Racing industry, is paid
$300,000 per year.

I think the Chief Experience Officer could have justified her compensation
(and earned a bonus) if she had spent months game planning a "Triple Crown
Contingency" plan, a plan which would allow Belmont to accommodate between
120,000 and 150,000 racing fans hoping to see history being made.

To reiterate the easy part of the plan: Assuring adequate food, beverage,
comfort facilities, live mutuel tellers, SAM machines, crowd control.

Difficult (but not impossible) part of the plan: transportation logistics, the
main components of which would involve limiting on track parking and reducing
reliance on the inadequate LIRR platform, while utilizing the area's extensive
network of arterial highways and mass transit hubs.

Bottom line: NYRA hires a Chief Experience Officer at 300K per annum, and she
is at least partially responsible for devising a plan which will cost NYRA
tens of millions of dollars of lost revenue and tens of millions of dollars in
lost on track handle.

If NYRA had established this contingency plan, and 135,000 or so folks showed
up, would everyone be comfortable? Probably not, but folks seem willing to
sacrifice some creature comforts to be part of an Event

NYRA. Expect Mediocrity. BRILLIANT!!!