Bears-Arlington Partnership ‘Makes Too Much Sense to Blithely Dismiss’

As the only member out of 10 on the Illinois Racing Board (IRB) to directly address the pending closure of Arlington International Racecourse and the devastating effect it will have on the state's racing circuit, commissioner Alan Henry said at Thursday's monthly meeting that a losing bidder in the track's sale is still working behind the scenes to fashion a deal to keep racing alive alongside a new football stadium on the 326-acre parcel.

Back on Sept. 29, Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI), the gaming corporation that owns Arlington, announced the signing of a $197.2 million purchase and sales agreement that would transfer the crown jewel of Illinois racing to the Chicago Bears for the planned construction of a new stadium and mixed-use development.

With Arlington out of the equation for 2022, Thoroughbred dates in greater Chicago will wither to just 76 programs over two seasonal meets at Hawthorne Race Course, which will also host 75 dates of Standardbred racing next year.

One day after the Arlington sale became public, the state's Senate Executive Gaming Committee met to discuss the future of horse racing in Illinois. Henry said at the Oct. 14 IRB meeting that he came away “with a bad feeling” after listening to that hearing.

“I get that it looks bleak,” Henry continued. “But 30-year Marine Corps veteran Roy Arnold, the front man for the underbidders, made it clear to the subcommittee that he is not retreating.”

Arnold formerly worked for CDI as Arlington's president, starting in 2006 and resigning in 2010. When the track was put up for sale earlier this year, he partnered with a group of developers and investors to try to buy the property. That group's bid was the only known offer to preserve racing at Arlington.

When the Bears won the bidding process, Arnold said at the next-day Senate hearing that he would be willing to either work with the new owners to keep the track operational on 125 acres of the site or to step in and pursue the purchase if the football team backed out.

Henry said that a purchase and sales agreement is “not evidence of a done deal. There are still many variables out there. Just one of them is that at any moment, Chicago's mayor could throw some serious cards on the table [regarding a counter-proposal to keep the Bears in their current downtown home] now that the Bears have called her bluff.”

Henry continued: “Sure, Arlington Park's permanent closing may be likely, But it is not inevitable. Why? Because a Bears-Arlington Park partnership makes too much sense to blithely dismiss. And because if the Bears withdraw, [Arnold's group] is standing at the ready.”

Henry said that as “everyone in the industry knows, the 2022 racing calendar is a stopgap that is likely unsustainable beyond next year. Half a season for either breed is simply not enough.”

One idea that has been floated is for a harness track to be built on the site of a former state-owned mental health facility in the village of Tinley Park, about 30 miles southwest of Chicago. That would allow Hawthorne to transition over to full-time Thoroughbred racing, and each breed would have its own year-round racetrack.

“The consensus among horsemen is the construction of a harness track in Tinley Park is an integral piece of the solution, and should be treated as a priority. But right now that is just not happening,” Henry said.

“As I hear it, some Thoroughbred trainers are now considering moving to Florida, Louisiana and Arkansas at the end of the current Hawthorne meet and not coming back in late winter,” Henry said. “Some are also looking at Minnesota, Iowa, Indiana, and other states for 2022 given the need to lock in stalls next summer.”

Henry continued: “Then there's the reality that advance-deposit wagering platforms are grabbing rapidly increasing percentages of the betting handle. That means money is increasingly being diverted away from the [horsemen's] already paltry purses. The laws governing that split have to be rewritten to better ensure a healthy industry.”

Henry also noted that although racinos have been legal in the state since June 2019, none are yet operational at either Hawthorne or FanDuel Sportsbook and Horse Racing (the rebranded Fairmount Park), so purses aren't being supplemented by gaming revenues.

Henry suggested that moving forward, there should be a standing item on every IRB agenda for Hawthorne and FanDuel to update their progress on building racinos, and also “to address the harness track situation.”

But beyond one commissioner thanking Henry for his “particularly interesting” comments, no other IRB members voiced support for Henry's suggestion about the standing agenda item. And none of them chimed in about the state of the racing circuit when given the chance to speak during the “commissioner comments” section of the agenda.

This “elephant in the room” pattern of largely ignoring the most dire and pressing racing issue in the state has persisted at IRB meetings for the better part of 2021. With the exception of Henry, who has been outspoken about Arlington's pending closure for six consecutive IRB meetings since CDI declared the property would be sold for non-horse-racing purposes, the other nine IRB commissioners have, for the most part, maintained a stunning silence about the collapse of Chicago racing.

So what other matters did the IRB take up on Thursday? The proceedings were almost entirely officious.

By 10-0 votes, the IRB approved the licensing of an outrider and an entry clerk for Hawthorne's upcoming harness meet, disbursed Quarter Horse purse funds to FanDuel for the four races that track carded this past season, and signed off on granting a pari-mutuel tax credit to tracks and off-track betting licensees.

The IRB also had to bring back and ratify its 2022 dates order from last month because the way it had been voted in didn't comply with the state's open meetings act. This required commissioners to electronically sign the related documentation, and the meeting stalled briefly when several commissioners couldn't figure out how to do it.

The IRB also spent time during Thursday's public meeting congratulating a staffer for running a marathon, and discussed the upcoming move to new office space, which was described as a more modernized “new playground.”

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Chicago Bears Sign Agreement To Buy Arlington Park For New Stadium

Churchill Downs Incorporated announced on Wednesday that it has signed a purchase and sale agreement with the Chicago Bears of the National Football League to sell Arlington Park racecourse, a 326-acre property in Arlington Heights, Ill., for $197.2 million.

The closing of the sale of the property is subject to the satisfaction of various closing conditions. CDI anticipates closing the sale of the property in late 2022/early 2023. CDI said it is planning to use the proceeds of the sale to “purchase or invest in replacement property that qualifies as an Internal Revenue Code §1031 transaction.”

The purchase agreement was first reported Tuesday night by theathletic.com.

“We are excited to have executed a Purchase and Sale Agreement (PSA) for the Arlington Park property,” said Bears President and CEO Ted Phillips. “We are grateful to Churchill Downs Incorporated for their efforts to reach this point. We also appreciate the support of Mayor Tom Hayes and the Village of Arlington Heights. Finalizing the PSA was the critical next step in continuing our exploration of the property and its potential. Much work remains to be completed, including working closely with the Village of Arlington Heights and surrounding communities, before we can close on this transaction. Our goal is to chart a path forward that allows our team to thrive on the field, Chicagoland to prosper from this endeavor, and the Bears organization to be ensured a strong future. We will never stop working toward delivering Bears fans the very best experience. We will continue to provide updates on our progress at the appropriate time.”

“This has been an extraordinarily competitive bid process,” said Churchill Downs Incorporated CEO Bill Carstanjen. “Congratulations to the Chicago Bears for their professionalism and perseverance. It is clear they are committed to an exciting vision for their team and their fans. We wish them the greatest success and are excited for the opportunity this brings to the Village of Arlington Heights and the future economic development of this unique property.”

“I could not be more excited about the news that the Chicago Bears have signed a Purchase and Sale Agreement to buy the Arlington Park property in our community,” said Arlington Heights Mayor Tom Hayes. “My goal for any redevelopment has always been to put this prime piece of real estate to its highest and best use, and I can't think of a higher and better use than this one. There is a long way to go as we begin this journey, and many issues for the community to discuss, but the Village is committed to working with the Bears organization and all stakeholders to explore this opportunity for Arlington Heights and the northwest suburban region.”

The Bears, owned by the McCaskey family, whose net worth is estimated by Forbes to be $1.3 billion, will likely seek public funding for a new stadium. The NFL's newest stadiums, Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., and SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., cost $1.9 billion and $5.5 billion respectively. Illinois taxpayers are still paying for renovations to Chicago's Soldier Field, where the Bears have played since 1971 and have a lease with the Chicago Park District through 2033.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a Tweet on Tuesday night she is committed to working with the Bears to keep the team at Soldier Field.

The agreement to sell the property is a devastating blow to the Illinois horse racing industry, where Arlington Park has been the flagship track for nearly a century. After working with horsemen in the state capitol in Springfield for years to seek casinos at racetracks, Churchill Downs Inc. officials stunned horsemen by saying it would not seek a casino license at Arlington after lawmakers in 2019 approved legislation that would have permitted casinos at all state tracks.

With Arlington not seeking 2022 racing dates during a bidding process that included at least one group determined to keep racing alive at the  track, all racing – both Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds – in the Chicago area will shift to Hawthorne, which is constructing an on-site casino. Racing dates for 2022 at Hawthorne were announced last week.

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As Arlington Closes, Hawthorne To Shoulder ’22 Dual-Breed Dates Burden

Under the shadow of Arlington Park potentially going dark forever after Sept. 25, the Illinois Racing Board (IRB) on Thursday unanimously approved a 2022 race dates package that shifts the burden of hosting all Thoroughbred and Standardbred racing in the Chicago area to Hawthorne Race Course.

And while horsemen's groups for both breeds expressed gratitude for Hawthorne stepping up to implement a crammed-and-jammed, year-long race calendar that will be unprecedented in Illinois racing, representatives of the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (ITHA) said during the Sept. 23 meeting that the new arrangement isn't a viable long-term solution.

“Right now, on the Thoroughbred side, we're going to be going from 120 race days this year to 76 next year,” said David McCaffrey, the ITHA's executive director. “You always are reluctant to say we're at rock bottom because it maybe can get worse. But a second track in Chicago is so important for both breeds.

“And with Arlington's absence next year, we're seeing the importance of that second track play out. Because both breeds are having to share Hawthorne,” McCaffrey continued. “Hawthorne's having to turn their track [composition] over four times. One breed's going to be there for three months. Another breed's going to be kicked out for three months [for racing and training]. And then it's going to start all over again the latter part of the year. The importance of a two-track system in northern Illinois cannot be overstated.”

Half a century ago, greater Chicago had five competing tracks sharing Thoroughbred and Standardbred meets. Washington Park closed in 1977. Sportsman's Park briefly switched to auto racing in 2003 before being demolished. Maywood Park and Balmoral Park both shuttered in 2015.

In February of this year, Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI), Arlington's corporate owner, announced an industry-devastating intention to close and sell Arlington. Although at least one known bidder in the sales process has stated an intention to keep Arlington alive for Thoroughbred racing, CDI long ago telegraphed its intention to sell the property for “non-horse racing” purposes, ostensibly so a new owner won't be able to compete with CDI's existing and proposed Chicago casinos.

On Thursday, for the fifth consecutive IRB meeting since CDI declared that Arlington would be snuffed out, nine of the 10 commissioners continued to maintain an astounding silence about the prospect of losing the state's most opulent and historic Thoroughbred venue.

The lone exception, once again, was commissioner Alan Henry, who, as he has at past IRB meetings, spoke passionately for about five minutes on what the loss of Arlington means for the sport in Illinois.

“I will tell you, frankly, that it dismays me to have to vote in favor of the 2022 racing dates that were reluctantly put before us today,” Henry said. “I'm well aware that it was the least-bad option. I also know that if this becomes the new normal in Illinois, we're on the road to the suffocation of an entire industry.

“The fault for this calendar, most of it, belongs to CDI. Their decision to permanently close Arlington Park, then to not apply for 2022 racing as a placeholder–even while one of the groups still alive in the bidding process wants to keep the track open–

has been a masterwork of corporate single-mindedness.”

Henry implored fellow commissioners to remember CDI's harmful actions if and when the gaming corporation ever comes before the IRB again to try and make a pitch for another racing license for a different track. He described CDI's decision to abandon Arlington as “a brutal clear-cut for the entire sport.”

Henry also urged fellow commissioners to “get in font” of another near-term problem involving CDI that he sees looming on the horizon: even after Arlington closes, it will still be generating revenue from advance-deposit wagering and off-track betting until Dec. 31. Normally, the portion of that revenue that goes to bolster the ITHA purse account would simply carry over into the next calendar year.

“But because there's no racing at Arlington next year, this issue now is what happens to that money, which is estimated to be about $800,000,” Henry said.

“I believe CDI should be brought in, under oath if need be, to confirm that they will live up to their obligation to deliver those funds to the [horsemen's purse account] in a timely fashion,” Henry said. “To insist on anything less would be a mistake, particularly given CDI's occasional talk about building a new track elsewhere in the state in some future year where it might say they would use those funds.”

ITHA president Michael Campbell tried to put a positive spin on the near-term deal to race at Hawthorne. But he added that the racing community can't ignore the bigger picture.

“We're excited about the [Hawthorne] racino being finally built out. It's a dream come true, particularly given the fact that for 20 years we've worked on this,” Campbell said. “And of course, our deep disappointment is that Arlington chose–or CDI chose–not to take advantage of [building its own racino].

“So we'll move forward into the future. I wish I could be as optimistic as [Hawthorne officials are],” Campbell said. “You know, we've got a lot of circumstances to overcome, including a divided schedule, a shared racetrack, the inability to train part of the year…

“It's great to talk about the future,” Campbell summed up. “But having said that, when's it going to happen? What can we rely on? What can we tell these people that are breeding these horses? What can we tell the people that own these horses? Because now, with Arlington's demise–or supposed demise, anyway–where does that leave us?”

McCaffrey supplied some breeding statistics to hammer home Campbell's point, noting that 15 years ago, Illinois annually produced about 2,400 Thoroughbreds.

By 2019, McCaffrey said, that number had plummeted to 420.

“It's like an 85% decrease in the amount of foals being produced. And the reason is that there's such a murky future, and has been for 20 years,” McCaffrey said.

Thoroughbreds in 2022 will race at Hawthorne between Apr. 2 and 30 on a two-day weekly schedule (Saturdays and Sundays). Between May 1 and June 24, that schedule gets bumped up to three days by adding Fridays, plus a stand-alone Thursday card on June 23.

In the fall, Thoroughbreds will race at Hawthorne on the three-day Friday-Sunday schedule between Sept. 23 and Dec. 31 (Christmas Eve and Day both dark).

Around and in between that dates structure, Hawthorne will conduct seasonal winter/spring and summer harness meets totaling 75 dates.

FanDuel Sportsbook and Horse Racing (known for 95 years as Fairmount Park before a corporate rebranding this year), is some 350 miles southwest of Chicago and is not considered part of the state's northern circuit. It will race 61 programs in 2022 between Apr. 19 and Sept. 24. The weekly schedule will be Tuesdays and Saturdays until June 12, with Fridays added thereafter.

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No Racing At Arlington In 2022; Hawthorne To Offer Six Months Of Thoroughbred Dates

Since Churchill Downs declined to apply for race dates at Arlington Park in 2022, the Illinois Racing Board was not able to assign Arlington dates at it's Thursday meeting, reports the Daily Racing Form. Arlington's final day of racing is scheduled for this Saturday, and though CDI has not made a final decision on the sale of the racetrack, it remains unlikely that live racing will ever return to the Arlington Heights neighborhood.

Hawthorne, the other Chicago area track, will host six months of Thoroughbred dates next year. In total, the number of Thoroughbred race dates in the Chicago area will decline from 124 in 2021 to 76 in 2022.

The schedule is as follows: January through March will offer harness competition, then Thoroughbred racing in April through June. Harness race will resume July through the middle of September, and the Thoroughbred season resumes Sept. 23 through the end of the year.

“That schedule that was put together has a lot of horsemen frustrated,” trainer and Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association board member Chris Block told DRF. “I know all the negatives, but there's no other way around it to allow both breeds to have some sort of schedule. It's the best we can do right now.”

The other dates assigned at Thursday's IRB meeting include a 61-day meet at Fairmount Park in Collinsville, Ill., recently rebranded Fanduel Sportsbook and Horse Racing.

Read more at the Daily Racing Form.

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