Nyra, aka Kay and marketing clowns trying to create a panic selling frenzy for Travers Day..stating \"capping\" admission @50k \"in case\" AP comes. Further stating sales already@28k...WTF..Better hurry or we will all be shut out..
Not a seat, revenue picnic table or dining reservation to be had on Travers Day and that was well before the Haskell. All those fannies plus 8,400 season passes is where the 28K comes from.
Creating a general admission frenzy per a ticket master mark up guaranteeing a 50K crowd weather AP runs or not is simply deplorable but great business!
The way attendance has been and with a nice day they would approach 50K without AP anyway.
Anything approaching 40K at the old Spa gets very fan unfriendly.
Frank D.
Every other sport does even more to create a frenzy. So what? Doesn\'t take a penny out of your or my pocket.
Yeah, isn\'t this actually smart marketing? Must be missing where it\'s \"clueless\" to make money.
How do they make money by capping attendance? People are buying general admission for $12.50 on Ticketmaster and then trying to re-sell on Stub Hub for between $20 and $128.61. NYRA\'s not getting any of that action, are they? Are the people who do attend going to say to themselves, well attendance is capped so I better bet more and buy more food and drink? Say AP comes and without a cap they would have drawn 70,000 - that\'s 20,000 people who\'d pay admission, bet, eat, drink. Without AP, they\'d still get a big crowd, they were well into the high 40\'s last couple of years. So the trade off is the frenzy gets an extra 2,000 or so to get them up to 50, in exchange for losing out on far more than that if AP comes. To me, the cap as a money-making move doesn\'t make sense.
I agree that the Spa gets uncomfortable at anything over 40,000, but I was there for both the 2001 and 2003 Travers, two biggest non-spinner crowds ever, I think. I did have seats, which admittedly makes things easier, but still, those years weren\'t anything like the nightmare that was the 2014 Belmont. You go in to an event like that knowing it\'s going to be packed, a little crazy, and you deal with it. People I know who hate big crowds just stay home on Travers Day every year.
They\'d never consider it, too much planning/creative thinking involved, but opening up the infield would allow them to handle more people.
NYRA\'s main concern in these cases, Belmont and Travers Day,is to avoid criticism. Clueless Kay and his new team of bean counters and PR people are hell bent on maintaining their favorable jobs with NYRA.All things revolve around that, not racing,gamblers et al.
Big crowds and handle increases at current SPA meet have NYRA management giddy, notwithstanding they have little to do with the success of the premier boutique race meet in the country.Monster slot subsidies have purses at record levels attracting owners/horsemen, many pointing for the SPA meet more than before.
Maybe NYRA should be trying to persuade them to race AP in the Woodward instead of the Travers. That way he\'ll get a chance to take on older horses before BC.
Travers day will be big no matter who does or doesn\'t race. So, if he chooses the Woodward, NYRA will get monster crowds for two consecutive Saturdays. Closing weekend could use the bump.