NEWS
NYRA extension agreement uncertain after meeting with regulators
Posted: Saturday, December 29, 2007 3:17 PM
by Paul Post
An agreement to keep New York’s three major tracks operating might be in peril following a regulatory board’s decision not to grant New York Racing Association a license for a temporary extension.
On Thursday, NYRA reached an agreement with the state to keep operating beyond midnight Monday, when its current franchise expires. But the deal hinged on the state Racing and Wagering Board granting NYRA a license for the period January 1 to January 23.
Meeting in emergency session, the Racing and Wagering board on Saturday refused to vote on NYRA’s license application, saying their approval is not necessary. NYRA President Charles Hayward said NYRA will have to study its options before deciding on a next course of action.
“We’re disappointed,” he said immediately after the meeting, held at state Lottery Division headquarters in Schenectady, New York.
NYRA is in bankruptcy and has litigation against the state.
“We’ve got to make sure all the rights we have in that litigation are protected,” Hayward said.
NYRA has run Aqueduct, Belmont Park, and Saratoga Race Course since 1955. Racing is currently under way at Aqueduct’s winter meet, but if things fall apart, live racing might end on Tuesday.
“I can’t say definitively,” Hayward said of a possible shutdown. “Never say never.”
NYRA’s attorneys, the state attorney general’s office, and lawyers for the Non-Profit Racing Oversight Board reached an extension agreement on Thursday. The oversight board is charged with keeping racing going in the event a new franchise is not approved by December 31.
NYRA submitted its extension application to the Racing and Wagering Board shortly after noon EST on Friday. The board, which regulates all types of racing and gaming, studied the application’s legal ramifications late into the night, chairman Daniel Hogan said.
In contrast to lawyers for NYRA and the state, Racing and Wagering Board attorney Robert Feurstein determined that the board was not required to take any action.
“I’m not even sure we needed this meeting,” Hogan said.
Saturday’s session only lasted four minutes. The Racing and Wagering Board is a three-person panel. Other members are Michael Hoblock, a former chairman, and John Simoni of Saratoga County, New York.
“Everyone involved wants to see racing going forward,” Hogan said. “We’ve done our part to make sure racing continues on January 1. There’s got to be an agreement between the governor and the Legislature.”
Hayward said he does not believe the board deliberately tried to keep NYRA from running the tracks and described the situation as “a bump in the road.”
“Racing law has a lot of different parts to it,” he said. “It’s really a matter of interpretation.”
Meanwhile, staff for Governor Eliot Spitzer, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan), and Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno (R-Saratoga Springs) continue to negotiate toward a final franchise agreement. The sides have key differences such as length of the next contract, the makeup and size of NYRA’s board, where gaming should be allowed and who should conduct various parts of the franchise, such as simulcasting, tote operations, and marketing.
Paul Post is a New York-based Thoroughbred Times correspondent
