NEWS
Capital Play ad takes NYRA to task
Posted: Thursday, November 15, 2007 10:03 AM
by Paul Post
Capital Play Inc. has taken direct aim at New York Racing Association by launching highly-critical television ads that blast NYRA’s track record of running Saratoga Race Course, Belmont Park and Aqueduct.
Click
here to see the commercial.
The 30-second commercials began airing Wednesday in Albany, the state capital, New York City, and Saratoga Springs, New York, and are slated to run for four weeks pending major developments in the franchise selection process.
Capital Play is one of three groups challenging NYRA for the state's racing franchise. NYRA's current contract expires on December 31, just 46 days from now.
“NYRA has been running a pretty strong propaganda campaign, using a lot of scare tactics threatening to close the tracks,” spokesman Hank Sheinkopf said. “We don’t think that racing is going to end on December 31. If anything, it’s going to be a shift in management. We don’t think that people are going to lose jobs.”
Signals coming out of Albany indicate that a franchise announcement might be made by Thanksgiving, one week from today. Sheinkopf defended the ad campaign’s timing. “It’s never too late to expose the truth,” he said.
NYRA President and Chief Executive Officer Charles Hayward declined comment.
“It’s so inflammatory and incorrect, it doesn’t merit a response,” he said.
Click here to see the commercial.
The ads show decrepit racetrack conditions such as rows of empty seats and filthy, run-down facilities with chipped and peeling paint. “The only thing we can expect from NYRA is failure,” a voice-over says. “New York’s racetracks are millions of dollars in debt. Attendance has dropped to its lowest in history. NYRA has been investigated by the federal government and now they want you to bet on them again with $250-million that would help fund public education. Don’t place a losing bet on NYRA. Contact your elected officials. Tell them not to gamble with our children’s future.”
On most days, Aqueduct’s winter meet draws extremely low crowds, but paid attendance for Saratoga’s 36-day meet has been at or near the one-million mark for most of this decade.
The ads are part of a $250,000 Capital Play media campaign put together by Sheinkopf’s New York City public relations firm, Sheinkopf Communications, which has worked on numerous Democratic Party campaigns including former President Bill Clinton’s 1996 re-election.
If no agreement is reached, state law calls for a five-member Oversight Board to take over racing, but NYRA has vowed not to let the state take control of the racetracks that NYRA claims to own. Many industry leaders are concerned about the possibility of a racing shutdown. NYRA filed for bankruptcy on November 2, 2006, and recently submitted a reorganization plan with the court. A hearing on the plan is slated for next Tuesday.
The Internal Revenue Service says NYRA owes it $1.6-billion for the years 2000-'05. NYRA is expected to voice objections to that claim on December 6.
“The only date I’m thinking about is December 31,” Hayward said.
Governor Eliot Spitzer, a Democrat, has called for NYRA to continue operating the racetracks for 30 more years, while having a separate group run Aqueduct’s proposed video lottery terminal racino. The Republican-controlled Senate wants a public authority to oversee racing. Its plan calls for gaming at Belmont, too.
“There are conversations and those are always a good thing,” said Paul Larrabee, Spitzer’s spokesman. “It clearly will be part of a legislative process. In order to advance the issue and award a new franchise the Senate, Assembly and governor will have to agree.”
The million-dollar question is whether they can do it by year’s end.
In New York City, Capital Play’s ad appears on NY1. In Albany, it airs on three major network affiliates (ABC, NBC, CBS) and a 24-hour news station, and in Saratoga Springs it’s being shown on the FXN, MSNBC, CNN, and HLN channels.
Click here to see the commercial.
Paul Post is a New York-based Thoroughbred Times correspondent
