Don't Discount State's Leverage in $424M Pimlico Plan

Did the state of Maryland really need to spend $426,335 on a comprehensive, year-long study to tell us that razing outmoded Pimlico Race Course and replacing it with a gleaming, paradigm-shifting $424-million multi-use racetrack and entertainment destination will uplift the community and preserve the huge economic infusion the GI Preakness S. annually provides to Baltimore?

The ambition and scope of the Phase Two vision released last week by the Maryland Stadium Authority (MSA) is truly stunning and innovative. This would be America's first real 21st Century racetrack, with an accent on repurposing not just Pimlico's charming-yet-crumbling 110-acre footprint, but revitalizing and redefining an entire city section.

Elements of the new Pimlico would be streamlined yet glitzy, enmeshed within a neighborhood envisioned as environmentally green.

Equestrian usage and athletic fields would share space in the track's infield. The entire racecourse would be surrounded by a walkable, mixed-use commercial and residential district that includes a health care campus.

The community's roadways and other civic infrastructure would greatly benefit from the upgrading, and the centerpiece of it all would be the Palio, an open-air European-styled plaza designed to serve as the saddling paddock for the Preakness while hosting a variety of arts performances and festivals the rest of the year.

Civic officials are behind the project. Of course they are. As Tim Keefe, the president of the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association told the TDN the day the study was released, “The city leaders of Baltimore certainly don't want to have the second jewel of the Triple Crown lost on their watch.”

And therein lies the chief problem with the Pimlico study: The entire scope of the project was framed around the threat of Baltimore's losing the privilege and history of hosting the Preakness–and not what might be best for the state's Thoroughbred industry as a whole.

If the MSA had instead wanted to spend the same amount of money to undertake a long-range, forward-thinking study of Maryland's racing and breeding industry, it's unlikely that civic leaders would have paid attention to or supported the project.

It could very well end up that a $424-million new Pimlico is exactly what Maryland needs to ensure that its Thoroughbred industry has a strong future. But that over-arching aspect wasn't considered in any great detail. It wasn't what the MSA was tasked with studying.

Keefe's take is that “whatever happens, the ultimate goal needs to be not just two or three weeks of racing at one racetrack, but the year-round vision for racing in Maryland as a whole.”

The obvious question of who might foot the bill for this new Pimlico was not addressed in the study.

The Stronach Group (TSG), which owns both Pimlico and Laurel Race Course under the auspices of the Maryland Jockey Club (MJC), has been on the record for quite some time now as wanting to make Laurel the state's showcase racetrack, and it has backed up that intention by investing in millions of dollars in frontside and backstretch improvements. The company has made it clear that sinking substantial money into Pimlico is not in its game plan.

Each year when the Preakness rolls around, MJC officials hint a little more strongly that they'd prefer the event move to Laurel, where it's no secret that the ongoing upgrades might eventually land the track a shot at hosting the Breeders' Cup.

TSG officials did not return TDN's voicemail requests for comment on the issue. The company's official response to the report came in the form of a press release in which chairman and president Belinda Stronach sidestepped the funding issue by thanking the MSA for its efforts, sprinkling in corporate jargon like “challenges” and “broader racing ecosystem” for good measure.

The MSA is best known for spearheading the effort to transform the decayed Camden Yards warehouse district into a thriving sports complex that includes the professional baseball and football homes of Baltimore's Orioles and Ravens. It also works to ensure best-use land planning for school athletic complexes and community spaces.

But the MSA's $424 million cost estimate for three years of construction on a new Pimlico is likely to be a hard sell at a time when public zeal for funding sports complexes has plummeted since Camden Yards was constructed in the early 1990s. And considering the total combined construction costs for both the football and baseball stadiums was approximately $330 million, it's difficult to envision that the public would be convinced to come up with nearly another $100 million above and beyond that price point to fund a horse track.

Yet despite the seemingly daunting fiscal obstacle, a Baltimore Sun editorial the day the report was released came up with an optimistic cost-sharing scheme that makes the concept look a little more financially realistic.

“No one entity should pay all those costs, and there's a sensible way to divide them,” the editorial stated. “The $424 million comprises $252.2 million for a civic center that would double as a clubhouse for Preakness; $120.5 for infrastructure improvements on and around the property; $21.5 million for demolition and $29.6 million for the reconstruction and reconfiguration of the infield and track.

“The first is the sort of expense that might logically be shared by the state (which has already financed civic centers in downtown Baltimore and Ocean City) and the track owners, who would benefit from its use as a new clubhouse. The infrastructure includes some upgrades the city needs to do anyway, and others that could be wrapped into a tax increment financing deal with the developers of the commercial and residential projects that this realignment and redevelopment of Pimlico would facilitate.”

The editorial goes on to forewarn that if the MJC balks at participating, the state has “a lot of leverage,” to coerce compliance, specifically:

1) Under state law, the Preakness cannot be moved from Pimlico without the General Assembly's approval; and 2) The state could mandate that the existing slots revenue facilities improvement program (which last year provided over $8 million in matching funds that the MJC primarily used to upgrade Laurel) instead be redirected to “support revenue bonds sufficient to pay for more than half the total project at Pimlico.”

“This plan makes sense,” the editorial concluded. “The city supports it. We expect the state and private sector will, too. If the tracks' owners don't, it's time for Maryland to play hardball.”

Other Mid-Atlantic Musings

If there was a futures wagering pool on which United States racetrack might next be in line for a resurgence, I'd bet on turf-centric and historical horse race gaming-infused Colonial Downs.

After six years of closure, the under-new-management Virginia track won commission approval last Thursday to race 15 dates in 2019, spanning Aug. 8-Sep. 7.

While the number of dates in and of itself does not represent a huge impact on the national scene, consider it a small step in the right direction.

Colonial Downs Group senior vice-president and general manager John Marshall told TDN in October that he expects the track's 2020 request to be for 30 dates.

One scenario for next year that Colonial has considered involves switching to a late September opening, after Kentucky Downs, Monmouth Park, and the Meadowlands turf meet all close.

In that spot, Colonial projects being the second-highest purse level nationally, second to only Keeneland. It would also take advantage of being a racing destination on the annual north-to-south migration line for horses from the Northeast heading to Florida and Louisiana.

Progress in the Garden State

The New Jersey bill that would grant a $10 million annual purse subsidy to Monmouth Park over the next five years advanced past a Senate committee last week, and it could be up for a full Senate vote as early as Monday. The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee did tack on an important related amendment though, requiring the Meadowlands, Freehold Raceway, and Monmouth to have in place written agreements that disclose the amount of money horsemen will receive from sports wagering operations at those venues.

Joan Steinbrenner Passes Away at 83

Joan Steinbrenner, a philanthropist and vice-chairwoman of the New York Yankees and the widow of team owner George Steinbrenner, died Dec. 11 at her home in Tampa at age 83. Although the family name was synonymous with New York baseball for the past five decades, the Steinbrenners became involved in Thoroughbreds when they purchased the land in Ocala in 1969 that became Kinsman Farm and now spans over 750 acres.

Seattle Slews?

Dan Shaughnessy, the longtime Boston Globe sports columnist, noted that although the name “Sockeyes” is the overwhelming favorite to become the nickname for Seattle's new National Hockey League franchise that will begin play in 2021, it's not the only potential choice. “How about the Seattle Slews?” he postulated hopefully. Unfortunately for Thoroughbred enthusiasts, that moniker is not among the list of 13 nicknames that bookmaker Bovada has listed for betting on the outcome.