Q&A With Chris Kay

The New York Racing Association is ending 2017 with an impressive list of accomplishments: Saratoga Race Course closed its 40-day meet with a record for all-sources handle. A second turf course was installed at Aqueduct Racetrack, and the main track there was also upgraded. The association continued to roll out and upgrade its technological infrastructure, including customer-facing platforms like NYRA Bets, NYRA Now, NYRA XP, and the extension of national and regional television deals. At the state level, control of NYRA was returned to a private entity after being run by a public oversight board for more than four years.

Entering 2018 though, NYRA still faces plenty of challenges. The oft-debated future of whether downstate racing will be consolidated at one racetrack instead of two is still up in the air. The future use of state-owned land at Belmont Park could be decided as early as Wednesday as the state zeros in on proposals for developing parking areas that largely go unused. Could Saratoga dates be expanded? Will Belmont ever bid for the Breeders' Cup again? These were among the questions TDN asked NYRA president and chief executive officer Chris Kay during a half-hour phone interview this past weekend.

TDN: With two weeks remaining in 2017, how would you sum up the past 11 1/2 months at NYRA?

CK: If there is one description that I could give to you, is that it's a year of continuous improvement. We came in a few years ago, and we tried to make improvements in three primary areas: 1) To enhance the guest experience both on-track and online;

2) To improve the quality of racing and the safety of our equine athletes and our jockeys; and 3) To strengthen our financial foundation so we can be sustainable for decades to come. And what we're seeing is that each year, the improvement that we make in that year becomes the platform to have even more improvement and achievement moving forward.

TDN: Among the big changes was NYRA's transition from a public oversight board to private control. How has that changed the way you conduct business? For nearly five years, NYRA board meetings were open to the public and live-streamed on the internet. Is there a big difference now in not having to discuss the future of the association in a public forum?

CK: We have some very tough competitors in this industry. And I know of no other [racing association] board that opens up their meetings to let the competitors listen in on their strategies. And as a consequence, when we were under public control, we provided essentially a report on how we were doing. But we didn't get into any kind of public debate on where we should go. And the great thing about our board is it is comprised of a number of men and women who are very talented, very bright in their own fields, with great insights and a love of horse racing. But we couldn't have those kinds of debates in public. We can do it now in private, and it has been very beneficial.

TDN: Can you let us in on some projects that are being discussed behind closed doors that we might see come to reality in 2018?

CK: I'll give you one or two hints about what we're going to do at Saratoga, how about that?

First, we're going to create a section of loge boxes that are going to be different from anything we've ever done before. In fact, it's going to be the first enhancement to the structure since 1955. We're going to take out about five sections of grandstand seats, and create boxes–some will have sofas, and some will have very comfortable tables and chairs. All of the boxes will have incredibly awesome technological capabilities. You'll have a 15-inch iPad, in effect, in front of you to watch the races, other television, NYRA Bets, NYRA Now, and order food and have it delivered to your box or go to an express pickup. Unlike the other boxes we have in the clubhouse section, there won't be a dress code. It will be a casual place. We're going after a different segment of our fan base. Some of the boxes will be sold for the entire season, but we're going to hold others to be sold on a day-by-day basis.

In addition, we're also going to have individual seats, right there next to the rail, and we're also going to have a massive bar–it will be very cool. You can buy a designated ticket to sit at this bar, and you'll have an iPad in front of you for the day. That will be at the end of the grandstand–think at the top of the stretch.

So whether you're coming by yourself, or with a buddy, or part of a group of four or eight or 12, there'll be some choices for you.

TDN: Thinking down the road, what about the length of the Saratoga season? Fans and horsemen never seem to tire of speculating about whether or not the meet will get extended beyond the current 40-day format.

CK: I'm only going to think down the road for 2018. We're going to have the same 40 days we had last year, starting the middle of July and ending on Labor Day. It's funny, every year, everybody wants to ask this question. I've come to learn it's one of the things everybody want to talk about.

TDN: I understand you have to play that question close to the vest politically. But what is your personal opinion? Where is the sweet spot for the meet? Is 40 days a good number in your mind?

CK: The law calls for us to have 40 days, so my focus has been “What can we do to make each one of those 40 days special?” And that's kind of the way we work.

TDN: Let's shift the focus downstate. It's been debated for years whether it makes sense for NYRA to run meets both at Aqueduct and Belmont, and Belmont seems to be the clear candidate to be the track that gets upgraded for year-round use. Where does that stand right now?

CK: The core question that everybody needs to understand is this: What is the best way to utilize these properties? We're in New York City. The best way to utilize them may be to continue as two racetracks. Or the best way may be to have one racetrack that's enhanced, and another one to be developed for an alternative purpose. What would that alternative purpose be? That's dependent on someone coming to us and saying “I've got a great idea, and here's how much we'll pay you.” So some of this is what are the market dynamics out there, and what are developers willing to do? For us, at this moment in time, we don't have those developers knocking on our doors for Aqueduct, so what we're doing is making Aqueduct as strong as possible.

TDN: It's been openly speculated that the installation of that second turf course at Aqueduct is part of a pre-emptive plan for closing Belmont for a year or 18 months while renovations are done at Belmont to get it ready to be NYRA's sole downstate track. Any truth to that?

CK: I guess what I'd say to you is this: The most important thing an executive can do is to create opportunities for future development depending upon market condition. So what you do is say, “Today, here's what the business is like. How can I make it better?” As I make it better, what does that mean for the future? As I said a moment ago, there are lots of factors that go on in development, including who are the developers and how do state lawmakers feel about it. It would be folly for anybody to say, “I've got a plan, here's how it's all going to work.” What we have to do is make sure we're doing the best we can for our horsemen and horseplayers today, and doing it in a way that can create options for the future.

TDN: We could get some clarity as early as Wednesday about the future development of the land surrounding Belmont. Are you at liberty to discuss how that might turn out?

CK: The state owns the land, and the state has issued a request for proposal (RFP) to develop an eight-acre parcel in our parking lot adjacent to the train station north of Hempstead Turnpike, and a 27-acre parking lot south of Hempstead. In the RFP, the state said it wanted to hear from organizations interested in creating a sports and entertainment district at Belmont Park in conjunction with and in an effort to enhance Thoroughbred horse racing.

We support all of that, and it is public knowledge that both the New York Islanders NHL hockey team and the New York City Football Club, which is the MLS soccer team, have submitted bids, and those bids do provide for an entertainment and retail district as well as the construction of their sporting venue. All of which I think is in the best interest of Thoroughbred horse racing, and would create a real destination for people here in New York.

So potentially, we could have two sporting venues–Thoroughbred horse racing at Belmont, and one of those other two stadiums–connected by a retail and entertainment district.

TDN: What about the addition of lights at Belmont for night racing? That was talked about quite a bit in 2016 and early 2017, but it's kind of gone dark lately, if you'll excuse the pun. Can you fill us in on what's happening with that idea?

CK: We would like to see night racing at Belmont, primarily because the sport of horse racing needs to generate new generations of fans, like millenials. And those folks are working on a Thursday or a Friday afternoon. They like to go out and have a good time; we want to provide them with that opportunity. We want to offer our sport the way baseball offers their sport, at night when people can go. We were very encouraged that we were able to get the state Senate to pass that [lights] bill during this last session. However, it was late in the session, and it was not addressed by the other body of our Legislature, the Assembly. We hope to get passage of that in 2018.

When you think about what we just discussed as to the development of Belmont Park as a sports and entertainment destination, there are going to be people coming in the evening, going to some of those restaurants and the other sporting venue operating, or to a concert or whatever else is going on. Restaurateurs need and want to have the kind of traffic that we can generate if we have horse racing on a Thursday or a Friday night. So I think this concept of night racing is good for NYRA, it is good for the sport of horse racing, and it will be good for whoever our neighbors and partners will be in the development of Belmont Park.

TDN: NYRA hasn't hosted the Breeders' Cup since 2005. Are there plans for bidding on hosting racing's world championships in the future?

CK: Yes. So let me be clear: When I met with the board of the Breeders' Cup in 2013, roughly a month after I took the job, they said “We want to bring the Breeders' Cup back to New York. When are you going to have [Belmont] renovated?” That's because our building doesn't have any heat. The first week of November can be very cold. It's essentially concrete, and concrete holds the cold.

As part of our plan, we want to see Belmont renovated. [The latest version of Belmont] was built in 1968, and it has the amenities of a 1968 facility. We need to provide updated amenities, and we're working towards that day. When that day comes, I'll be the first person to be submitting a request that the Breeders' Cup come back to New York, and that New York be part of the rotation every three, four, five years thereafter. We want to do it, but we want to do it right.