We’re resurfacing this piece, written when the A’s and Oakland were in negotiations for a new ballpark in the city, after the news that the A’s have reached an agreement to move the team to Las Vegas and build a new ballpark there. In response, Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao said the city is ceasing negotiations with the team. It appears to be official: Three years after the Raiders left for Vegas and four years after the Warriors hopped across the Bay to San Francisco, Oakland has lost its final remaining major pro team.
The Ringer – Moore – What Do Cities Lose When They Lose Pro Sports?
In my heart, I am always a Raider.
Hunter S. Thompson
Sports Business Journal – Fisher, A’s may get Vegas ballpark, but was on-field success sacrificed?
Sports Illustrated – Apstein – A’s Owner Must Be on a Mission to Alienate Everyone in Oakland
Front Office Sports – Poindexter – A’s Want $500M from Nevada by June 5
Front Office Sports – Cohen – Former MLB Exec: A’s Could Stay In Oakland, Vegas Not Done Deal
The Oakland/California Seals survived in the NHL only from 1967-76. That club was such a disaster it folded operations two years after relocating to Cleveland, as the Barons.
Toronto Sun – Kryk – Goodbye Oakland, hello Las Vegas — A’s baseball team on the move
Phil has a question:
Which is worse – to lose a sports franchise or to have a franchise since 1970 that has never toured the Cup with the same name as the Park through the Park
Sports Net – Fox – White skates, orange pucks & nudity: The California Golden Seals Story
St.Louis – Toler – 5 Reasons Why the Rams Want to Leave St. Louis
Reuters – Respaut – With NFL Rams gone, St. Louis still stuck with stadium debt
Phil has a question:
Has St. Louis ever heard of Tim Reid.
ESPN – Thanks for the memories
Paulick Report – RIP Hollywood Park: Land ‘Simply Has a Higher and Better Use’
The Raiders of old were vicious and crazy and cruel. Hanging around their locker room was like hanging around the weight room at Folsom Prison.
Hunter S. Thompson
Los Angeles Times – Cherwa – Horse racing newsletter: We’ll miss you, Arlington Park
The point of cities is multiplicity of choice.
Jane Jacobs
Shuttered U.S. Racetracks (Since 2000)
Phil’s Drink ‘n a Flick
Bon Appetit – Sommelier Pairs Wine With 5 Classic Pasta Dishes
No Races this week on the Road to the 2023 Kentucky Derby 149
Brisnet – Get to know the 2023 Kentucky Derby contenders
Horse Racing Nation – Flatter – Meet the trainers who will compete in Kentucky Derby 2023
Kentucky Derby 150
Kentucky Derby 150 – Derby of A Lifetime Contest
Vote early and vote often.
Al Capone
2023 Preakness 148 Saturday May 20, 2023
DRF – Russo – Some Kentucky Derby hopefuls now setting their sights on Preakness
Bill Dory & Adam Ference’s Chase the Chaos the El Camino Real Derby winner with a guaranteed spot in the Preakness has been nominated to the California Derby at Golden Gate Fields on Saturday April 29, 2023.
TDN – Preakness 148 Offers Limited Edition Ale
2023 Belmont Stakes Saturday June 10, 2023
Win the Ultimate Kentucky Derby Party!
Plan the Ultimate Kentucky Derby Party!
Kentucky Derby 149 Contest
Opening Day/Kentucky Derby Party Experience
Alberta horse trainer Rod Cone to receive Ken Cohoe Lifetime Achievement Award at the upcoming Night of Champions.
With 987 wins and over $9.8 million in earnings, Rod is a multiple graded stakes winning trainer, including three Canadian Derby wins.
Join us on Friday, May 5th, at Century Mile Racetrack and Casino.
Book your tickets before April 28th. Contact CTHS office at 403-229-3609 or visit www.cthsalta.com for tickets and more information.
What Needs To Be Done if Thoroughbred Racing wants to remain relevant
Phil’s adding the new and reprising the old articles:
Never insult anyone by accident.
Robert A. Heinlein
TDN – Liebman – Letter to the Editor: Computer Assisted Wagering
There is always room for losers in the football business. They are the mother’s milk of gambling, and why not? Somebody has to do it, or there won’t be any winners.
Hunter S. Thompson
Phil has a question:
What happens to horse racing when you run out of mother’s milk.
Horse Race Insider – Pricci – NON-SUPER TRAINERS FACE BLEAK FUTURE IN TODAY’S RACING INDUSTRY
Front Office Sports – Greenberg – Sports Betting Giant Selling Its U.S. Operations
Officials believe they must cater to whales to protect betting handle that’s been virtually flat for decades, never mind keeping pace with inflation. What they fail to grasp is that if rank and file players continue walking away, today’s precious purses will be unsustainable.
Michele Fischer, vice president of the United States division of SIS Content Services, which is the largest distributor of horse racing content to global wagering operators, said fixed-odds wagering on U.S. horse racing would be an attractive addition to sports betting platforms. She said there’s still time for the industry to make the move but the clock is ticking.
“We have to look at the industry five years from now, 10 years from now,” Fischer said. “We are getting left behind—and I’d say this for other equestrian sports—we’re becoming niche—very niche—very quickly,” Fischer said. She predicted that the day is soon coming when sports without a direct presence on sports betting sites will lose traction with the mainstream audience.
“There’s always going to be people that want to come to the racetrack and they’re going to want to bet on horse racing. That’s a small group,” Fischer said. “But (fixed-odds sports betting) is a huge opportunity for this entire industry to get out with all these other sports.”
Bloodhorse – Angst – Opportunity for Racing as Sports Betting Eyes Content
Phil has a question:
How can anyone in Alberta expect the fucking jokers over at Horse Racing Alberta to be able to meet the challenges alluded to by Fischer and Pricci when all they can do is cash their paycheques and gaze out the windows while the one real performance metric they publish – handle declines year after year.
TDN – Ross – When Do CAWs Help And Hurt California Racing?
Phil has a question:
If you asked any of the minions at Horse Racing Alberta what they understand about CAWs would their response involve crows.
In all of the articles about CAWS why is there no mention of the actual dollar amounts of the rebates and how those amounts impact what the tracks receive and what ends up dwindling down to the horsemen.
… the number of people betting on sports and the volume of wagering across the United States quickly surpassed horse racing’s totals and continues to grow.
Paulick Report – The Friday Show Presented By Icon Global: Merging Sports Betting With Horse Racing
How will horse racing attract new customers when a new customer looks at sports betting and sees a fairly level wagering field with fixed odds with a small vig (takeout) and then looks at horse racing where the tracks themselves provide better information and easier ways to bet for a preferred class of customers, the CAWs, the takeout is usurious and the CAWS get a rebate that’s pretty close to the vig in sports betting.
To quote Craig Bernick – Good luck.
There is always room for losers in the football business. They are the mother’s milk of gambling, and why not? Somebody has to do it, or there won’t be any winners.
Hunter S. Thompson
Phil has a question:
When will Alberta have sports betting terminals in every lounge that has VLTs.
When will the sports betting terminals in every lounge that has VLTs have horse racing available.
What does the Undertaker do besides gaze out his window.
Phil’s not archaic. Phil understands that most people in Alberta sports bars bet on their phone, tablet or laptop on a grey area site that pays nary a nickel of taxes to the province of Alberta.
According to Cummings’s research, in the past two decades, adjusting for inflation, total betting on US horseracing from the general public decreased 63 per cent. Betting from CAWs, meanwhile, increased 150 per cent. Cummings called Gulfstream Park, the track I went to with McKeever, “ground zero” for the computer groups. “Horseracing is not in a position to reject customers. Yet we have accepted and embraced these whales, with little to no consideration of the damage that they do if left unchecked,” Cummings told me. “It’s not a good thing to be losing Joe Q Horseplayer, and we’ve lost a lot of them.”
McKeever, for his part, sees himself on Joe Q Horseplayer’s side. His team of 13 full-time employees and contractors at EquinEdge wanted to do its own CAW wagering. But McKeever refused. “I am for the small guy, that’s what I’m pushing for,” he told me. “I give them every bit of information that I have, everything we develop, all of our technology. Everything I do is for the little guy. The big guy thinks he knows it already. It’s the little guy I want to take care of.”
Financial Times – Roeder – I used AI to bet on horse-racing. Here’s what happened
Phil has a question:
Are McKeever and the rest of the CAWs willing to give their rebates to the little guys.
How will horse racing attract new customers when a new customer looks at sports betting and sees a fairly level wagering field with fixed odds with a small vig (takeout) and then looks at horse racing where the tracks themselves provide better information and easier ways to bet for a preferred class of customers, the CAWs, the takeout is usurious and the CAWS get a rebate that’s pretty close to the vig in sports betting.
Paulick Report – The Friday Show Presented By Icon Global: Merging Sports Betting With Horse Racing
To quote Craig Bernick – Good luck.
There is always room for losers in the football business. They are the mother’s milk of gambling, and why not? Somebody has to do it, or there won’t be any winners.
Hunter S. Thompson
That previous deal was “built around a 50-50 cost split between” Calgary Sports & Entertainment Corp. and the city, but the new agreement “sees the bulk of costs covered by the municipal and provincial governments.”
Sports Business Journal – Flames strike deal with city, province for new arena
Phil has a question:
Are the UCP going to change their party colours to red and white with Danielle Smith playing pre-election Santa Claus.
If Calgary is the big business free enterprise city it boasts about why the fuck does it come running to the province to pay for a new arena.
Front Office Sports – McCarthy – Nate Silver Leads List Of Execs Laid Off By Disney and ESPN
Canada’s National Observer – Fawcett-Atkinson – Meet the man turning mushrooms into meat
Bloodhorse – Eric Mitchell – Consultant Passero Retained to Evaluate Laurel Safety
Paulick Report – Freeman: Dettori’s Finale Is Going So Well – Is It Really The End?
Paulick Report – Kentucky Derby, Oaks Morning Workouts Open To Public Beginning April 27
Bloodhorse – Byron King – PA Official: ADMC Program Delayed Until May 22
Phil has a question:
Does anyone know what HISA’s role in racing is other than to collect money and pay salaries.
TDN – Martini and Bossinakis – $1.45-Million Arrogate Colt Leads The Way At OBS Spring Opener
Bloodhorse – Gash – OBS Spring Sale Off The Blocks for Day 1
TDN – Letter to the Editor: John Sikura
TDN – Anderson: Woodbine’s ‘Bully Tactics’ Could Result In ‘Mass Exodus’ Of Ontario-Breds
Bloodhorse – J. Keeler Johnson – 13 Trends to Know Before Betting on 2023 Kentucky Derby
Dirty Horse Club –THE 2023 Kentucky Derby ANALYSIS
Bloodhorse – Byron King – Castellano to Ride Mage in Kentucky Derby
The Ringer – Kelly – The Ringer’s 2023 NFL Draft Guide
Bloodhorse – California Chrome, Arrogate to Hall of Fame Together
DRF – Grening – Nakatani, Arrogate, California Chrome, Songbird top 2023 Hall of Fame class
TDN – Thornton – HISA’s Medication Control Program Reportedly Delayed Again
Phil has a question:
Do Century Mile or Century Downs ever have Loonie Dogs Night.
Bloodhorse – Kentucky Derby Post Positions by the Numbers
ESPN – Barnwell – Aaron Rodgers trade: Super Bowl or bust for the Jets? What’s next
Sports Illustrated – Verederame – The NFL’s Gambling Policy: Explaining How It Works
Front Office Sports – Poindexter – Fantasy Sports Giant Yahoo Acquires Sports Betting App
Horse Race Insider – Pricci – NON-SUPER TRAINERS FACE BLEAK FUTURE IN TODAY’S RACING INDUSTRY
DRF – Grening – Broken hand will keep Lezcano out of action at least another month
Los Angeles Times – Why did Fox News fire Tucker Carlson?
Bloodhorse – MRC Meeting Could be Lively Affair
Paulick Report – HISA Conducting Review Of Laurel Park Fatalities, Racetrack Surface
The Ringer – Murdock – Kevin Durant Is Content Being a Basketball Nomad
LitHub – “No Bees, No Food.” How Insects Help Farmers With Their Harvest
Study Finds – Here’s how sunflowers could save bumblebees from extinction
Time moves in one direction, memory in another.
William Gibson
ESPN – Cimini and Demovsky – Sources: Packers trade Aaron Rodgers to Jets for multiple picks
Los Angeles Times – Battaglio – Tucker Carlson departs Fox News, pushed out by Rupert Murdoch
DRF – Welsch – 2023 Kentucky Derby Clocker Report: Disarm drills serious five furlongs
Bloodhorse – Rollins – Derby Hopeful Disarm Blazes Five Furlongs at Churchill
CTV News – Chini – Most Canadians oppose recognizing King Charles as head of state: survey
Scientific American – Bartels – Surprising Creatures Lurk in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
The Ringer – Kapadia – Here’s How Every Pick of the NFL Draft’s First Round Will Go Down
Front Office Sports – Cohen – Cleveland Mayor Won’t Provide Funds for Browns’ Stadium
Phil has a question:
Does that fat fucking orange tinged straw topped liar have the slightest fucking clue about the meaning of music.
Do the fucking stoopid LGBTQIA+? hating MAGATS know that many of the songs that the fat fucking orange tinged straw topped liar misappropriates are written or performed by LGBTQIA+? artists.
Bloodhorse – Warren – Delta Downs Named Best Horse Racing Track by 10Best
10best – Grass, dirt and turf: 10 best horse racing tracks in the US
Garden and Gun – Mint Julep Month: Carthusian Julep
Garden and Gun – It’s Time for a Mint Julep
TDN – Petrunyak – Both New and Familiar Connections with Japanese Derby Contenders
TDN – McGrath – From Great Lakes Downs to the Derby
“It’s a hard thing to pass on when you have those highly sought-after points,” Brown told DRF. “(Owners) John and Carla Capek are clients who have been in the game three years, they’re wonderful to deal with and in speaking with them they want to put the horse first, which I love.”
DRF – Grening – No Derby for Blazing Sevens, no Oaks for Shidabhuti, Brown says
Bloodhorse – Blazing Sevens Out of Derby, Shidabhuti Skipping Oaks
Bloodhorse – Mage, Reincarnate Breeze Preparing for Kentucky Derby
TDN – Mage, Reincarnate Top Quiet Day on the Derby Worktab
Paulick Report – Ryan – Reincarnate Works In Company For Kentucky Derby
Paulick Report – Mage Breezes At Gulfstream For Kentucky Derby, Ships To Churchill Downs Sunday
Phil has a question:
Will Frankie go to Louisville
Bloodhorse – Rocket Can Records Penultimate Breeze at Churchill
TDN – Rocket Can on Track for Derby
Bloodhorse – Skinner Works Towards Potential Start in Kentucky Derby
DRF – Andersen – Espinoza, Skinner in waiting game for Kentucky Derby berth
I don’t think nostalgia is a healthy modality. But nostalgia and a sense of history are not the same thing. Nostalgia is a dysfunction of the historical impulse, or a corruption of the historical impulse.
William Gibson
Paulick Report – Shaping Up: Horses Qualified For Kentucky Derby, Kentucky Oaks, And Also-Eligibles
Bloodhorse – Capsule Looks at Contenders for the 2023 Kentucky Derby
There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.
Alfred Hitchcock
Paulick Report – Maryland Racing Commission Sets Special Meeting To Discuss Laurel Surface
TDN – Bill Finley – Laurel Horsemen Call Track Issues a “Catastrophic Emergency”
Bloodhorse – Byron King – Racing at Laurel Park Canceled April 27 Amid Conflict
TDN – MJC Issues New Statement on Laurel, Racing will Resume
Phil has a question:
Did MJC use the same phantom track consultants as they do in Alberta.
Did MJC’s phantom consultants perform a lab test and cat scan.
DRF – Rampellini – Red Route One in Preakness not sure thing, Asmussen says
Brisnet – Kelly – Red Route One up in time to snatch Preakness ticket in Bath House Row
Bloodhorse – Red Route One Earns Preakness Entry in Bath House Row
TDN – Red Route One Stamps His Preakness Ticket With Victory In Bath House Row S.
Don’t handicap your children by making their lives easy.
Robert A. Heinlein
Phil has a question:
Is Alberta so flush with cash that the UCPs can line their cronies’ pockets with million taxpayer dollars.
Phil has a question:
Is the March of the Cronies the UCP’s favourite song.
ESPN – AP – Del Mar to host Breeders’ Cup races for third time in 2024
ESPN – Miller – 2023 NFL mock draft: Matt Miller’s seven-round predictions, picks
Why don’t men like to stop and ask directions? This question, which I first addressed in my 1990 book ‘You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation’, garnered perhaps the most attention of any issue or insight in that book.
Deborah Tannen
Paulick Report – Philip My Dear, Velocitor Among 124 Nominees For Canadian Triple Crown
We can’t even celebrate Ja Morant’s epic 45-point performance—including 24 in the fourth—because all that stands out from Game 3 is how Memphis thoroughly, unequivocally failed to back up all of its trash talk even in the slightest.
Sports Illustrated – Nadkarni – Grizzlies Should Be Embarrassed After Game 3, But They’re Not Done
If you don’t think too good, don’t think too much.
Ted Williams
TDN – Thornton – Anderson: Woodbine’s ‘Bully Tactics’ Could Result In ‘Mass Exodus’ Of Ontario-Breds
Bloodhorse – Capsule Looks at Contenders for the 2023 Kentucky Derby
Bloodhorse – Byron King – Favorites Forte, Tapit Trice Breeze Toward KY Derby
Bloodhorse – Hovdey – Derby Story Lines Beginning to Take Odd Shapes
Bloodhorse – Angst – The Road: New Points System Rewards Active Horses
SportsNet – AP – NFL suspends five players including Lions’ Williams for violating gambling policy
The shift from a grey market to a regulated one has brought with it a great deal of opportunity for sportsbooks to tap into and grow their customer base.
But opportunity also breeds competition, leading some observers to conclude that supply is now higher than the demand.
…
“The focus at STX is not only on bringing a new demographic of day trader into the world of sports betting, but also providing a better experience for every potential customer from recreational to professional,” Deutsch explained. “Our team takes immense pride in creating unique and engaging customer experiences with white glove customer service. Retention will be key to our success. Loyalty is scarce in this industry and we believe that is a function of lack of product innovation and swift response to customer needs, both things we will provide at the highest level.”
Phil has a question:
When are the UCP going to get rid of AGLC’s abacus and give AGLC a new Atari.
Why is the UCP allowing so many millions of tax dollars to go offshore.
Do you believe that any of the minions over at Horse Racing Alberta can comprehend what STX is doing.
CTV News – Nick Nurse fired as Toronto Raptors head coach
ESPN – Nick Nurse out as Raptors coach, sources say
Phil M Stockmen
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.