OMAHA, Neb.—The state’s struggling horse racing industry scored a major victory Friday, with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln agreeing to allow racing at State Fair Park through 2012.
A two-year lease with the state Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protection Association will keep live racing and year-round simulcasting going even as the university begins to develop the new Innovation Campus on the state fairgrounds. After this year, the fair will move to Grand Island.
The association will begin operating the track on Jan. 1 and pay $1 a month to the university. HBPA leaders say the name of the track would be changed.
The Board of Regents will be asked to approve the deal at its June 12 meeting.
“If we lost the Lincoln market, that would be a pretty big blow to us,” Nebraska HBPA president Jerry Fudge said. “We’re pretty happy we’re going to be able to stay.”
The Lincoln track accounts for 34 of the 104 racing days in Nebraska this year and the market’s bettors for $20 million to $25 million in annual mutuel handle. That’s about a quarter of the state wagering total.
Racing’s future in Lincoln came into question after the university’s takeover of the adjacent State Fair Park property was made official last year.
UNL hopes the Innovation Campus will attract high-tech companies that will capitalize on the work of UNL researchers. Agricultural biotechnology and life science research will be prominently featured.
“The university is supportive of the Horsemen’s continued use of the racing facilities, which will not hinder the early stages of our development of the State Fair Park into useful and productive private-public research space,” said Christine Jackson, UNL vice chancellor for business and finance.
HBPA vice president David Anderson said it’s possible State Fair Park’s track could stay open a year or two beyond 2012, depending on the university’s plans for the property.
The HBPA and Lincoln developers are studying the possibility of opening an equine center on the east side of town. The facility would host racing, rodeos, dressage events and horse shows, Fudge said.
But plans remain on the drawing board as the HBPA tries to figure out how to pay for it, Fudge said.
The lease with the university gives the horsemen’s group more time to mull its future, he said.
Anderson, the dominant trainer in Nebraska for two decades, said the loss of the Lincoln market would represent a “nail in the coffin” for Nebraska racing. Besides Lincoln, tracks operate in Grand Island and Columbus. Simulcasting facilities in Omaha and South Sioux City each run four days of live racing.
“Without Lincoln, we don’t have a circuit,” he said. “Without the 104 days of racing (in the state), we would start to losing trainers to other jurisdictions. If we lose the 34 days of racing in Lincoln, we’ll lose a substantial amount of trainers who call Nebraska their home.”
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