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Tearing Down Hollywood Park
Tearing down historic Hollywood Park has become a symbol of the decline of horse racing for the media. This is nonsense. One writer even stating that closing HOL is the same as shuttering Fenway Park. A more realistic analogy would be leveling of old Tiger Stadium or the demise of the Montreal Expos. Or maybe even the closing the of Hialeah Park. None of these events had a major impact in the long run.
The track has been in steep decline since off track betting was legalized because it is located in an area where few horseplayers or anyone else would want to go for entertainment. Near LAX and heavily congested freeways; the Lakers and Kings have long since moved from the Forum next door; the surrounding neighborhood is high crime.
There are major environmental issues that will cost millions to resolve and years to clean up. The track surface itself cannot be bulldozed. The Cushion artificial surface must be removed and disposed of or transferred to another facility. A huge undertaking. The 75 year old grandstand has "toxic" written all over it with asbestos, old plumbing and sewage, lead paint. and wood rot. It can't just be buried. Same goes for the backstretch clean up.
The Bay Meadows debacle (pile of rubble left for years) was one reason Hollywood stayed open as long as it did. And in spite of everything, HOL actually made a decent comeback and became profitable. The artificial track proving to be one of the best and safest yet installed.
All in all, it's probably a good thing to carefully tear down the massive infrastructure and start the clean up. A new OTB will be built alongside the popular Hollywood Park poker casino. The local bettors will have easy access to bet horses. The horse racing OTB situation in California has been a success with sports bars and poker casinos as the backdrop. The combined exposure works.
With HOL ending, Horse racing in SoCal will be changed for good, but I'm predicting this will be a net positive for the sport both in California and nationally.
The track has been in steep decline since off track betting was legalized because it is located in an area where few horseplayers or anyone else would want to go for entertainment. Near LAX and heavily congested freeways; the Lakers and Kings have long since moved from the Forum next door; the surrounding neighborhood is high crime.
There are major environmental issues that will cost millions to resolve and years to clean up. The track surface itself cannot be bulldozed. The Cushion artificial surface must be removed and disposed of or transferred to another facility. A huge undertaking. The 75 year old grandstand has "toxic" written all over it with asbestos, old plumbing and sewage, lead paint. and wood rot. It can't just be buried. Same goes for the backstretch clean up.
The Bay Meadows debacle (pile of rubble left for years) was one reason Hollywood stayed open as long as it did. And in spite of everything, HOL actually made a decent comeback and became profitable. The artificial track proving to be one of the best and safest yet installed.
All in all, it's probably a good thing to carefully tear down the massive infrastructure and start the clean up. A new OTB will be built alongside the popular Hollywood Park poker casino. The local bettors will have easy access to bet horses. The horse racing OTB situation in California has been a success with sports bars and poker casinos as the backdrop. The combined exposure works.
With HOL ending, Horse racing in SoCal will be changed for good, but I'm predicting this will be a net positive for the sport both in California and nationally.
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