Arlington Park Lands '02 Breeders' Cup Event; Seats Added

Arlington Park has been named the host site for the '02 Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships, to be run Saturday, October 26, and televised live by NBC (Breeders' Cup). In Chicago, Jim O'Donnell reports Arlington Park will construct "close to 35,000 temporary seating positions to augment" the 10,000-12,000 currently available. A crowd of 45,000-50,000 is expected (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 12/4). In Louisville, Bill Wolfe reports the event is expected to have a $50M economic impact. Though the track said in October that it needed $3M in state aid for temporary seating, it received just $500,000 (COURIER-JOURNAL, 12/4). BLOODHORSE.com's Kieckhefer & Mitchell cited various officials as saying that the event will attract 20,000 visitors and will have a $54M economic impact. Kieckhefer & Mitchell: "To make the deal work, the state of Illinois pledged tourism money for Arlington and the Greater Woodfield Area Convention and Visitors Bureau totaling $1 million over two years, plus additional funding for local tourism efforts." NTRA Commissioner Tim Smith said that the Breeders' Cup is "planning to work with" Arlington to secure race sponsorship from Chicago-based businesses. Smith said that the Breeders' Cup "believes all sponsors of races this year plan to return" in '02, and that on Thursday, the NTRA will announce the addition of another title and divisional sponsor (BLOODHORSE.com, 12/3).