Churchill Downs Selling More Seat Licenses For Derby, Oaks

Churchill Downs Selling 787 Additional Five-Year PSLs For Kentucky Derby

Churchill Downs is selling five-year PSLs for 787 seats for the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks with the hopes of raising around $2.5M, according to Gregory Hall of the Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL. The PSLs will range from $850-60,000 and will “only give the buyer the right to purchase tickets, which can cost hundreds of dollars more.” Churchill Downs President Steve Sexton said that the changes “would mean about 7[%] of Derby and Oaks tickets would be assigned to a seat license –- and that number could grow.” Hall noted the track “ventured into the seat license market before the 2005 Derby and Oaks,” when 3,118 seats were offered under a 30-year PSL. Sexton said that the new PSLs “are an experiment to assess interest in short-term licenses.” Churchill Downs Dir of Corporate Communications Julie Koenig Loignon said that about $500,000 in licenses were sold last week and that the “exact number of seats ... could fluctuate depending on demand.” Koenig Loignon added that if the “holders of those seats choose not to purchase the license, the track would work with them to attempt to find other seats.” Meanwhile, Sexton said tickets to both races will increase 3-15% next year, with an average increase of 7-8%. Seats involved with the original PSLs will not increase (Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL, 11/23).

MEET & GREET: Churchill Downs ended its 20-day Fall Meet on Saturday with total wagering coming in at $172.24M, down from $182.2M for the comparable 21-day meet in ’05. Average daily wagering from all sources was $8.61M, down from an average of $8.68M last year. Average daily attendance was 7,848, up slightly from 7,820 in ’05, and average daily purse was $486,974, up 1.74% from $478,632 last year. The figures do not include wagering and attendance from the Breeders’ Cup, which was held at the track on November 4 (CDI).