During a year like no other, the New York Racing Association faced a tidal wave of challenges that could have been devastating.
Yet thanks to working in tireless coordination with its entire racetrack community, NYRA has been able to race without active COVID-19 cases on its backstretch for the past few months.
From a financial standpoint, it's been NYRA's daily national telecasts and its NYRA Bets wagering platform that have played a crucial role in keeping racing afloat at Aqueduct Racetrack, Belmont Park, and Saratoga Race Course since NYRA resumed racing June 3 after an 80-day hiatus due to the pandemic.
Through a huge boost provided by a dramatic increase in NYRA Bets accounts and its "America's Day at the Races" telecasts on the Fox Sports (FS1 and FS2) and MSG networks, NYRA's total all-sources wagering in 2020 is down only 14.2% despite having 28.2% fewer race dates and 25.1% fewer races and no on-track fans (other than licensed owners and horsemen) since early March.
"It's hard to imagine what the year would have looked like if we didn't have the television shows in place and ADW support through NYRA Bets. It's a scary thought. We were able to not only keep the shows going but have a measure of success through a very difficult time," said Tony Allevato, NYRA's chief revenue officer and the president of NYRA Bets. "It's a credit to (NYRA CEO and president) Dave O'Rourke and people who were here long before I arrived to have the infrastructure in place."
Through Nov. 29, NYRA's all-sources handle for 2020 stood at $1,715,256,485 off 1,397 races in 145 days of racing, compared to $1,998,633,683 from 1,866 races during 202 dates a year ago.
The key ingredient in filling that void has been producing more than double the number of television hours from 2019.
Finding willing partners in the national Fox Sports and regional MSG networks, NYRA continued to air "America's Day at the Races" with Oaklawn Park races even after racing at Aqueduct was shut down in March. Once racing resumed June 3 at Belmont Park, the lack of available live sports opened the door for more broadcast time for NYRA's in-house-produced "America's Day at the Races," allowing the show to include each NYRA race on a daily basis, plus races from Churchill Downs, Woodbine, Finger Lakes, and Parx Racing.
Even as professional sports resumed, the response to the shows convinced Fox to continue with the expanded hours.
Last year, NYRA produced just 385 programming hours on Fox networks, but in 2020 Fox will present 777.5 hours of coverage, including the year-ending Dec. 5 Cigar Mile Handicap (G1) card telecast. With additional hours on MSG+, the total extends to nearly 800 hours.
The biggest jump came on Fox Sports 1, the flagship cable channel for that network. After showing just one hour of NYRA programming last year, the figure skyrocketed to 206 in 2020.
"We produced more than 700 hours of live television, a national show on Fox for the Runhappy Travers (G1), and more than 200 hours on Fox Sports 1, all out of our simulcast television truck," Allevato said. "It's been remarkable and a credit to our entire crew, the producers, and talent."
Allevato also said the number of NYRA Bets accounts and wagering on the platform have tripled in 2020.
A benefit for NYRA is that a NYRA Bets wager placed by a New York state resident is considered an on-track bet in terms of revenue received from it.
