WTH Is Going On At Expo Square?

[Conan71]

Ruf,

Great research.  The only exception I've got with what you've said is the grandstand is dilapidated.  The stands are made from steel and the seating was all aluminum.  Granted, it's been a few years since I was up in the stands, but so long as you keep a coating over the steel structure, those stands should be there and in pretty good shape 100 years from now.

[TulsaRufnex]

Ruf,

Great research.  The only exception I've got with what you've said is the grandstand is dilapidated.  The stands are made from steel and the seating was all aluminum.  Granted, it's been a few years since I was up in the stands, but so long as you keep a coating over the steel structure, those stands should be there and in pretty good shape 100 years from now.

You're probably right, since I've only seen them at a distance and assume the discolor I see is rust, but that could be a relatively easy fix.
There's just such a HUGE night-and-day difference between what I see driving by the horsetrack or around the parking lot compared to Remington Park in OKC...



I wish the county or the guys with the horses would get into the youth soccer business... the guy trying to get pro soccer in Indy right now had all sorts of ideas for converting the asphalt parking area inside the horsetrack into tourney ready soccer fields while using the existing ballpark for a pro team-- of course, that phone conversation happened three years ago... someday... someday...  

something brewing with the old ball park?

If there was, it'd have to be put on hold, after the Creeks' basically got "right of first refusal."

That said, Expo Square would be willing to rent out to anybody with interest... on month-to-month basis, to multiple lessees, and/or for a single event.

The stadium looks okay, field hasn't been maintained in around a year... the outfield has some dead grass, some weeds growing in the infield, stall dividers missing in the bathroom... wouldn't take much to restore/maintain... currently easier to let it sit, than pay to destroy it... and there's no outcry to knock it down, so...

RBI's lease was done in 2011 and not renewed... from 2 years ago... http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20101222_16_A5_CUTLIN463825&allcom=1

Under terms of the lease, RBI will pay $5,000 rent each month and be responsible for all maintenance. The contract allows RBI to hold nonbaseball events with the permission of Expo Square.

RBI Inc. is not affiliated with Major League Baseball's program of the same name, Strickland said.

Also at Tuesday's meeting:

  The authority approved without comment a three-year contract for Fair Meadows General Manager Ron Shotts.

At Shotts' request, the contract reduces his $10,000 per month salary by half by the third year.

Shotts said previously that he believed that the cut was "the right thing" because of the track's declining revenue.

[TulsaRufnex]

Ruf,

Great research.  The only exception I've got with what you've said is the grandstand is dilapidated.  The stands are made from steel and the seating was all aluminum.

BTW, here's the article I got the "dilapidated" idea from.... I stumbled across it about a year ago....

Horsemen complain that Fair Meadows declining
By Kevin Canfield, Tulsa World
Posted 06/19/2011 05:02:03 PM
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/horses/2011-06-19-3859235189_x.htm

"Nobody wants to run there," Teel said. "Instead of going to Fair Meadows, I have to find somewhere else to go, so I send horses to Lone Star Park in Dallas."

Lowry, Teel and others say Fair Meadows' track remains in good condition but that the rest of the facility has been allowed to deteriorate.

They point to a reduction in the number of concession stands, limited hours for the eateries that are open, the removal of picnic tables and misters in the paddock area, broken fans in the test barns and TV monitors with unclear pictures.

Horse owner Jim Skinner said parking is a problem because fairgrounds officials accommodate other events first, leaving parking spaces near the track off-limits to the horsemen and entrances and exits blocked.

"They don't seem to care anything about the horsemen," Skinner said. "They're like second-class citizens."

Skinner thinks he knows why: a 15-year agreement that Fair Meadows signed with three Tulsa-area tribes in 2005.

The deal calls for the racetrack to receive a minimum of $2 million a year from the tribes in lieu of installing gambling machines. As part of the agreement, Fair Meadows is required to run at least 400 live races a year.

"My gut feeling is they don't really care; they're going to get the money anyway," Skinner said.

Ron Shotts, Fair Meadows' director of racing, rejects Skinner's assertion.

He said that while some of the horsemen's complaints, such as the disruption in parking, are legitimate, others are not, or have since been rectified.

The bottom line, Shotts said, is that the live meet's bottom line is bad, and with that comes constraints on what he can spend. Last year the meet lost $731,188.

Still, more than $100,000 has been spent on maintenance and improvements to the racetrack since last year's meet ended, Shotts said.

In addition, the racetrack continues to try to boost wagering on its live races by increasing the number of locations the meet is broadcast around the country.

"I wish I had all the money in the world to go in and clean up the grandstand," he said. "I would like to tear the whole thing down; it's an obsolete facility.

"But we could build a grandstand and there is no way it would ever make economic sense because the public just doesn't come to horse races."

Shotts said he's sympathetic - to a point - with the horsemen's assertion that, without them, the racetrack would not be getting $2 million a year from the local tribes.

"But the only reason we have an opportunity to run 400 races is because we have a fairgrounds and a fair meet," Shotts said, referring to the state law under which Expo Square is permitted to hold races.

He said it's important to remember that Fair Meadows is not Will Rogers Downs in Claremore or Remington Park in Oklahoma City - racetracks first and foremost. The racetrack, completed in 1989, is part of a larger operation, Expo Square, and thus must make its budget decisions within that context.

"It's not the only thing we do here," he said. "At Remington Park and Will Rogers Downs, that's all they do. If it wasn't for the casino at Will Rogers and the casino at Remington Park, they wouldn't be open either."

[TulsaRufnex]

I have a list somewhere of how much the county got from everybody, including the Drillers, the health dept, Big Splash, and Fair Meadows... Fair Meadows payments dwarfed all others...
At that time, nothing was printed by the Tulsa World pointing out that alot of those payments were being subsidized by $$$ from the Creeks and other tribes...

Ummm, found it... from 2009...

Online survey asks public to weigh in on site's future
By KEVIN CANFIELD World Staff Writer
Published: 9/12/2009
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=16&articleid=20090912_16_A1_Drille175649

Expo Square tenants
The Tulsa Drillers were one of six organizations that call Expo Square their full-time home.

Here is a list of those tenants and the terms of their agreements with Expo Square.

Tulsa Drillers: The baseball team paid Expo Square $18,000 a year and a percentage of concessions.

In 2008, that amounted to $84,834.

Tulsa County Health Center: The center pays Expo Square for the gas and electricity it uses to operate the building.

Tulsa Flea Market: The flea market pays the fairgrounds 60 percent of gross revenue from booth sales. It also pays $210 per event day if the fairgrounds staff provides clean-up. Last year, the flea market paid the fairgrounds $93,843.

Big Splash Water Park: The water park pays the fairgrounds a percentage of gross admission revenue based on a sliding scale ranging from 10 percent to 30 percent.

The park's minimum annual percentage rental fee is $125,000. Last year, the park paid the fairgrounds $130,736.

Fair Meadows Simulcast Facility: For many years, the Tulsa County Public Facilities Authority, which oversees operation of the fairgrounds, did not own the building.

That changed last year, leaving the authority to receive all of the money the racetrack raises from its live racing, its simulcast wagering and its sports grill. Last year, that amounted to $1.7 million.

Inn at Expo Square: The hotel pays rent equal to the greater of $42,000 or 5 percent of gross room revenue; and 5 percent of gross room revenue. Last year, that amounted to $100,726.

Source: Expo Square

[AquaMan]

Flea Market needs to renegotiate. They paid more than the Drillers?

[stageidea]

Personally, I would like to see track invested in and live racing offered more regularly.  I doubt this will ever happen due to the agreements they have with the tribes. 

They seem to invest next to zero into the track and so it is no surprise that it doesn't make any money. I went once the year and it truly was a depressing event.   So if they are not going to invest in the facility I see no reason to keep racing.  I found memories of going there when it first opened and it was a really nice facility.  It depresses me they have let it get so bad. 

[TulsaRufnex]

something brewing with the old ball park?

...new sod is being put in this week... still a couple of weeks from official "media day"...  

[Ibanez]

...new sod is being put in this week... still a couple of weeks from official "media day"...  

Tulsa is hosting the 2013 lawn mowing championships?

[Townsend]

Tulsa is hosting the 2013 lawn mowing championships?

Sadly, not in Oklahoma.

http://www.letsmow.com/chapters-clubs/map-schedule/

[Ibanez]

Sadly, not in Oklahoma.

http://www.letsmow.com/chapters-clubs/map-schedule/

Damn. I could use some high speed lawn mowing action after a nice dinner of sketti and butter!!


YOU PAY FOR THE WHOLE SEAT BUT YOU ONLY NEED THE EDGE!!!!

[TulsaRufnex]

Tulsa is hosting the 2013 lawn mowing championships?

The field is not yet "lawn mowing" material... but if you like watching grass grow...

[zstyles]

Whatever happened to the neon lights that cost us a few hundred thousand dollars on the wires above the expo center..anyone know? I would think that the company who put them in would have offered a warranty or something....if I remember right they just stopped working?

[rdj]

I believe the company went bankrupt.

[zstyles]

I believe the company went bankrupt.

Get what you pay for I suppose....

[TheArtist]

Whatever happened to the neon lights that cost us a few hundred thousand dollars on the wires above the expo center..anyone know? I would think that the company who put them in would have offered a warranty or something....if I remember right they just stopped working?

They were fiber optic. 

I remember as a kid having one of those bushy, plastic, fiber optic thingeys that changed colors. In the instructions it noted that you could "nick or scratch" the fiber with a knife and that would allow light to come out of those spots for added effect. 

Well, after a good ol Oklahoma hail storm I saw exactly the same effect on the fiber optic cables on the expo center. Apparently someone didn't think things through very well.