O’Donnell: Could New Orleans spirit have saved Arlington Park?
WAY DOWN YONDER IN NEW ORLEANS, the business attitude of Bunker Bill Carstanjen and Churchill Downs Inc. has some of the wrong people fightin' mad.
So mad that a coalition spearheaded by Gov. Jeff Landry has apparently “convinced” Carstanjen and Co. to back off on plans to disrupt racing at the region's historic Fair Grounds thoroughbred track.
Funny, didn't Arlington Heights and state, county and local officials have the same sort of window to creatively fight back when CDI announced plans to shutter Arlington Park almost five years ago?
Instead, nobody did nothin' of substance.
In Louisiana, it's a far different tale.
THE TEMPEST STEMS FROM a state supreme court decision in March which deemed that Churchill Inc. could not operate a new kind of slot machine — called “Historic Horse Racing” — at Fair Grounds.
(CDI has owned Fair Grounds since 2004.)
The “HHR” machines pay far bigger jackpots than those allowed by video poker terminals. Thus, bigger profits go to Churchill Inc.
The Louisiana supreme court said CDI's new devices were unconstitutional. To be made legal, they'd have to gain approval via referendum on a parish-by-parish basis in which they were to be operative.
CARSTANJEN AND CO. BALKED, citing millions in lost revenue if the decision wasn't reconsidered.
Louisiana overseers declined. The state government also announced it would not consider subsidies for CDI to make up for any claim of lost profits.
Churchill then threatened to not apply for racing dates for the legacy winter meet at Fair Grounds, normally scheduled to start in late autumn.
Landry and horsemen, fellow politicians, FG employees and select citizens battled back.
ACCORDING TO LOUIE ROUSSEL III, a past owner of Fair Grounds and sage adviser to both Landry and the late Dick Duchossois: “The state and people of Louisiana will save racing at Fair Grounds primarily because of Gov. Landry.
“He's made it clear to Mr. Carstanjen and CDI that if they don't race, there is a stipulated formula for a sequence of fines that will continue to mount until a fair settlement is reached. Those fines would rise every year.”
A representative of CDI told media: “We are engaged in active discussions in hopes of a favorable resolution for all stakeholders.”
ALL IS A FAR CRY from the passive, wrecking-ball laydown in Illinois that led to the obscene demolition of Arlington Park.
So in New Orleans, they battle.
In Illinois, they instead are haunted by an empty prairie wind.
STREET-BEATIN':
Anyone who bet J.J. Spaun to win the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont (Pa.) cashed at 150-1. (That's a lot of niblicks. q.v.) An extended rain delay during Sunday's final round pushed back such NBC prime-time gems as “American Ninja Warrior” and “America's Got Talent.” (Boo hoo.) Spaun's winning 64-foot birdie putt on the final hole was positively Tigeresque. …
For ivy-blue ghost chasers, Craig Counsell and current crew are roughly five games behind the pace of Joe Maddon's 2016 world champion Cubs. The current three-game set vs. the visiting Brewers is huge. The fact that the Counsell men took three of four from Pittsburgh despite batting only .189 shows they are eminently capable of manufacturing whiffle-ball wins. …
Young Mike DeFabo continued to inch up the press-box vertical with an appearance discussing Aaron Rodgers on Fox's “The Herd.” DeFabo covers the Steelers for The Athletic. His sister — Maria DeFabo Akin — is production design director for the Lyric Opera of Chicago. …
Chicago Fire winger Maren Haile-Selassie told all who were listening he's no relation to the longtime Emperor of Ethiopia (1930-74). That Haile Selassie is a figure of divine importance in Rastafari, the Abrahamic religion practiced by many seminal reggae artists. The Fire's Haile-Selassie is a Swiss national who came to the local 11 from Joe Mansueto's FC Lugano. …
ESPN announced its signature “SportsCenter” will play “50 States in 50 Days” starting June 27. Illinois stop — and this must have required about 50 seconds of thought — will be a rooftop across from Wrigley Field after a Cubs-Reds game Aug. 6. (A late-afternoon baggage carousel at O'Hare would have been more imaginative.) Former NIU student Nicole Briscoe is slated to host. …
And a candid Rory McIlroy, asked what he was hoping for before his final 18 holes Sunday under the drab gray skies of the “lost” Oakmont Open: “A round in under four and a half hours and get out of here.” (McIlroy shot a comparatively dazzling 67 to salvage a tie for 19th place.)
Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears each week on Sunday and Wednesday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com. All communications may be considered for publication.