EAST RUTHERFORD — The Meadowlands Racetrack has at least a two-week extension on its life after New York developer and horseman Jeffrey Gural said today he is making progress with employee unions at the financially-troubled facility. Gov. Chris Christie and the New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority originally set today as the deadline to close the racetrack if the...
Bruce Saunders, from East Rutherford, works a horse at the Meadowlands Racetrack in this July 2010 photo.EAST RUTHERFORD — The Meadowlands Racetrack has at least a two-week extension on its life after New York developer and horseman Jeffrey Gural said today he is making progress with employee unions at the financially-troubled facility.
Gov. Chris Christie and the New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority originally set today as the deadline to close the racetrack if the state could not find private investors willing to take over operations, but the governor today gave Gural two more weeks to work out a plan.
"The administration and the Sports & Exposition Authority continue to work with Mr. Gural to solve some of his remaining issues, which we think can be worked out," said Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak.
At a forum on the future of gaming in New Jersey at Rutgers University in Newark, Gural said unions representing racetrack employees refused to hold talks with him because they were concerned their wages and benefits would be cut.
But the unions’ lawyers now have agreed to meet with his attorneys as early as next week, said Gural, chairman of American Racing and Entertainment LLC, which owns two racinos — a hybrid of casinos and horse racing facilities — in upstate New York.
"I’m optimistic we’ll be able to make a deal. Plan B is they’re out of work," Gural said after the forum.
The proposal includes building a new but smaller racetrack and constructing off-track wagering facilities to compliment — not compete with — harness racing at the Meadowlands, he said.
Thomas Luchento, the leader of the state’s harness racing industry, said Gural, who was tapped in December to come up with a package, has been trying to negotiate with about half a dozen unions, including building trades, plumbers, electricians and tellers.
"I think by two weeks we’ll have a deal. I’m very positive about it," said Luchento. "Everybody needs to get to the table and understand we’re not taking their benefits, we’re not taking their money."
He said without an agreement in the next two weeks, the racetrack "will shut down and that will be the end of racing at the Meadowlands."
If an agreement is reached, the harness racing season would be a minimum of 75 racing days, about half the span of the previous seasons, running from the first weekend of May through mid-August on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
Gural said slots are lucrative draws on race days at his racinos, but he acknowledged Christie’s opposition to casinos outside of Atlantic City will prevent him from including them in his plans for the Meadowlands for now.
Earlier in the forum, Jon Hanson, the head of Christie’s commission on racetracks and casinos, said casino gambling should remain only in Atlantic City and should not spread to the Meadowlands despite claims it would help the horseracing industry, which has been heavily subsidized by gaming revenue.