With nearly 50 years in the business, Timothy Rooney Sr. has seen much of the highs and lows of harness racing.
For his longtime dedication and involvement in the sport, Rooney was expected to be feted by the New York City chapter of the U.S. Harness Writers Association as the “man of the half-century” at the group”™s 50th anniversary awards banquet. The event was scheduled for April 27 at Empire City at Yonkers Raceway.
During an interview with the Business Journal, Rooney discussed some of the changes Harness Racing has seen over the years, and what the future might portend for the venerable sport.
Rooney has been president of Yonkers Raceway since 1972 when the Rooney family purchased the track. Rooney is the third son of Pittsburgh Steelers founding father, Arthur J. Rooney Sr.
Rooney has been involved with harness racing since the 1960s as an owner and breeder, and later as president of one of the sports legendary venues, Yonkers Raceway.
He has seen the golden years of the sport in the 1950s and ”™60s. He says with all the sporting options available to the public currently, it is unlikely harness racing will achieve that level of popularity again.
“There are so many games for people to watch now,” he said. “The competition for space in newspapers is just unbelievable. We used to have six or seven newspapers covering us every single night; now there are none.”
Rooney said there are much fewer races now than in the sports heyday, with tracks closing or cutting back on their number of races.
That means there is less purse money to go around, and fewer horses are being bred for harness racing.
However, he said the standardbred horses that are being bred these days are of higher quality.
“There is a much greater quality of horse, the breed is improving so much, it”™s a much better looking horse,” he said.
In addition to increased viewing options, Rooney said additional gambling options available to the public also caused harness racing to take a hit.
“The lottery alone cost harness racing a 22 percent drop,” he said. The New York state lottery was instituted in 1967, the second state lottery to be formed.
Rooney also said the creation of Off Track Betting took about 20 percent of live racing patrons away.
In 2006, Rooney spearheaded the $225 million renovation of Empire City at Yonkers Raceway, with 5,300 video lottery terminals (VLTs).
Empire City was built to help increase revenues at the raceway, which Rooney said it has.
“If it hadn”™t been for the VLT legislation, Yonkers Raceway would be a shopping center, we would not be here,” he said.
Empire City added $196 million to education in New York state in its first year. Empire City also added 1,000 jobs at the facility, taking the employee total from 300 to 1,300.
Rooney said the added revenue generated by Empire City has also added to the quality of racing at Yonkers.
“The (video gaming) machines here are providing a tremendous amount of purse money to horseman,” he said. “That is making the quality of racing better.”
Rooney said there is probably “very little crossover” between people who come to Yonkers for the gaming and those who come for the horse racing. So while the VLTs are adding money to the raceway”™s coffers and race purses, they are not likely converting new fans to the sport.
“Most people coming in here (for the VLTs) never bother to look out the window,” at the racing, he said.
Rooney said the harness racing business at Yonkers has experienced a “slow growth” over the past few years, and he is hopeful the sport in general can continue an upward trend in fan interest.
“There”™s a shortage of purses so it will take some time to do it,” he said. “But money will bring in new owners, and the owners come to see the horse race, and they invite friends who invite friends to come see the horse.”
Yonkers runs races all year round, which Rooney said has both its positive and negative aspects.
On one hand, Yonkers can attract more horses than other tracks that don”™t offer racing all year. However, more races also means the purses for those races are divvied up further.
“You are successful by running the best races you can and running the best racetrack you can, but ultimately the owners of horses will go where they can win the most money,” he said.
Rooney is honored to receive the award from the Harness Writer”™s Association.
“It”™s just a very great award,” he said. “I”™ve been able to meet a lot of the real great people in harness racing,” he said.
