Given the state-funded $455M cost of Belmont Park’s new grandstand and clubhouse building, it will need to generate much more revenue for the New York Racing Association (NYRA), which operates the 430-acre horse racing and training facility, and not only during the week of the Triple Crown’s third leg, the Belmont Stakes. The new building — strikingly designed by Populous — will feature at least 10 differentiated premium hospitality spaces, driving more revenue and creating a non-horse racing event-hosting business at Belmont Park for the first time, said NYRA CEO Dave O’Rourke. “Much smaller building but every seat inside is of high value,” he said. 

Playfly helped NYRA with pricing and valuation studies during the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga last year — the race will be held there again this year during the renovation, and likely again in 2026, though that’s not been finalized yet. The assessment helped inform design and pricing for the new building at Belmont Park, as well as determine how best to utilize new assets of the facility like the infield (which is now reachable for the first time through two massive tunnels) and The Backyard, which sits between the new building and UBS Arena. Additionally, the renovations should put Belmont Park back in the Breeder’s Cup hosting rotation; the Breeder’s Cup hasn’t run at Belmont since 2005. 

“If you were to start completely over, we helped them understand what kind of guardrails there could be,” said A.J. Machosky, Head of Business Development at Playfly. 

RELATED: Makeovers at Belmont and Pimlico aim to connect tracks to surrounding communities and to visitors outside of race days 

Playfly is also selling sponsorships and entitlements and naming rights for NYRA. That could potentially include naming rights to Belmont Park, “a unique opportunity to do that in this industry,” which doesn’t feature many naming rights deals beyond a few casino-related ones. Machosky estimated that there will probably be eight figures-worth of sponsorship potential at the new Belmont Park compared to pre-renovation. 

A separate, NYRA-funded $100M project that completely rebuilt the racing surfaces, including the Triple Crown’s mile-and-a-half “Big Sandy” dirt course, and added the two new tunnels that unlock the infield’s major potential for the first time. That includes having fans in the infield (and increasing capacity) during the Belmont Stakes, but also hosting other events, like concerts, or, as Populous Principal, Senior Architect, Meg McWilliam, who is leading the Belmont Park project’s design effort, posited, an outdoor NHL game in partnership with the neighboring Islanders?

“How cool would it be to have one at Big Sandy?” she said. “I think the Islanders would support that idea incredibly well.”