Message contradicts Creek Nation leader on the tie between racing at Fair Meadows and naming rights
BY KEVIN CANFIELD World Staff Writer
Monday, December 17, 2012
12/17/12 at 9:09 AM
A telephone message from Expo
Square’s CEO to the Tulsa County
fair board chairman in August
indicates the Muscogee (Creek)
Nation wanted the cessation of
live horse racing at Fair Meadows
Racetrack to be part of a naming
rights agreement it was negotiating
with Expo Square.
The message contradicts public
comments made by Creek Nation
Principal Chief George Tiger,
who as recently as Wednesday
told dozens of horsemen in a public
meeting “that our intent was
for the naming rights and naming
rights only.”
But in the Aug. 22 telephone
message from Expo Square CEO
Mark Andrus to fair board Chairman
Fred Perry, obtained by the
World through the state Open
Records Act, Andrus tells Perry
that the chief’s personal attorney,
Yonne Tiger, was very positive
about the possible partnership.
“And then asked the (tribal nation)
council for a resolution that
allows the chief to negotiate with
us for naming rights and which would then preclude live racing,
so they would really like
it to be in one package.”
When asked Thursday
about the telephone message
and whether it was his understanding
that the Creek
Nation wanted the naming
rights agreement linked to
the cessation of live horse
racing at Fair Meadows, Andrus
said, “That was our understanding
at the time.”
Tiger recalls the negotiations
differently, saying others
may have discussed linking
the two issues but it was
never offered to him.
“All the other things were
brought into it by the fair
board, with God as my witness,”
Tiger said.
Tiger said it was the fair
board that introduced live
racing into the negotiations.
“Our naming rights was
the official intent. Everything
else just kind of came to us,”
Tiger said.
Tiger had the same message
for horsemen at a special
meeting of the Tulsa County
fair board on Wednesday.
After joking that, as a politician,
“I’m kind of leery about
having my back to the horsemen,”
Tiger turned and said:
“I just wanted the opportunity
to let you know that our
intent was for naming rights
and naming rights only.
Whatever happens prior to
that is out of our purview, if
you will. We do want to wish
you the best of luck.”
The fair board on Nov. 1 approved
without comment a
$1.44 million-per-year naming
rights agreement with the
Creek Nation that included a
provision ending live horse
racing at Fair Meadows.
The decision outraged
horsemen, who claimed the
deal would cost them millions
of dollars in purse money
and hurt the livelihoods
of thousands of people who
work in the industry.
As part of a state compact,
the Creek, Osage and Cherokee
nations have been paying
Fair Meadows a total of $2
million a year in lieu of having
gaming machines. In addition,
the tribes pay $5 million to $8
million to fund horsemen’s
purses across the state.
Fair Meadows was required
to run 400 live horse
races a year to be eligible for
the tribal funds.
The compact, in place for
nearly a decade, was seen as a
way to compensate Fair Meadows
for not having gaming devices,
provide exclusive gaming
rights to local tribes and
support the horse racing industry.
The same compact set
out how many gaming devices
would be allowed at Remington
Park in Oklahoma City and
Will Rogers Downs in Claremore,
each of which is operated
by a tribe or its subsidiary.
Without live racing in Tulsa,
the Creek Nation — the
largest contributor to the
compact at about $3.2 million
a year — was in line to save
more than $2 million a year,
even with the $1.44 million
naming rights deal.
Andrus explained the reasoning
behind the deal at a
recent fair board meeting,
saying he had asked Fair
Meadows Racing Director
Ron Shotts to find options for
replacing the compact money
the fairgrounds receives,
“and he did.”
But the agreement fell apart
when the fair board learned
that Shotts had signed contracts
with the state’s quarter
horse and thoroughbred
associations prior to the fair
board’s approval of a naming
rights deal with the Creeks.
Wednesday, with Tiger in
attendance, the fair board
rescinded the original naming
rights deal and proposed
a new agreement — with no
live horse racing provision
— that calls for the Creeks to
pay $140,000 a year for naming
rights.
Expo Square had been receiving
$135,000 a year under
its naming rights agreement
with QuikTrip.
QuikTrip spokesman Mike
Thornbrugh said the company
did speak with Expo Square
about continuing the naming
rights agreement but that “in
our opinion, it seemed like
they were headed in another
direction, so to be very honest
about it, we quite frankly lost
interest in it.”
Andrus said QuikTrip was
the only other company to
express interest in a naming
rights agreement with the
fairgrounds.
Asked to explain why the
Creek Nation agreement had
dropped in value from $1.4
million to $140,000, Andrus
said, “The terms of the partnership
have changed, therefore
the proposed financial
considerations has changed.”
Tiger told the fair board
Wednesday that he would
need to bring the fair board’s
latest offer to his national
council for approval.
That leaves Expo Square
without a naming rights
agreement. And the former
QuikTrip Center is without a
name.
But should the Oklahoma
Horse Racing Commission
on Monday accept Fair
Meadows’ signed licenses to
hold live races in 2013, as is
expected, there will be live
horse racing in Tulsa in 2013.
And Fair Meadows will get
its $2 million from the tribes
— funds Andrus and the fair
board believed they had replaced
with their agreement
with the Creeks.
Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission special meeting
The commission has
scheduled a special meeting
for 3 p.m. Monday in
Oklahoma City to consider
action regarding Tulsa
County’s Fair Meadows
facility.
Original Print Headline: Message contradicts Tiger
Kevin Canfield 918-581-8313
kevin.canfield@tulsaworld.com
Associated Images:
George Tiger (left) and Mark Andrus: A phone message from Andrus to the fair board chairman seems to indicate that the Creek Nation wanted the naming rights agreement linked to the cessation of live horse racing at Fair Meadows, which contradicts recent comments by Tiger.
|
