Five days after the Kentucky Derby, Churchill Downs Inc. successfully extended its reach to California and purchased Hollywood Park for $140 million in cash. The sale is expected to close sometime in August and will give Churchill Downs annual wagering revenues of $2.5 billion. The Louisville, Ky., track also owns Ellis Park in Kentucky, Hoosier Park in Indiana, the Kentucky Sports Spectrum and just recently completed the purchase of Calder Race Course in Florida. Once the Hollywood Park deal is completed, Churchill will be the only major racing business to operate coast-to-coast.
"This fits directly and totally into Churchill’s strategic plan," said Robert Decker, chief financial officer of Churchill Downs Inc., in a Daily Racing Form interview. "It brings us one step closer to a year-round simulcasting network."
Specifics of the deal call for Churchill to acquire 240 of the 378 acres on which Hollywood Park sits, which also includes the casino. However, it plans to lease the casino back to Hollywood Park Inc. for $3 million a year with a renewal option. Churchill is intent on building the strongest racing simulcast network in the country and its reason for buying the casino was it can also be used as a simulcasting outlet. Hollywood Park will retain the remaining 138 acres for development, citing Los Angeles International Airport expansion as one possibility.
Hollywood Park Inc., under chairman R. D. Hubbard, has shifted its business emphasis to gaming in recent years and was eager to reinvest the $140 million sale of the Inglewood track into bolstering its more profitable casino, card club and riverboat enterprises. However, all those in attendance at the announcement of the sale, agree that Churchill’s takeover was a healthy sign that live racing will continue at Hollywood Park.
"I had other companies interested," Hubbard told Thoroughbred Times. "But the main thing, in addition to the money, was to assure that racing would continue and be viable. I can assure you that is going to happen. Churchill is building the number one organization in racing in this country."