The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame has announced that there will be no general public seating for this year's induction ceremony on August 12, 2016. (TDN, May 25, 2016)
With the announcement that only members of The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame will be allowed two free tickets for the Hall of Fame induction ceremony, I will start to look on StubHub for resale of the tickets.
Individual Museum membership is $50, so that means fans or scalpers will be able to buy the membership in order to get those two tickets, so their cost will be $25 each. So, don't be surprised when they show up on StubHub for hundreds of dollars each.
Remember that seats for last year's Belmont Stakes were selling for 20 or 30 times face value on StubHub.
The reason given in a press release was “because of high demand and limited available seating” at the Fasig-Tipton sales pavilion.
I guess the folks who run the event don't realize it is an insult to the true fans of the horses and humans being inducted to shut them out, or put a price tag on tickets for a once-in-a-lifetime event honoring the horses Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta, and the human teams surrounding those great thoroughbreds. Also to be honored are Jockey Ramon Dominguez and Trainer Steve Asmussen.
Maybe they also did not realize that there are any number of venues in Saratoga that could accommodate a larger crowd. Even the track itself seems like a better alternative for the ceremony than shutting out the true fans or making them pay to get a ticket.
God forbid when this was discussed, the thought of turning this into a money making proposition through the sale of memberships was considered. Or was it?
Wonder what the reaction would be in Major League Baseball if they started to charge admission for Hall of Fame inductions at Cooperstown, or The National Football League charging for a “membership” to attend the ceremony in Canton?
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