Fair Board Tables Decision on Holding Concerts at Track

As the controversy moved from the political to the legal arena, the Del Mar Fair Board on Tuesday delayed a vote on holding concerts at the Del Mar fairgrounds.

The 30-day delay came as a disagreement broke out among attorneys over whether the Fair Board’s approval is even needed for concerts--or whether the State Race Track Leasing Commission can override the Fair Board and approve a proposal for 40 concerts a year at Del Mar.

Fair Board members were informed that the state attorney general, acting as attorney to the leasing commission, has said that the commission has the authority to approve use of the fairgrounds for any activities deemed necessary to the success of thoroughbred racing at Del Mar.

The concert proposal is part of an overall bid by two New York companies, the Nederlander Organization and the Ogden Corp., to assume control of the 43-day racing season.

Without the concerts, the bid is not financially viable and therefore is moot, according to Neil Papiano, attorney for Nederlander-Ogden. Papiano said he agrees with the attorney general’s opinion.

But William McKenzie, attorney for the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, which has had the racing lease for 19 years and is fighting to retain it, asserts that the leasing commission does not have legal authority to approve concerts.

The question of how much authority the leasing commission possesses could prove key to whether the Thoroughbred Club is given a 20-year renewal of the racing contract by the leasing commission.

In all, five bidders are seeking to wrest the lease from the Thoroughbred Club. According to a preliminary review by state budget analysts, the Nederlander-Ogden bid offers the greatest financial return to the state, a major standard meant to be used by the commission in awarding the contract.

Nederlander-Ogden feels its chances improve if the decision is left to the leasing commission.

On the other hand, the Thoroughbred Club feels it has a better chance of prevailing if the Fair Board can veto the Nederlander-Ogden bid by refusing to budge on concerts.

Each of the Thoroughbred Club’s five rivals, besides asking for control of the 43-day season, has asked for some change in the way the Fair Board does business--such as relinquishing control of satellite wagering and food concessions, scrapping long-held construction plans or allowing night harness racing.

In deference to Del Mar and Solana Beach, the Fair Board has not promoted concerts other than during the annual 19-day county fair in the summer. The concerts envisioned by Nederlander would be in addition to the concerts already held as part of the fair and would be spread over five months each year.

Officials in Del Mar and Solana Beach were unmollified Tuesday by assurances from Papiano that only one or two concerts a year would feature rock performers and that most of the concerts would be by symphonies or middle-of-the-road performers like Neil Diamond.

Del Mar Councilwoman Brooke Eisenberg said that, by turning the fairgrounds into “a constant noise annoyance to the public, I think the state will lose more than it gains.”

The 30-day delay is meant to allow Fair Board members to study all six bids and see what, if any, changes in existing policies they will be willing to make to accommodate them.

The delay will also allow attorney Byron Georgiou, recently retained by the Fair Board, to study the relative authority of the Fair Board as opposed to the leasing commission.

Even if the commission is judged to have the authority over events such as concerts, satellite wagering, food concessions and the like, the Fair Board is still not without a voice.

The commission hopes to make a decision on the Del Mar lease possibly by December, after receiving a recommendation from a subcommittee in late October.