The
Muscogee Nation reached a naming rights deal that will put an end to live horse races at a track in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The tribe is paying $1.4 million a year for the naming rights at the
Expo Square at the Tulsa Fairgrounds. The facility will be known as the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Center.
The deal requires the
Fair Meadows Racetrack to end horse races, for which the Muscogee Nation and two other Tulsa-area tribes were partially subsidizing.
The track will lose $2 million a year from the tribes, according to news reports.
“We see it as a savings,” Muscogee Chief George Tiger said at a press conference, The Native American Times reported. “Whatever money we were paying out to them before will be coming back into our coffers.”
The naming rights deal starts in 2013 and runs through 2019.
The compact that required the tribes to subsidize the track ends in 2020.
Get the Story:
Muscogee (Creek) Nation gets naming rights for Tulsa's Expo Square
(The Native American Times 11/4)
Deal ends live horse racing at Tulsa Fair Meadows
(AP / The Tulsa World 11/3)
Closing of Fair Meadows was news to Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission (The Tulsa World 11/3)
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