Business Deals | Compacts

Board reaffirms deal to end horse races, saving tribes millions

Friday, December 7, 2012

The Tulsa County Public Facilities Authority in Oklahoma approved a naming rights agreement with the Muscogee Nation, a deal that will end up saving tribes millions of dollars.

The agreement requires the Fair Meadows Racetrack to stop horse races. The Muscogee Nation, the Cherokee Nation and the Osage Nation were subsidizing the track under the Class III gaming compact but those payments are now expected to end.

Horsemen protested the arrangement at a crowded public meeting yesterday. But the board voted unanimously to accept the deal, which includes a waiver of sovereign immunity by the Muscogee Nation.

The tribe is paying $1.4 million a year to name the Expo Square at the Tulsa Fairgrounds as the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Center. The payment is far less than what the tribe would be contributing to the track's purse fund.

Get the Story:
Tulsa County amends Creek Nation naming rights agreement, Okla. horsemen disappointed (The Native American Times 12/6)
At Crowded Meeting, Fair Board Votes To End Live Horse Racing At Expo Square (News on 6 12/6)
Fair board amends naming rights contract, affirms an end to horse racing at Fair Meadows (The Tulsa World 12/7)