Aqueduct Racetrack Goes Silent

The end of the Big A' marks the demise of one more iconic sports venue and its signature sound

After 132 years as one of the preeminent horse-racing tracks in the country, Aqueduct Racetrack closed for good in late June. Despite more than $18 million in capital improvements at the venerable horse track in 2017, the Big A, as it was known, could not withstand the changes in U.S. sports culture and economics in recent decades.

Occupying 210 acres in South Ozone Park in Queens, the New York City borough it shares with the MLB Mets' Citi Field, Aqueduct joins other storied sports venues that exist (mostly) only as legends.

The original Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, opened in 1923 and the site of 26 of the team's still-untouched record of 27 World Series wins, was demolished in 2010 after the Yankees moved to the new stadium next door.

Houston's Astrodome, the iconic former home of the MLB Astros and now-extinct NFL Oilers, is mostly vacant, although it remains standing.

The long-time home of the NFL Washington Commanders (n Redskins) and MLB Nationals, RFK Memorial Stadium was permanently closed in 2017 and is slated for demolition.

Perhaps the most legendary of all, Ebbets Field, in Brooklyn's Flatbush neighborhood, was the beloved home of the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1913 until the team's controversial relocation to Los Angeles after the 1957 season. It was demolished in 1960, replaced by the Ebbets Field Apartments.

Audio and Video Were Game-Changers

Aqueduct, like other sports venues, had relied on updated audio and video systems to enhance fan engagement. An $18 million improvement project included Longshots Simulcasting Center - in which a complete overhaul outfitted the property's main simulcast theater and sports bar with upgraded, stadium-level audiovisual equipment - and implementation of high-definition videoboards throughout the property to deliver more-vivid live race feeds and replays. The New York Racing Association (NYRA) installed more than 100 flat-screen HD televisions ranging from 22 in. to 90 in. on all levels of the facility, pushing the venue's total to more than 550 screens.

The upgrades were part of a modernization push meant to sustain the facility as a premier simulcasting hub until live racing ended. (Although live thoroughbred racing has now ceased, the Aqueduct site and its attached casino continues to operate as a simulcast hub.)

Slowing Horses

Overall, horse racing has steadily decreased in popularity in recent decades. Nonetheless, the sport's adherents have pressed on, and, in recent years, it seemed to be coming up surprisingly strong in the cultural and broadcast backstretch. For instance, in 2024, the 150th Kentucky Derby set a new record for viewership - 16.7 million viewers, a 13% increase from 2023 - and drew 156,710 onsite, its largest crowd since 2018. The two-day Breeders' Cup at Del Mar in Southern California that same year reported an attendance of 67,418, a significant increase from the previous time the event had been held there, in 2021.

Spikes in viewership for key races even prompted FOX Sports to up the ante for the ponies on television last year. FOX and NYRA jointly announced a deal in which the broadcaster acquired exclusive media rights for the Belmont Stakes, the final jewel of thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown series.

But technical improvements have not been enough to resuscitate the sport much beyond its key annual events: the Triple Crown series and individual contests like the Preakness and the Breeder's Cup Classic. The first indication that the sport faced truly existential challenges was in 1970, when New York legalized offsite wagering, previously the realm of enterprising bookies. With Off-Track Betting (OTB), punters could make wagers down the street instead of having to go to the track.

That dynamic expanded exponentially with the arrival of legalized betting nationally, after a 2017 Supreme Court ruling let states regulate their own gambling. Today, prediction markets like Kalshi allow anyone anywhere to create their own parimutuel paradise online. (OTB shut down in 2010, collateral damage to the sport's declining popularity.)

Other challenges to the sport are aging fan demographics and ethical scrutiny: for instance, in 2023, seven horses died or were euthanized following injuries at Churchill Downs.

The Sound of the Sport

Sports venues and sound have had a love/hate relationship over the years. Improved sound quality from installed PA systems has vastly improved speech intelligibility, and full-range, touring-grade PA systems made music more enjoyable. On the other hand, noise complaints from venue neighbors are many and sometimes legion, such as the long-running battle between the residents of another Queens neighborhood and the Forest Hills Tennis Stadium.

Aqueduct had its own contretemps on the topic. Last year, loud music from the adjacent Resorts World casino forced NYRA officials to cancel racing at the track on a Sunday in March, and the roar of engines at a motorcycle show spooked the horses.

Although large trends pushed against the venue, Aqueduct did maintain an impactful presence for most of its 13-plus decades. The track had cameos in films like A Bronx Tale and Lucky Number Slevin and was the setting for much of a Season 4 episode of The Sopranos.

Venues Make Memories

What makes a stadium or an arena immortal? When it can create as emotional a connection with the fans as the teams it hosts.

The magic is made by venue design and the action the venue has hosted over its lifespan, coupled with the right AV elements. These all interact to create anunforgettable experience, says Mark Graham, principal, WJHW, a systems-design firm, which can span generations, beyond even the physical existence of the venue itself. (Ebbets Field T-shirts are

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