Preakness Safeguard
A new Maryland law allows the state to use eminent domain to seize the Preakness, in the event of a deal to take that race out of the state. Magna International, the current owner of Baltimore's Pimlico Race Course, contends that this is unconstitutional - and Magna might be right.
But, unconstitutional or not, the law is starting to seem like a very good idea.
Magna is in bankruptcy proceedings and has asked a judge for permission to sell its Maryland racetracks - Pimlico and Laurel Park - on condition that buyers promise not to move the Preakness from Maryland. The schedule requested by the company allows the 60-day review period called for by the law, which would let the state step in if there were any threat of such a move.
The Preakness, which dates back 136 years and has been run in Baltimore every year since 1909, is a nationally known pillar of the state's wobbling horse-racing industry, and one that Maryland simply cannot afford to lose. The state's attempt to apply the legal doctrine of eminent domain to an annual sporting event may be too broad - but, given the U.S. Supreme Court's outrageously expansive interpretation of the concept in Kelo v. City of New London (2005), who is to say?
Although Magna has reserved the right to challenge the law, it's in a financial hole right now and can't quibble. So all the bidders for Pimlico will have to pledge to keep the Preakness where it belongs. That's as it should be.
The Hometown Annapolis newspaper sounds so pleasant, the community says, "we want to keep our historical racetrack in the community despite the question of its profitability. If the racetrack owner wants to sell somewhere else for the higher amount, shame on him and he cannot move!" The reality is that fair market value might have to be paid if they ever got to the point of having the State of Maryland condemn the Pimlico Race Course. The problem here is that this diminishes the right of private entrepreneurship. Further, if Maryland would have given the race track a half square deal on the casino licensing, as it was supposed to, none of this would have come to fruition. With the licensing, there would have been a very successful race track and a very successful casino, with the State collecting taxes all the way to the State Capitol.
