Should Greyville do an Ascot

9 am and the sun is already being hidden from the areas of grass around the winning line and pull up

Ascot done it

Longchamp are doing it

Why not build a super venue , add in casino, hotel shopping Mall ?

Excellent Idea, Woodbine in Toronto has a huge casino/restaurants etc and once the racings done everyone flocks to the casino, the whole place is always abuzz.

I just dont see it happening here though, took them 50-60 years to even consider revamping Greyville

Greyville has huge potential but those in control dont have vision.
The whole DBN cbd is a virtual no go area except for places like Suncoast and Ushaka.
Were Greyville to have a mall/casino/bars/nightlife centered around the track it would be a huge attraction, given its location.

Greyville needs to be modernized and become an entertainment destination rather than just a racecourse, where currently the lights go out as the last race is run leaving little option but to go elsewhere to continue the evening.

They have vision Sealegs, but money and permission would be the stumbling blocks ?

Greyville is a brilliant place to have a day/night

Ps I think the longchamp Rebuild is costing 160m euros or might be 1.6b I get mixed up with all the zeros

I dont agree.

Nothing of value is ever achieved without some struggle, its just way easier to sit back, list the obstacles and do nothing, then complain about dwindling growth and revenue.

Gryeville hosts Africas most prestigious race, the Durban July.

Do they capitalize enough on this ? except for the week or so before the July when everything is abuzz, the remaining 50 weeks greyville is just waiting for the next July.

Why cant they do more the rest of the time to host things like fashion events or whatever( bunny chow contests dont count unfortunately), get the media more involved, be generally innovative and maintain a high level of excitement /involvement from the public.

To be fair, everything outside of local racing is pumping in both P and GC country.

They run there alternative business divisions very well and don't get much credit for that.

What is hard to understand is why they are unwilling to consider an essential long term capacity building project for local racing which could be achieved with a moderate up front cost and small running costs which would quickly become self sufficient and ultimately very bottom line supportive.

Then they will really be pumping with a business doing well on all fronts and with everyone benefiting across the spectrum.

Should really be a no-brainer but somehow the logic alludes them.

Greyville belongs to the council and casino licences are not available outside of those already granted. Nice idea though that should work very well.

Bob Brogan wrote:

9 am and the sun is already being hidden from the areas of grass around the winning line and pull up

Ascot done it

Longchamp are doing it

Why not build a super venue , add in casino, hotel shopping Mall ?

Has existed at Scottsville for a while(ie. the Casino and hotel attached)...........not sure what it has done for racecourse T/O .................not even sure how you would measure it!

That really is the question Rob as the racino concept in the States does very little for racing outside of making operators rich and making them even less interested in the state of racing but for the obligatory conditions that go along with the casino licence.

I heard a rumour once that they were planning a Mall in the centre of Durban Ville. Like i said pure rumour dunno how true that is..

Open land in affluent areas will always be a target for developers so I would not be surprised if it happened.

I stand corrected but I am sure that a casino etc was thought about but Suncoast Casino which is huge is about 2kms away. They have teamed up with the Elan group and have the biggest conference venue in the Southern Hemisphere without any pillars to block any view from any angle( pretty sure that is right). It is well used and even hosted the ANC conference about a month ago. They could not agree on anything before it had hardly started and was cancelled so they will have to come back again. They are not sleeping and are looking and have started with more money making ventures there. They have competitions, ,markets, weddings, conferences, festivals and many other activities at Greyville.