A new facility. A historic race. One Sunday a year. A Park Heights neighbor watching their investment plan go into chaos. And a Governor still talking about Secretariat. That is not an economic engine. That is an expensive building waiting for someone to fill it.
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews
A source texted Fox Baltimore’s Chris Papst this week after the Preakness was excluded from the Thoroughbred Championship Series. The source lives steps from Pimlico Race Course.
“I live steps from Pimlico race track. That loss affects my home value and potentially throws my investment plan into chaos. Wow. What a cluster. My neighborhood just lost a ton of value.”
Source to @chrispapst · Fox45 Baltimore · August 5, 2026
That is the sentence Governor Moore’s press conference did not address. Not once.
Moore talked about Ashley selling frozen cups as a child beside the track. He talked about Secretariat and War Admiral. He talked about Samsung Biologics, AstraZeneca, the Sphere, the Orioles, and fourteen billion dollars in private investment. He announced the NBC deal, the new Sunday date, the Black-Eyed Susan on Saturday, Memorial Day weekend positioning starting in 2028.
What he did not announce — what no one in Annapolis has announced — is what happens at Pimlico the other 364 days of the year.
The Building Being Built
A year-round hub. That is not one Sunday in May.
The new Pimlico Race Course, currently under construction, was designed with specific infrastructure that makes the omission remarkable. The facility plan includes a 1,000-seat event space. A hotel, to be built by a private partner. A public “Palio” plaza designed for concerts, performing arts, festivals, and open-air markets. More than 100 authorized live racing days annually — up from fewer than two dozen. Five hundred permanent jobs projected. Three billion dollars in annual economic impact claimed.
The Baltimore Development Corporation describes the new Pimlico as “a year-round hub of economic activity for Park Heights, surrounding communities, and Baltimore City.”
A year-round hub. That is not one Sunday in May.
The 1,000-seat event space has no announced events. The hotel has no announced developer. The Palio plaza has no announced programming calendar. The 100-plus racing days have no announced racing partners, no coalition structure, no international meet, no domestic series beyond the Preakness itself. The facility designed to be a year-round economic engine has announced exactly one event: the Preakness Stakes, May 23, 2027.
The Accountability Questions No One Is Answering
State Senator Steve Hershey asked them Thursday — in four sentences more precise than anything Moore’s administration has offered.
Sen. Steve Hershey (R), Senate Minority Leader — @SenatorHershey, August 7, 2026
“Good economic development investments are built on measurable assumptions, transparent projections, and accountability. If Maryland’s $85 million acquisition of the Preakness and $400 million redevelopment of Pimlico are truly economic development investments, then they should be evaluated like every other public investment. Show Marylanders the projections. Show us the expected return. Show us how success will be measured. Taxpayers deserve more than promises, they deserve transparency.”
No projections have been released. No measurable success metrics have been published. No return-on-investment model has been presented to the public. Moore said Wednesday the Preakness generates three billion dollars in economic impact for Maryland — that figure covers the entire horse racing industry across the state, not the return on $633 million in Pimlico-specific investments. The distinction matters when evaluating whether the investment is sound.
Taxpayers deserve more than promises. They deserve a measurable answer for what $633 million is supposed to produce.
The Greater Baltimore Committee — whose CEO stood at the podium Wednesday and called the investment “one of the smartest Maryland has made” — walked that back within 48 hours. GBC CEO Mark Anthony Thomas told the Baltimore Sun the championship series exclusion “should concern Maryland officials,” while maintaining the Pimlico investment remains sound. Two days. Same person. The concern arrived faster than the press conference champagne was cold.
What the Race Is Actually Competing Against
Starting in 2028, Maryland’s Memorial Day Sunday Preakness on NBC shares the afternoon and evening with four other major events competing for the same casual American sports viewer. The Indianapolis 500 on FOX drew 6.635 million viewers in 2026 — peaking at 8.3 million during the finish — and has owned Memorial Day weekend for over a century. The NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway drew 3.06 million viewers on Prime Video in 2026 and is confirmed on streaming through 2031 under NASCAR’s 7-year media rights deal. The National Memorial Day Concert on PBS — broadcast live from the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol — has historically drawn up to 8 million viewers and is distributed to U.S. military personnel in 175 countries and on 200 Navy ships.
You cannot protect a historic institution by constantly talking about its history. You give it a future.
That last one deserves a pause. Moore is positioning the Preakness as Baltimore’s Memorial Day patriotic tradition — a race that honors America, that brings communities together, that carries history into the present. PBS already owns that evening, at that emotional register, with 8 million viewers and a global military audience. Moore did not address it Wednesday.
None of this makes the Preakness uncompetitive. NBC signed a six-year deal knowing all of it, and the 2026 Preakness drew 5.5 million viewers — its best audience since 2021. The brand has commercial pull. The question is whether one well-broadcast race on one well-positioned Sunday is sufficient justification for $633 million in public investment — and whether a race with no championship points, an unchanged $2 million purse, and no coalition structure can hold its audience as CDI’s series matures.
The date change helps. The NBC deal helps. Neither addresses the structural competitive problem MDBayNews has documented since August 3.
What a Real Plan Would Include
To be clear: the following framework is MDBayNews’s original analysis, published across this series. These are this publication’s proposals — not requirements Moore has failed to meet. They are presented because the new facility makes them more viable, and because $633 million in public commitments now requires someone in Annapolis to pursue them.
More racing — fill the 100 authorized days
The new Pimlico is authorized for more than 100 live racing days annually — up from fewer than two dozen. Where is the schedule? What tracks are sending horses? What regional meets are planned? What is the handle projection for a full racing calendar? None of this has been announced. A facility authorized for 100 racing days that runs one race is not an economic engine. Source: Maryland Stadium Authority; Baltimore Development Corporation
An international race — the DC International revival
Maryland ran the Washington D.C. International at Laurel for 42 years — an invitational that inspired the Breeders’ Cup and drew Queen Elizabeth II. The name is dormant. The template exists. A late June international meet at the new Pimlico, timed post-Royal Ascot and pre-Arc, gives the facility a second marquee weekend and a global identity CDI cannot replicate at Churchill Downs. No one at Wednesday’s press conference mentioned it.
A domestic coalition — the independent circuit
Keeneland, Del Mar, Oaklawn, and Woodbine are all independent of CDI and NYRA. All have an interest in a championship pathway that doesn’t run through Churchill Downs. Maryland is the natural anchor. No calls have been publicly announced.
Year-round programming — fill the other 364 days
The Palio plaza was designed for concerts, festivals, and markets. The 1,000-seat event space was designed for conventions, dinners, and industry summits. The hotel was designed for destination visitors. None of these amenities have announced tenants, programming, or a booking calendar. Dog shows. Trade shows. College events. Corporate bookings. Community festivals. Food and beer events. America250 programming. International racing. None of it requires waiting for the Preakness. None of it has been announced.
A fillies’ championship — use what Wednesday built
The Black-Eyed Susan on Saturday now has NBC and its own identity. Building a national fillies’ series around it — with Keeneland’s Spinster Stakes and Del Mar’s fillies’ races — is a product CDI’s series doesn’t touch. The MJC has the race. The framework hasn’t been announced.
The Maryland Day Stakes — a legislative anchor
A late March marquee race timed to the General Assembly session — coalition partners, lobbyists, and legislators in the same building three weeks before sine die. The annual Maryland Thoroughbred Racing Summit. The facility has the infrastructure. The political calendar has the window. No one has announced it.
A facility authorized for 100 racing days that runs one race is not an economic engine.
What the Community Around Pimlico Actually Needs
The source who texted Chris Papst is not thinking about Secretariat. They are thinking about their home value and their investment plan. They live steps from a facility that cost $633 million in public commitments and generates economic activity for one Sunday in May.
Park Heights was written into the Pimlico legislation specifically because the community has been promised economic development around the track for decades and received almost none of it. The legislation requires 10% of annual track profits to flow to Park Heights. Annual track profits from one race on one Sunday are not a neighborhood economic engine.
Moore told the press conference that the Preakness Festival brings the community in. He told the story of Ashley selling frozen cups beside the track. Those are real. They are also one weekend a year.
The new facility — if activated as designed — could be a real economic anchor for Park Heights. Concerts, festivals, community events, job training programs using the hotel, corporate bookings using the event space. None of it requires waiting for the Preakness. None of it has been announced.
The Baltimore Sun and Fox Baltimore Are Now Worried
The Baltimore Sun published a piece Friday asking whether the Preakness’s exclusion from the new racing series threatens Maryland’s nearly $600 million investment in Pimlico. Fox Baltimore reported that the Preakness and horse racing face an uncertain future as interest in thoroughbred racing wanes — even as the state committed almost $600 million to the industry. These are not fringe publications raising fringe concerns. These are Baltimore’s two largest news outlets asking the question Moore’s press conference did not answer.
MDBayNews has been asking it since August 3. The question is not whether the NBC deal is real — it is. The question is not whether the new Sunday date is smart — it is. The question is what Maryland is building around the race that justifies the investment, protects the community, and gives the facility a reason to exist beyond one afternoon in May.
History is the foundation. It is not the business plan.
History is the foundation. It is not the business plan.
Maryland on the Map
The new Pimlico was designed as a year-round destination. The press conference announced one race. The GBC CEO went from “smartest investment” on Wednesday to “should concern officials” by Friday. Senator Hershey is demanding projections. A Park Heights neighbor is watching their investment plan go into chaos. The Sun and Fox are asking whether the money was well spent.
Moore said, “You cannot control your future if you do not own it.” Maryland owns it. The race has NBC. The date is set. The facility is under construction.
Now someone needs to build what goes inside it — not just talk about the 151 years that came before.
Maryland on the Map Series“The Bet That Already Lost” · “Blindsided, Again” · “Nine Minutes” · “The Hand They’re Not Playing” · “What CDI Does With Tracks It Owns” · “What Moore Announced — And What Comes Next”
Sources
Chris Papst, @chrispapst, Fox45 Baltimore, X, August 5, 2026; Sen. Steve Hershey, @SenatorHershey, X, August 7, 2026; The Baltimore Sun, “Greater Baltimore Committee CEO says Maryland’s ownership of the race and $400 million Pimlico redevelopment remain sound investments,” August 7, 2026; The Baltimore Sun, “Will Preakness exclusion hurt Maryland’s Pimlico investment?” August 8, 2026; Fox Baltimore, “Maryland’s multimillion dollar Preakness bet tested by new racing series,” August 8, 2026; Baltimore Development Corporation, “Pimlico’s $400 Million Transformation Brings New Era for Park Heights and Baltimore,” 2025; Press conference transcript, Governor Wes Moore, Maryland Jockey Club, NBC Sports, August 5, 2026; Indianapolis 500 viewership: RACER, “2026 Indy 500 averaged 6.635 million viewers on FOX,” 2026; Coca-Cola 600 viewership: Jayski’s NASCAR, “2026 Coca-Cola 600 averaged 3.06 million viewers on Amazon Prime Video,” 2026; NASCAR 7-year media rights deal with Prime Video confirmed through 2031; National Memorial Day Concert: PBS, audience documentation; NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Championship 2028 scheduled at Subaru Park, Chester PA, May 26, 2028, confirmed by NCAA.com; Maryland Stadium Authority project records; Maryland General Assembly, HB 1524 (2024); MDBayNews, Maryland on the Map series, April–August 2026. MDBayNews · Maryland on the Map Series © 2026 MDBayNews. All rights reserved.
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