The major remodeling of America’s First Public Jai-alai Court is about to commence as deliveries of new concrete cinder blocks were dropped off next to the cancha this afternoon. The plans for the court, once the ridicule of many because of the short length and height of walls, is about to change – drastically.
Currently the dimensions of the court, which started construction in the summer of 2007, is the following:
Length – 84 feet
Width – 24.5 feet (however the walls in the front and back are only 20.5 feet wide)
Out of bounds area – 24 feet
Heights:
Front wall – 16 feet
Side wall – 14 feet
Back wall – 10 feet
The new measurements will be:
Length – 104 feet
Width – 25 feet
Out of bounds area 23 feet
Heights:
Front wall 20 feet
Side wall 20 feet
Back wall 16 feet
The project is expected to start any day now and take about two months. The court will be closed to the public until then.
We will post details when the court is actually closed and provide updates periodically.
The J Laca Museum has acquired a few mementos from the Rastock Collection, giving the museum a drastic change in appearance from just a year ago. About a year ago, several new walls were installed as most of Mark K’s artifacts were acquired. With the exception of a visit by Jesus and his wife, the museum has been closed to the public because of COVID-19. Now room is being made for some incredible Rastock mementos.
Rastock, whose real name is Steve Rastocky, has been playing jai-alai a long time. At the age of 16, he watched his first jai-alai game at Bridgeport Jai-alai and became hooked immediately. He was signed a contract by players manager Churruca to a contract in 1987 and played for 6 seasons at Bridgport and Milford – playing six months at each of the frontons yearly. In 1992 he was forced to retire due to a bulging disc, a common injury for jai-alai players from constantly falling to the ground catching and throwing.
Rastock, the Jim Thome of jai-alai (good guy award) had moved to Orlando from Norwalk Connecticut 16 years later and was practicing at Orlando Jai-alai when he was offered a contract to resume playing. He played from 2008-2012 and retired again before returning in 2014 for a two month season. He thought his jai-alai days were over after that season when Ft. Pierce called and he played in the one month season. Since them he’s been playing at Calder and Miami jai-alai and is getting ready for the Calder season on May 1st. He’s almost 60 now and still going strong.
Among the mementos are several jerseys including the one used by Joey as seen in the photo (yes Joey – I need you to sign it!), an autographed pelota and jersey from Lopez, several rare photos, and Bolivar’s autograph. But the prize possession are two huge scrapbooks that were kept by the Bridgeport Jai-alai public relations department during the years the fronton was open. Weighing nearly 80 pounds, and 30” x 24” each in size, there are nearly a thousand articles on Bridgeport Jai-alai in them. Right now, we are working on how to restore them to be viewed easily, but I can tell you the stories in here are amazing. It literally will take hundreds of hours to read them all. In a follow-up article, we will show you some of the most interesting articles.
The museum will open as soon as the scrapbooks are completed and the rest of the Rastock jai-alai collection is in place, along with several new mementos from the Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Stanley Cup winners Tampa Bay Lightning. The 2,000 square foot museum is already packed, and its not going to be easy.
Here are the results from Matt’s Tournament recently held at his court in Berlin, Connecticut. Special thanks from Thomas Fillmore for supplying us the information. Photo credit to Anthony “Ant” Sutton who fell during Thursday practice and suffered serious rotator cuff injury.
The dreaded word that starts with the letter “D” is back.
The decoupling issue has come up again but this time it is being proposed outside of any proposal or deal that would include the Seminole Tribe and Sports Betting. That issue has been a big “Bermuda Triangle” of trouble for legislators and has stalled any possible over the past few years. But this proposal is an “a la carte” version that is on its own and passage has a better chance than it has in the past. But, once again, with just 3 weeks left in the session, approval by the full Senate and House may be difficult for four reasons:
Its late in the 60-day legislative session to be bringing up something new
The bill does nothing to solve the major gambling pact issue with the Tribe (costing the state about $350 million a year)
There are far more important issues to deal with during a pandemic than this one
It does not generate any income for the state such as allowing for the approval of sports gambling
The bill under proposal
It’s no secret that the owners of parimutuel facilities in Florida have been lobbying for the abolishment of running jai-alai, greyhound racing and horse racing to keep their more lucrative versions of “gaming” alive such as their poker rooms and designated-player games. In Broward and Miami-Dade counties, this would include slot machines. Dog racing already was decoupled by a public referendum over the claim of animal cruelty and the last dog race was held seconds before midnight this past New Years Eve.
On Monday afternoon, Senate President Wilton Simpson is presenting three bills to be heard by the Senate Regulatory Industries Committee to attempt to “modernize” and industry that has been shifting for generations by creating a new regulatory structure and allowing casinos to operate card games without running harness or quarter-horse races or jai-alai games. This is known as the dreaded “D” road jai-alai fans have been hearing for nearly a decade now.
In a memo that was sent out to his colleagues, Simpson outlined blueprints on how they will attempt to breathe life into the ongoing gaming saga which may or may not include a new agreement with the Seminole Tribe. Florida governor Ron DeSantis has been in talks with the Tribe looking for a new agreement that would bring in significant lost revenue to the state. That lost total over the past three years is approaching a billion dollars. Yes, that is a “B” as in Billion Dollars. The Tribe stopped paying the state around $350 in annual revenue sharing after the governor refused to crack down on on parimutuuels operating the “designated-player games”. How this works is another story, but basically a loophole in the law where the “bank” is supposed to revolving among the players. A high coiurt ruling said that because the state had allowed the Tribe’s competitors to operate the games, they were violating the gaming compact. In that compact, the Tribe is supposed to have the exclusive ability to offer blackjack.
Simpson, in a memo to Senators, acknowledged they have had difficulty in getting a comprehensive gaming bill passed for the past decade. “Florida is a diverse state and our Senators and constituents have many different opinions, beliefs and convictions, regarding gaming. The fact remains, gaming is a voter-approved industry that has contributed billion of dollars to our economy for education, health care and infrastructure, while proving hundreds of thousand of jobs to Floridan over the course of nearly 100 years. He said it was time to update Florida’s gaming enforcement “which is now decentralized among Florida’s cities and counties, primarily left to local law enforcement.” He’s likely referring to the numerous computerized slot machine rooms still being operated across the state in rural areas.
DeSantis told reporters in March that he was open to negotiating a new deal with the Tribe while adding “but at the same time, we are not in position where we’re desperately needs additional revenue.” On March 18th, he told twenty (20) top officials of Florida’s casinos, poker rooms, horse tracks and jai-alai facilities were getting close to a gaming compact, but in the weeks that followed, progress has stalled. The State had offered to allow the Tribe to offer mobile sports betting while allowing the state’s existing horse and jai-alai frontons to license betting operations. However, the talks have stalled according to several people that are close to the negotiations. The stumbling block if over how to split the proceeds over sports betting and the parimutuel industry, whether or not to allow the Tribe to establish additional facilities and whether to allow parimutuels to continue operating designated-player games.
Translation = Don’t look for a settlement anytime soon with the Tribe.
Simpson is bringing up three bills. One of them – Senate proposal SB-7080 would allow facilities to discontinue jai-alai, harness quarter-horse racing in order to keep the card games going. Only the thoroughbred race tracks – Gulfstream Park and Tampa Bay Downs – would be required to operation live racing. The Tribe is not objecting to the decoupling issue.
If any of the bills make it through the Senate, they must also pass in the House. But House Speaker Chris Sprowls has said he is willing to help Simpson with this goal, but that he does not consider it a top priority. He told reporters in March that in his six years in the House, no gaming bill has ever passed because there are so many interlocking parts involving competing interests.
Any decoupling would certainly shut down Miami, Ft. Piece, Ocala, and Calder jai-alai. Dania has an agreement with the players, so that is unknown. Magic City is free to shut down whenever they want because they were grandfathered in as a greyhound track.
Jai-alai savior Matt DiDomiizio has put together one of his best lineups to date – 38 players including several ex-pro stars. The action will be live on his Facebook page and you can click the link below to get on immediately.
The lineups were posted in a previous blog we posted and will feature 17 teams for doubles and 4 other players for singles play only. Only three players are coming from Florida including former pro Rocco.
Here are the times:
Friday
Starts 4pm and likely lasting till about 8 or 9 pm.
Saturday
Group 1 (Jon S and Paul P group) 10am
Group 2 (Mace and Joe P group) 12 noon
Group 3 (Lasa and Ulisses group) 2pm
Group 4 (TLT and Anthony group) 4pm
Sunday
Playoffs
C group 10 am
B group 11 am
A group 1pm
Could decoupling be coming?
We will explore that breaking news story over the weekend.
Berlin Connecticut will be rocking with lots of Jai-alai action next weekend as 37 players are signed up to play in a big tournament planned for April 9-11th.
Matt DiDomizio will be hosting his first tournament in nearly two years, but the vast majority of the players that have signed up will be from the northeast.
Here are the lineup sheets for Singles and Doubles action:
As the Pelota Press speculated, an agreement has been reached with the owners of Magic City Casino and the Miami City Commissioners to move forward with plans to open another jai-alai fronton and card room just a few miles east of their existing fronton. The city commissioners voted 4-1 and now only need the signature of Mayor Francis Suarez to sign off on it for final approval.
West Flagler Associates have been on a long journey to get another gambling facility built – this one in the booming Edgewater district of downtown Miami (see my previous blog for complete details). The agreement was also approved by Miami civic leader Norman Braman, whose group had filed a lawsuit to stop the gambling facility from opening.
During last Thursday’s city commissioners meeting West Flagler principal owner Isadore “Izzy” Havenick said that any opposition against jai alai and a card room was based on a false presumption that it was being run by organized crime. “this is not the 1940s anymore and the days of Meyer Lansky” Izzy told everyone. “Anyone who characterizes it as a full blown casino is not genuine. All those disingenuous statements are not valid anymore.”
Another vote was taken just before the approval of the settlement that prevented West Flagler Associates from expanding the site into a full-blown casino with slot machines. With that vote, everything fell into place. With Braman no longer opposing the jai-alai fronton and card room, it is believed Miami Mayor Suarez will not veto the settlement agreement. Last year the Mayor had vetoed a previous agreement.
The fronton will be located at 3030 Biscayne Blvd. Only one commissioner, Ken Russell, who represents the Edgewater district, voted against the settlement agreement and failed to convince the other commissioners to vote against it. “I really believe we should deny the settlement. I really believe we have a case”, Russel said. Whether that is true or not, we will never know. Kudos to the folks at Magic City for pulling this one off. It could have dragged in the already delayed court system for years.
Photo credits to Getty, iStock and The Real Deal, the excellent South Florida Real Estate Newspaper.
Cancun, Mexico: The pandemic has delayed things considerably, but the Fronton Salas in Cancun has been slowly adding on improvements to getting the long anticipated project completed. As you can see from the video, a new roof has been added and some seating area up in the front of the court. All the facilities (including a bar!) are now operational, but there is still work going on, but hopefully everything will be ready in time for their first big event April 3rd and 4th.
That event will have 22 Spaniards and several people from Tijuana including Loren Harris and his team of kids along with others from around Mexico.
As you can view in the photo and video, there was action with the Salas brothers along with Julian Abed, The Natural, Javier.
In early July 2018, the owners of Magic City Casino were granted a permit from the Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering commission to open another jai-alai fronton in the downtown Miami area at 3050 Biscayne Blvd. Their plans were to run a jai-alai schedule from May through November and also allow the complex to host poker games the day after the first jai-alai matches were held. That permit was only awarded after a long legal battle that saw the 1st District Court of Appeals overturn an initial decision by gambling regulators to deny the company’s application.
When word spread quickly in the greater Miami area that more gambling establishments were coming, the locals and the city commissioners went into action. “Oh, my God! How dare you to this!” Their concern was that this was going to be an entry for much more extensive gambling in the downtown area like slots machines and blackjack. West Flagler Associates, the owners of Magic City and formally the Flagler Dog Track, had argued their only intention was to run the jai-alai games on a small court and have the poker room. No further gambling like slot machines and blackjack.
On July 23, 2018, Miami city commissioners voted 4-0 in favor of authorizing City Manager Emilio Gonzalez to create an amendment to the city’s zoning code, known as Miami 21. These sneaky new regulations would not only provide definitions of what constitutes a gambling facility and where such venues could be located within Miami, but would also require 4 of the 5 city commissioners to vote in favor of any such facility to be approved. One commissioner, Keon Hardemon, declined to vote and was against the entire motion.
Isadore Havenick, VP of West Flagler Associates, felt his business was being “targeted” by the city. But City Attorney Victoria Mendez said that vote was not specifically targeted at Magic City, though it did mean that the owners should be aware that they may be facing new zoning laws as they seek approvals for their poker room and fronton. Sounds a little fishy, doesn’t’ it? “I’m deeply disappointed and saddened that the city would change the rules of the game” Havenick said.
Commissioner Ken Russell, who proposed the new rule, said that adding new regulations were necessary and they would force gambling facilities to go through a public, vetting process and allow the city to reject locations for casinos, poker rooms and other pari-mutual venues.
In 2019, that law was enacted and Magic City filed suit. On February 13, 2020, the developers won approval from the City of Miami commissioners in a 3-2 vote to proceed with its plans to build a fronton and poker room establishment. This was to be a part of a huge project being developed by Russell Galbut’s Miami-based firm Crescent Heights, which has built multiple buildings around the country.
But this was not the end of the battle. A week after the project was approved again, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez vetoed that lawsuit settlement on February 21, 2020, blocking Flagler Associates to proceed with the jai-alai fronton and poker room project.
But wait there’s more!
West Flagler Associates and the City of Miami were both sued in March 2020 by a group of civic leaders that included billionaire automobile magnate Norman Braman and Related Group CEO Jorge Perez who claimed the permission to proceed with the gambling establishment had not been properly settled by a court.
On January 20, 2021 Judge Hanzmann ruled that Major Suarez had the legal ability to veto the deal claiming that the casino owners “claimed they obtained special right to expand casino gambling through private meetings with City officials”.
Now, nearly a couple of months later, there is word that a settlement with the City of Miami and Magic City Casino that would ban gambling “elsewhere in the city”. Could that mean that they are going to allow the Edgewater Fronton to open but put a freeze on any other expansion in the city?
Vice Chairman Ken Russell said his understanding was that both sides are at the table in good faith and are getting close to a settlement. He added that they were not there yet (to an agreement) and would like a little more time. This issue has been deferred from a February 11 meeting to February 25 and now has been pushed back to March 11th – which is this Thursday.
Currently, several lawsuits are being discussed between the parties. Magic City Casino allege in a April 2019 lawsuit that the change in the zoning laws disrupted their progress with the jai-alai and poker establishment on Biscayne Blvd. They also contend that they had a permit to build from Florida’s Division of Pari-Mutual Wagering before the city commissioners voted in 2018 to require that 4 of the 5 member city commissioners must approve any new gambling location.
An outside attorney working for the city, Raquel “Rocky” Rodriguez has also confirmed the two sides are close to an agreement and said a “global settlement” would be ideal. As of last week, she said didn’t have a draft of the ordinance that auto dealer Braman’s group has suggested in which they would dismiss their litigation if the city commission bans gaming in the rest of the city.
What could be in store here? It’s only speculation, but could it mean that Magic City will have another fronton in operation – just a few miles east – in the booming area of downtown Miami? We shall find out soon!
The NJAA meet with the City of St. Pete this morning to go over plans for the big renovation project about to take place. The meeting went very well. Here is what we can tell you now:
The first phase, updating the lighting system to LED lighting will take place any day now. This may close the park down for a day or two. This will greatly improve the lighting out there till the park closes nightly at 11pm.
The next phase, which includes the court expansion, will commence in about 5 weeks from now.
That would make the start date around April Fool’s Day. The court is expected to be closed for a period of 45 days for the work to be completed, and would put the reopening of the new court likely in late May or around June 1st. This is assuming all goes as planned. As you know, COVID-19, the weather, and normal construction delays could be an issue.
What will the players do in the meantime? Outside of going to North Miami or Matt’s, or even a visit to Cancun, there isn’t much you can do unless you find a racquet ball court or something to throw the ball around, and that sucks.
At the end, it will be well worth it. For full details, see my story in the archive section in News.
