Scenes from the morning workout at Woodbine Racetrack on June 27, 2013. The Globe found that Woodbine Entertainment paid $51-million in bonuses to employees over a 12-year period.Moe Doiron/The Globe and Mail
A career can take you a lot of places — even, if you're Jim Lawson, back in time to reconnect with your late father.
At 20, Mel Lawson became the youngest quarterback to win a Grey Cup (for a forerunner of the Hamilton Tiger Cats); he played hockey for the Toronto Marlies (under coach Harold Ballard); he worked his whole life, well into his 80s, at the family business, a lumberyard in Hamilton, while also fielding horses that won 46 stakes races.
"He was of that generation that worked one job their whole lives, that believed in loyalty, in being proud of what you sold," says his son, recently appointed head of the Woodbine Entertainment Group (WEG). "Our careers don't follow that path much any more."
The younger Lawson is his own case in point: Now in his late 50s, he's on career number four. After undergrad (at Brown), he played pro hockey with a Montreal Canadiens farm team. In the '80s and '90s, he earned partnership at two blue-chip Bay Street law firms, papering the real-estate deals of the likes of Peter Munk and Paul Reichmann. In the 2000s, he went client-side, helping Canada's richest woman, the Thomson heiress Sherry Brydson, run her investment firm, Westerkirk Capital, earning as much as $2 million annually in salary and bonuses.
So far, so good. But after his father died, in 2011, things fell apart, at least for a bit. In 2012, Brydson let Lawson go, and he's currently suing—and being sued—over the termination.
After that unceremonious exit, Lawson got the nod to run his father's league, becoming chairman of the CFL's Board of Governors and also filling in briefly as commissioner. And, early last year, he became CEO of the outfit that runs the track where his family's horses have often won, showed and placed over the years. (1)
In both roles, he's tried to figure out how Canadian sporting events can retain buzz and earn money in an increasingly international market. "The power of the NFL, the live-streaming of races from Europe, from big U.S. courses like Gulfstream and Santa Anita—it's a constant barrage," he says. "How do we compete?"
His starting point: You don't carry on as you have been. "Complacent" is an adjective he uses multiple times to describe the state of WEG when he took it over early last year, replacing Nick Eaves. Revenues at all of Ontario's 17 tracks have declined markedly over the last decade—one set of estimates has them falling 20%, from over $1 billion in 2008 to just over $800 million in 2014. (2) With a flagship stadium built in the 1950s, much of Woodbine's physical plant looks tired. Its vast bleachers are seldom filled except on Queen's Plate day. "You would not build Woodbine today with 12,000 seats," Lawson admits.
The industry is still reeling from the shock it received in 2012, when the provincial Liberal government started relieving tracks of their life-sustaining slot machines (owned by the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., or OLG). After much squawking from the industry, Queen's Park agreed to give it a subsidy of $100 million per year until 2018.
To ensure WEG's post-subsidy survival, Lawson and his team sought and won approval from the City of Toronto to build a full casino at Woodbine. "The sooner we break ground, the better," he says. WEG will get a cut from whichever gaming firm OLG chooses to build the casino.
The facility is projected to bring in about $650 million in gross gaming revenues initially, with potential for growth to over $1 billion. "There's a 20-year agreement in place, which should give a solid revenue stream," Lawson says. (3) (Skeptics might say that such projections need to be taken with a grain of salt in an arguably built-out business.)
Some racing purists have criticized the casino plan, but Lawson sees no other viable option—indeed, he's also working on getting a casino authorized at WEG's other big track, Mohawk, in Milton, west of Toronto.
Lawson inherited his interest in horses early, from his father, but he says he's worried about getting today's young generation into it. "If we build the entertainment district we're thinking of—live music, dining, theatre—we think we can draw people, millennials here. But the industry as a whole is facing a shortage of horses. Getting the up-and-coming generation interested in the big investment of owning a horse is an absolute necessity."
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(1) Lawson owns a thoroughbred filly, Cozshecan, which finished first in a race last fall, but was taken off the podium for bumping another horse mid-ride.
(2) WEG hasn't felt the same hit as the industry as a whole, with its racing revenues holding steady in the $700-million range for much of the last decade.
(3) Just how solid a revenue stream won't be known to the public: WEG only discloses its complete financials to government regulators.