Churchill selling seat licenses

Churchill Downs has begun selling 30-year seat licenses - ranging in price from $18,000 to $75,000 - for the right to buy finish-line box or table seating at the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby.

The licenses will include the Breeders' Cup when it is run periodically at Churchill Downs.

Patrons will have the rights to their assigned boxes or tables, but still must buy tickets to the Oaks, Derby, and Breeders' Cup. The licenses can be transferred, but if sold must first be offered back to Churchill Downs.

The licenses apply toward 3,118 seats, or approximately 6 percent of the 55,000 seats in the renovated Churchill Downs facility, which is scheduled for completion in the spring of 2005.

The track expects the licenses to generate about $15 million to apply toward its $121 million renovation. John Asher, a Churchill vice president, said half of that goal has already been met from license sales.