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Some observations:
1. The obvious one-- Breeders' Cups are mostly in California for the same reason Super Bowls are mostly in warm weather places. You get good weather not only for the event (which is important-- you don't want an off track that screws up the results of all the championship races) but for all the parties and hospitality and corporate stuff and ancillary events that are put on.
2. I was obviously wrong about Keeneland and Del Mar. They must have made money in both places. This suggests that live attendance is not very important to the BC business model.
Long term, I still don't think this is a good thing for the BC. The BC aspires to have the same recognition in the public's mind as the Triple Crown does. But part of that recognition is gigantic live attendance. Wealthy, casual fans travel to the Kentucky Derby just like they travel to the Super Bowl, the NBA All-Star Game, or a big championship fight. Those empty stands at Del Mar looked terrible in person and terrible on television.
Keeneland, of course, drew very well in 2014, but bear in mind that it was the first time and they had American Pharoah running. I am curious what they will draw the second time around.
3. The various bids that were being kicked around, especially Laurel, were obviously rejected. I would guess this is good news for people who want to see the Preakness stay at Pimlico, because I bet part of what happened is that Laurel did not present realistic plans for expanding their plant to handle the BC (which they would have to do in order to move the Preakness too).
4. NYRA, as far as I know, doesn't bid for the BC anymore. The thing everyone needs to know about NYRA is that the least successful BC's were all at Aqueduct and Belmont. The weather is cold, the races get run into the cold and gloom of the late fall afternoon (because television wants that BC Classic post time as late as possible and Belmont doesn't have lights), and New York City is generally uninterested in the event as there is plenty else to do.
5. None of this has anything to do with "fairness" or recognition of particular racing circuits. The BC is a valuable property and Breeders' Cup Limited needs to make money staging the thing. They aren't going to invest a lot of effort in "rotating it around" when they make a boatload of money every time they run it at Santa Anita or Churchill (as they do).
6. What happened to Churchill?
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