Northfield Park Racino after MGM: what changed in 2026
MGM Resorts announced the sale of Northfield Park in October 2025, and Clairvest Group, a Toronto private equity firm, took over the operation in April 2026 for $546 million. VICI Properties kept the land and buildings and signed Clairvest to a 25-year lease. The gold lion statue at the front doors was removed with the rest of the MGM branding.
The new racino identity launched on April 23, 2026. The theme moved from Las Vegas glitz to a heritage look rooted in the village and its harness history, with a square logo showing a stylized horse mane. Existing MGM rewards members were moved into NP Rewards, a five-tier card, and kept their status and points.
Clairvest also used the change to add product. A Caesars Sportsbook opened the same week as the rebrand, more than 300 new terminals arrived over the summer, and new exterior signs went up from late May. The property marked the transition with a grand opening season of drawings, free concerts and racing promotions, and Kevin Brady serves as general manager.
Live harness racing at Northfield Park
Northfield Park has raced Standardbreds since 1957 and has run year round since 1985. The track is a half-mile oval with a 440-foot homestretch, 80 feet wide, with a passing lane and room for eight starters behind the gate. First post is 6 p.m., and cards usually carry thirteen or fourteen races through the evening.
The racing nights in 2026 followed the season rather than one fixed weekly pattern, so it pays to check the calendar before driving out. Summer cards lean toward Mondays and weekends, while the autumn stakes stretch adds Fridays. A few examples taken from the track’s published 2026 schedule show how the nights move through the year:
- January to May: Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.
- June to mid-August: Monday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.
- October 4 to 17: Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
- November: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
- December: Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.
Betting on the races follows the pari-mutuel system, so players wager against each other, not the house. Win, place, show, exacta and trifecta pools run on every race, and the superfecta costs a dime. Pick 4 and Pick 5 pools carry over when nobody hits, and the twenty-cent Super High 5 sits on the thirteenth race each night.
First-time bettors get dedicated windows, and free handicapping data is offered through the StatsMaster service. Races stream live on RTN, and replays are posted on the track’s YouTube channel. Admission, parking and betting carrels at the racetrack building, 10705 Northfield Road, are free every day, and anyone may watch from the apron regardless of age.
Stakes nights: Battle of Lake Erie, Carl Milstein and Courageous Lady
The racing calendar here builds around a handful of graded pacing stakes. The Battle of Lake Erie, a Grade 2 for older pacers worth a quarter of a million dollars, ran for the fortieth time in June 2026 and went to Mossdale Ben N. The Buckeye Distaff on the same card was won by Odds On Chesapeake.
August brings the $300,000 Carl Milstein Memorial, a Grade 2 named after the track’s longtime owner, and in October the pacing mares meet in the Courageous Lady. The 2026 running of that Grade 3 went to Sangria Summer, who led from the start. The Ohio Fairs Championships also came to the track on October 10, 2026.
Regular nights produce their own headlines. In May 2026 driver Dan Noble won eleven races on a single card, a record for one program in harness racing, and local horse Disgruntled Carl strung together wins in the Open. The Buckeye Stallion Series for Ohio-sired horses also opened its season here on May 3.
The racino floor: VLTs, patios and Caesars Sportsbook
The gaming floor at Northfield Park Racino covers about 200,000 square feet and holds more than 1,700 video lottery terminals, making it the highest-earning racino in Ohio. Its terminals generated $307.7 million in net win from July 2025 through May 2026, according to the Ohio Lottery. Three heated outdoor patios at the north and south ends let smokers keep playing.
There are no live table games. Ohio’s racino rules only allow lottery terminals, and the operator’s own FAQ explains that table games, blackjack and poker have not been authorized by the Ohio Lottery Commission. The floor is open 24 hours a day, every day, and video recording of play is not allowed out of respect for other guests.
Caesars Sportsbook opened inside the racino on April 23, 2026, replacing the earlier MGM arrangement. The book is staffed from noon on weekdays and from 10 a.m. on Saturdays, while sixteen self-serve kiosks run around the clock. Lottery tickets can be cashed on site too, from 18 at the racetrack and from 21 at the racino.
Upcoming events at Northfield Park: Center Stage and The Neon Room
Center Stage is the 1,820-seat music hall that opened as Hard Rock Live in 2013, when Joan Jett and the Blackhearts played the first night. Today it books touring rock, country, comedy and film-with-orchestra events most weeks. The box office opens Thursday to Saturday from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m., and from 1 p.m. on show days.
Upcoming events at the racino through the end of 2026, as listed by the box office in mid-October, are below. Dates and lineups change, presales are online only, and every show is restricted to guests aged 21 and over, so it is worth confirming a date on the official calendar before buying tickets or planning a night around one:
- Ghostbusters in Concert, October 15
- Buddy Guy, October 18
- William Shatner live with Star Trek II, November 1
- Kem, November 5, and Micky Dolenz, November 6
- Wynonna Judd, November 20, and Cheap Trick, November 21
- Bret Michaels, November 28
- Hanson, December 3, and Lady A, December 10
- Rick Springfield, December 13
The Neon Room is the smaller nightlife space. It hosts free dance parties such as Boogie Nights, local bands, Halloween costume events and Cleveland Browns watch parties on Sundays. All shows at the racino are 21 and over, ticket sales are final, and cameras with detachable lenses are banned, although phone cameras are usually allowed unless an artist says otherwise.
Northfield Park restaurants and bars
Four restaurants serve the racino. Valley’s Edge Steak & Seafood is the fine-dining room and launched a new menu in September 2026. Concerto Italian Kitchen, open since 2016, handles pasta and Italian plates, and Overtime Grill & Bar is the sports bar with memorabilia on the walls. All of them are inside the 21-and-over racino building.
The Buffet was refreshed in May 2026 with a rotating carvery board, made-to-order pasta and grill stations. It is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, opens at 11 a.m. on the other days, and posts one all-day price on most of them, with higher prices on holidays. No reservations are needed, and the racetrack side runs its own casual dining.
Getting there, parking and where to stay
Northfield Park sits on Route 8 (Northfield Road), close to the Forbes Road and Broadway Avenue exit of I-271 and about 15 miles southeast of downtown Cleveland. Drivers from Akron can take Route 8 north. Self-parking is free with roughly 3,000 spaces, and valet runs from 10 a.m. daily, until 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.
There is no hotel on the property, and the property’s bus program is suspended, so most visitors drive in for the evening. Overnight stays mean booking in Cleveland, Akron or along the interstates nearby. Guests with an RV can sometimes park for a single night after registering with security, and the Rewards Gas & Wash on site sells fuel.
History: from Sportsman Park to MGM Northfield Park
The site began in 1934 as Sportsman Park, a midget car racing track. Walter J. Michael replaced it with a harness track that opened on August 23, 1957. Carl Milstein bought the plant in 1972, took direct control after a 1984 tax break, and launched year-round racing in 1985. His son Brock Milstein later ran the business.
Ohio’s racino law opened the next chapter. Northfield partnered with Hard Rock International and opened the $268 million Hard Rock Rocksino on December 18, 2013, with about 2,300 terminals and the Hard Rock Live hall. MGM Growth Properties bought the real estate in 2018 for $1.06 billion, and MGM Resorts took over operations in 2019.
As MGM Northfield Park the property swapped its rock theme for Las Vegas styling, renamed the concert hall Center Stage and turned the Hard Rock Cafe into a sports bar. VICI Properties absorbed MGM Growth Properties in 2022, which is why VICI remains the landlord after the 2026 sale to Clairvest.
Other racinos near Northfield Park
JACK Thistledown is a short drive north in North Randall and runs thoroughbreds from spring to fall, so the two tracks rarely compete for the same evening crowd. Mahoning Valley Race Course near Youngstown races thoroughbreds in winter, and Scioto Downs in Columbus is the next harness racino to the south. All seven are compared on the Ohio racinos page.