THE five racecourses which rejected the SIS/RMG media rights deal have appealed to the Minister for Agriculture to help them secure their own deal with a rival broadcaster.

Under the banner of United Irish Racecourses (UIR), the quintet of Kilbeggan, Thurles, Limerick, Sligo and Roscommon broke rank at Tuesday’s extraordinary general meeting of the Association of Irish Racecourses by declining to go along with the other 21 tracks who voted to accept the new five-year deal from SIS/RMG which is said to be worth €47 million per year to Irish racing.

The UIR tracks say the deal is unfair to smaller racecourses and they say that Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) is taking too big a share of the revenue. UIR claims that Arena Racecourse Company has offered its five members a guaranteed €100,000 per fixture in media rights payments and they wish to pursue that offer.

The way forward now is unclear, though a deal involving Arena Racecourse Company and Sky Sports Racing is widely expected to figure prominently in discussions. Under legislation all racecourse media rights must be negotiated by the HRI Media Rights Committee, but UIR is challenging the validity of that law.

UIR statement

UIR voiced frustrations this week over “inequitable distribution of media rights funding to their members”, claiming that “HRI-owned racecourses look set to earn seven figures from the deal, with HRI expected to benefit directly to the tune of €7 million.”

A UIR statement also noted HRI had failed to make good on an undertaking given in 2016 to facilitate an independent review of the allocation of media rights monies and to ensure that all monies derived from that deal would go towards current or capital expenditure. “To date they have failed and/or refused to commence this process,” UIR said.

Following the key AIR meeting, UIR secretary and Kilbeggan manager Paddy Dunican wrote to the Minister for Agriculture to request his intervention to address their concerns, “so that small racecourses will receive the maximum market value for their media rights.”

UIR is also requesting the Minister to review the legislation which requires that all racecourses must have the sale of their media rights negotiated by the HRI Media Rights Committee, a group that consists of a small number of executives from HRI and AIR. UIR says the clause “is unconstitutional and amounts to an infringement of the property rights of racecourse owners ... This bestows a sole right on the state agency to negotiate the property rights of each racecourse, a position that is constitutionally questionable. Furthermore, there is no appeal mechanism in place which inflicts another injustice on racecourses seeking to challenge their designated allocation of funding from media and data rights.”

’A fantastic deal’

AIR chairman Conor O’Neill expressed disappointment that not all tracks agreed to the deal but is adamant the new arrangement will serve Irish racing well.

“It’s a fantastic deal and I’m delighted for the 21 racecourses who have signed up to secure it,” O’Neill said following Tuesday’s meeting. “I would like to thank the Board of AIR and our CEO Paul Hensey for their hard work and support. I would also like to especially thank our former CEO Paddy Walsh who has worked tirelessly on achieving the best possible deal for our members and the HRI Media Rights Committee whose commitment has been extraordinary throughout the entire process.

“Although it’s disappointing that it was not approved by all, this is a very positive day for the future of Irish racing, let’s not take away from that. I look forward to continuing our partnership with SIS and RMG for the overwhelming majority of Irish racecourses.”