AT least seven racecourses have concerns over the proposed new media rights deal for Irish racing and, with a March 22nd vote looming, their representatives will meet next week to discuss options.

This week the Association of Irish Racecourses [AIR] presented details of the five-year deal to representatives of all 26 tracks. The offer from Sports Information Services [SIS] and Racecourse Media Group [RMG] is worth €47 million per year. It’s projected all racecourses will see an increase in media rights payments, some by as much as 45% by the end of the term.

However, €7 million of the annual figure is going to Horse Racing Ireland [HRI]. This ‘data rights’ payment is one of the main reasons why five racecourses recently came together to form United Irish Racecourses [UIR] and publicly criticise HRI for taking what they say is too large a percentage of the media rights money.

The UIR tracks (Limerick, Kilbeggan, Thurles, Roscommon and Sligo) also feel the remaining €40 million is not being divided equitably. A correlation between betting turnover and media rights payments is fair enough, they say, but it will disproportionately help bigger tracks who already have the best races on the best days. Smaller tracks with mid-week meetings, which often clash with other fixtures at big venues, will be disadvantaged, claim the smaller tracks.

One small racecourse, which is not part of UIR, told The Irish Field on Friday it was unhappy with the details of the proposed deal and was in contact with other tracks to discuss the financial implications for them.

On top of that, Dundalk Stadium looks increasingly unlikely to be in a position to sign the new deal on March 22nd. The all-weather track confirmed at the AIR meeting that it is in talks with Britain’s Arena Racing Company [ARC] over a possible sale.

Pictures from ARC’s 16 British tracks are all broadcast to betting shops by The Racing Partnership and to homes via Sky Sports Racing, so Dundalk would likely follow if the track was sold to ARC.

This might not be a straightforward process as, under legislation, the sale of media rights for any authorised Irish track can only be negotiated by HRI’s media rights committee.

At this week’s meeting Dundalk looked to have the March 22nd vote delayed but AIR chief executive Paddy Walsh turned down the request. Walsh said a majority verdict would be enough to seal the SIS/RMG deal and it was inferred that tracks who did not sign would be left in an unknown situation.

After the meeting, AIR chairman Conor O’Neill said: “A meeting took place this week with members of AIR where details of a proposed media rights deal were outlined and recommended by the HRI Media Rights Committee. The tracks now have an opportunity to consider that deal prior to seeking their approval later in the month.”

Pierce Molony, chairman of UIR and a former senior steward and vice-chairman of HRI, said: “AIR presented details of their recommendations to all authorised racecourses for their approval of the 2024-2028 media rights contract. The details of the proposal are complex. UIR will now meet with the AIR executives, and HRI if necessary, to evaluate all the offers made.”

HRI chief executive Suzanne Eade was at this week’s meeting and told racecourses “my door is always open” if they wished to discuss any aspects of the deal.

It’s believed that UIR will seek to find out how much the underbidders for the media rights were offering and get an assurance from HRI that they will not be hindered in selling their rights to another bidder if they decide not to go with the SIS/RMG offer.

Several racecourse managers who were in attendance told The Irish Field they expect the deal will be carried on March 22nd. One said: “I have sympathy for smaller racecourses but I don’t understand why they would want to go to the underbidder. Surely the SIS/RMG offer was given preference because it was the best one available.”

The proposed deal involves growing the fixture list by 40 over the next five years. HRI told this week’s meeting that this would principally be achieved through a combination of creating more floating fixtures to be added when needed and giving the new all-weather track at Tipperary 20 racedays.