IRISH racing is close to signing a new five-year media rights deal which is worth significantly more to racecourses and Horse Racing Ireland than the current €40 per million deal.

Although negotiations between bidders and the Horse Racing Ireland Media Rights Committee have been ongoing for months, racecourses were surprised this week when the Committee issued a press release announcing that Sports Information Services [SIS] and Racecourse Media Group [parent company of Racing TV] had been granted ‘preferred bidder’ status.

Track officials had been under the impression they would receive presentations from the various bidders before a decision was reached.

This week’s news effectively means that companies such as The Racing Partnership and Sky Sports Racing are excluded from the process.

While much media attention has been paid to the decision to keep Irish racing on Racing TV rather than move back to Sky Sports Racing, the SIS part of the deal is far more important financially.

Live streaming

A run-of-the-mill midweek Irish meeting can expect to generate at least €60,000 in media rights payments. Most of this comes through licensed betting offices in Ireland and Britain, who buy the pictures from SIS, but now live streaming has become a much bigger part of the payment structure.

It’s believed that racecourses receive roughly 18c per stream, such as when a punter watches a race live on their phone through a betting site. Depending on the timing of the Irish fixture and how much attention it gets from the betting public, the live streaming revenue can easily generate another €20,000 or more for the track.

The Irish Field has been told by sources close to the HRI Media Rights Committee that these payments will see a significant hike in the new deal. This is good news too for Horse Racing Ireland which, as was revealed in a recent Oireachtas discussion, takes a 16% cut of the media rights money.

Meeting

Racecourse officials will be invited to a meeting on Monday week, November 7th, to finally hear details of the proposed deal. One track manager warned The Irish Field that the deal might not be rubber-stamped that easily as some racecourses may arrive at the meeting with a wish-list of their own before they sign.

The statement released by HRI Media Rights Committee chairman Conor O’Neill this week said: “Following a tender process for the sale of Irish horse racing’s media rights for the period 2024 to 2028, it [the HRI Media Rights Committee} has selected Sports Information Services (LBOs, Streaming & Digital, International Fixed Odds) and Racecourse Media Group (Direct-To-Home, Free-To-Air UK, International Tote) as its Preferred Bidders.

“[All parties] will now enter into a period of exclusivity during which the Media Rights Committee and the Preferred Bidders will commence negotiations in order to finalise the proposed agreement which, following approval by the racecourses and HRI, shall be entered into between the Preferred Bidders and the Rightsholders. There will be no further comment during this period of exclusive negotiations.”