The likely outcome of a vital vote by Ireland’s racecourses to accept or reject a €47 million per year media rights deal continues to be shrouded in uncertainty.
The country’s 26 racecourses are set to vote in just over a fortnight (March 22nd) after financial details of the offer by Sports Information Services (SIS) and Racecourse Media Group (RMG) were released last week by the Association of Irish Racecourses.
Sources close to the negotiations have confirmed the package negotiated by Horse Racing Ireland’s media rights committee is worth up to €47 million per year and will run until the end of 2028.
However, the issue of how that money is divided up, particularly the near €7 million going to HRI under the deal, still threatens to split the sector.
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Five of the smaller courses – Thurles, Kilbeggan, Limerick, Sligo and Roscommon – have already formed their own United Irish Racecourses Group after declaring their lack of trust in HRI.
A number of other tracks are reportedly worried about aspects of the deal too while the issue is complicated further still by the potential sale of Dundalk to Arena Racing Company.
ARC is in direct competition with SIS/RMG, including through its partnership with Sky Sports Racing which carries free to air coverage of its 16 tracks in Britain. Day to day home viewing coverage of Irish racing is behind a paywall on Racing TV which is owned by RMG.
AIR’s chief executive Paddy Walsh couldn’t be contacted on Sunday, but it is understood he took the lead in last week’s presentation and maintained a majority vote can carry the new deal.
Current legislation states the sale of media rights can only be negotiated for authorised tracks by HRI’s media rights committee.
The media rights committee chairman, Punchestown’s boss, Conor O’Neill, wouldn’t comment on the detail of last week’s meeting but said on Sunday: “The racecourses have had the initial outline of the proposal and they’re now taking time to consider it.”
What impact there will be on the figures involved in the deal if all tracks don’t sign up is unclear while those opposed insist that HRI’s media rights committee are simply ‘agents’ for rights that are their property.
“Paddy Walsh told us it [the deal] doesn’t have to be unanimous, that a majority decision can carry it,” one racecourse representative confirmed on Sunday. “He also said he doesn’t know where they [UIR] go if they don’t accept it.”
The SIS/RMG offer was described as a “good one” for the majority of racecourses with some tracks getting as much as 45 per cent more payments under it by the time the five-year deal concludes.
HRI gave ‘preferred bidder’ status to SIS/RMG last October. That ruled out a potential opposing bid by the Racing Partnership Group which includes ARC.
It is understood that UIR want to find out how much any other deal might be worth and assurances from HRI they will be allowed sell their rights to any other bidder if rejecting the SIS/RMG offer.
“We believe Horse Racing Ireland as agent was negligent not to submit all offers to the authorised racecourses. UIR will meet other interested parties and each racecourse executive will decide which operator is granted approval to access their property.
“In England there are two operators and we see plenty of merit in this from both a commercial viewpoint and the industry getting greater exposure,” the Kilbeggan boss Paddy Dunican said on Sunday.
However, the murky nature of the current situation is underlined by legislation requiring authorised tracks, even those who might opt to act independently, to negotiate through HRI’s media rights committee.
