RACECOURSE managers and officials from around the country will meet with the Horse Racing Ireland Media Rights Committee on Monday to be brought up to speed with ongoing negotiations regarding the new media rights deal.

Last week the Committee disclosed that ‘preferred bidder status’ had been granted to Sports Information Services (SIS) and Racecourse Media Group (the parent company of Racing TV). All parties involved will now enter a period of negotiations with no one willing to comment until final agreements are reached.

The Irish Field understands that there are a handful of smaller racecourses who are unhappy with the way media rights money is allocated to them. Under the current deal, there is an algorithm based on a grading system in place for each track which determines what they will receive per race and per meeting. Representatives of those racecourses may challenge the Committee on this further down the line.

In general, it is expected that the new media rights deal, which runs from 2024 to 2028, will see an increase in payments made to racecourses, with live streaming now a bigger part of the payment structure.