Arc’s interest in Dundalk adding to the chaos of Irish racing’s TV deal

FIVE years after SIS blindsided the entire Irish racing industry by selling its direct-to-home pictures to Racecourse Media Group (RMG) to be broadcast on what was then Racing UK, have the authorities lost control of the media rights golden goose once again?

I’d love to roll in with a definitive viewpoint in answer to that but the reality is we still don’t know. Media rights discussions are notoriously opaque, a point gloriously illustrated by the fact most racecourse managers and boards did not even realise their own pictures were being sold elsewhere by SIS until the deal was done in 2018.

To the dismay of so many, on January 1, 2019, 363 Irish fixtures were shoehorned into the television schedule of a broadcasting company owned by UK tracks, and the rest is history.

Irish racing went behind a secondary paywall and the routine viewing experience became headfrazzling. SIS had won back a position of strength, having been threatened by Arena Racing Company (Arc) and RMG coming together to form the Great Britain and Ireland (GBI) Racing vehicle.

SIS ensured it was no longer sidelined by gaining control of the full suite of Irish racing’s media rights, and RMG recognised its newfound clout, splitting from its merger with Arc in 2018 and getting into bed with SIS for the Irish deal.

Irish racing found itself deployed as a mere plaything in a turf war between British commercial entities, and the upshot, apart from losing the massive exposure it had on At The Races, was the daily viewing experience on a congested Racing TV deteriorated for fans of British and Irish racing.

The existing deal comes to an end on December 31. By all accounts, the renewal process has been haphazard from the outset. Remember, the current arrangement with SIS was hammered out seven years ago, two years in advance. The tender process for the new five-year contract has already been ongoing for two years, and it has frequently been described by those familiar with it as chaotic. Here we are, the clock ticking on an expiring deal, and still no-one has signed on the dotted line. SIS’S proposed sale has been mentioned as a complicating factor but it’s not believed to be delaying matters.

Part of the reason for the glacial progress are the protests of five malcontent courses. Thurles, Kilbeggan, Limerick, Roscommon and Sligo formed United Irish Racecourses (UIR) in an effort to agitate for a bigger slice of the pie.

However, their position is undermined by the fact they have not and will not resign their membership of Air (Association of Irish Racecourses), so they’re running with the hare and hunting with the hounds. They have nothing to lose by throwing some shapes. We’re told Arc has offered them €100,000 per fixture, but Air’s chief executive Paddy Walsh has insisted the exclusive talks with SIS and RMG were the only talks that would be happening and HRI’S media rights committee is empowered by law to do the negotiating.

Personally, while I would prefer to see Irish racing back on Sky, the chances are that ship has sailed. What the Racing TV production and presenting teams do when they have the scope is superb but it’s simply too crammed. If tracks wanted to explore a switch back to Sky, they should have probably kicked up more during the tender process because fluttering their eyelashes at Arc now smacks of a day late and a dollar short.

VARIOUS sources insist that, in terms of monetary value, the €47 million deal that is being presented to tracks is not one that any of them are likely to turn down. For all that the UIR tracks see the value in their product, the reality is that worth would diminish significantly if they weren’t grouped with the likes of Punchestown and Leopardstown at the negotiating table.

At this stage, the real sticking point is the prospect of Dundalk being sold to Arc, which is an unconscionable development for many Irish racing advocates. It is bad enough the industry here has suffered as a pawn in a dispute between two British commercial factions, but for an Irish course to be sold into foreign ownership would be a sad day for the industry.

Of course, the common denominator here is Arc, and there is a suspicion it is relishing the role of a disruptive agent in all of this having again lost out in the formal bidding process. On the one hand, given the structure of its model, it’s easy to see why Arc would be interested in acquiring Dundalk. It fits in with its all-weather schedule and the real value in Dundalk could still be to come.

The media rights arrangement that is on the table is increasingly linked to turnover, not just betting but also streaming. Proportionally, Dundalk’s Friday night slot generates a massive volume of traffic, so whoever owns it could see a surge in revenue. Of course, it would be a different deal if Arc were to succeed in its efforts as Sky would then come back into play, but the turnover model is apparently the way all of these media rights contracts are going.

It would also be a strategic acquisition for Arc, throwing a major spanner in the works for the ongoing negotiations and inevitably undoing Irish racecourses’ collective bargaining policy. That prospect of chaos in Dundalk going solo is Arc’s trump card.

Nonetheless, Arc’s model turns on fixtures, and HRI controls the fixtures. It is a world away from the situation in Britain, where tracks own that power. That disparate model is the root of many of British racing’s problems right now. Arc would inevitably want to increase the volume of fixtures at Dundalk, but few want to see the Irish racing brand go down the betting fodder route with which British all-weather tracks have become synonymous.

HRI will not relinquish control of the fixtures lightly. Moreover, with a new all-weather development due to come on stream next year at Tipperary – which HRI owns – Dundalk will soon have competition.

All told, it is making for an intriguing saga, and we probably shouldn’t underestimate the ramifications if the rancour translates into actual splinters because a certain unity of purpose has underpinned Irish racing’s current position of strength. That’s not something anyone should take for granted.