Fox Sports and the New York Racing Association (NYRA) have agreed to a long-term that makes Fox the main telecaster of the NYRA’s races.
The agreement includes almost every single race at Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course. Therefore, those placing bets on these races will be able to watch to see how their horses perform. This will likely lead to significant increases betting on horse racing because people will have a vested interest if they can watch the racing themselves.
Details of this deal
Financial terms have not yet been disclosed. The parent company of Fox is 21st Century Fox, which is in the process of selling most of its assets to Disney. The things that will remain will be primarily news and sports programming under the Fox brand.
As part of this new racing deal, more than 600 hours of racing will be shown on Fox channels annually. NYRA races have been telecast by Fox Sports 2 since 2016, with more than 100 hours of coverage in 2018.
Talking about this deal, the executive vice president of league operations and strategy at Fox Sports, Michael Mulvihill, said: “NYRA has been a terrific partner and we are looking forward to presenting more horse racing on a national stage than ever before. With this commitment, Fox Sports has taken the lead in developing content in the fast-growing area of sports gaming by expanding our relationship with the most prestigious name in horse racing, the New York Racing Association.”
Other major sports in the scene
Most of the major sports organizations in the United States have been embracing sports betting since it became legal. This is a big U-turn from the way they were acting when the federal ban was still in place. Back then, they were opposing legalization at every turn.
Now major television networks are trying to cash in on this new craze as much as possible. They will be busy selling advertising slots and running new shows that focus heavily on sports betting.
The NBA, NHL, and MLB are partnering with MGM Resorts as their official gaming partner. The MLB and NBA have also been pushing for the introduction of integrity fees. This fee would be a percentage of every bet placed on an event that on the relevant league’s schedule. So far, no sports betting bill with a provision for an integrity fee has been approved.
New money-making ventures
The NBA is now focusing its sights on licensing data through their recent new deals with Sportradar and Genius Sports. These data companies will package the league’s exclusive data and sell it to sports betting providers. It is certainly an exciting time, with many more states likely to legalize sports betting in 2019.
Horse racing receives huge sums of money in the UK and Ireland for betting. Many in the US racing industry hope to replicate that success. The sport has been recently declining in popularity, but the introduction of sports betting and a new emphasis on horse races will very likely give the sector a good boost.
