United Irish Racecourses call on Government to intervene in media rights issue

United Irish Racecourses, the five tracks that on Tuesday rejected a €47 million deal negotiated by Horse Racing Ireland’s media rights committee, has called on the Minister for Agriculture Food & Marine, Charlie McConalogue, to intervene in an issue that has split Ireland’s racecourse sector.

At an Association of Irish Racecourses EGM on Tuesday afternoon the quintet of smaller tracks – Limerick, Kilbeggan, Thurles, Sligo and Roscommon – voted against acceptance of the deal from Sporting Information Services (SIS) and Racecourse Media Group (RMG.)

With the country’s 21 other tracks voting to accept, it has thrown a spanner into the works of how media rights deals are negotiated and opens a scenario, as in Britain, where individual tracks negotiate with differing companies.

Up to now a Horse Racing Ireland media rights committee did the negotiations on an, all in, basis.

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The UIR block was set up earlier this year after its five tracks claimed trust in HRI, which operates four courses of its own, had collapsed.

It is unhappy with how media rights income is distributed by HRI, with almost €7 million going to the governing body. It also claimed the funding model behind the deal favoured the bigger racecourses.

On Tuesday night, the UIR secretary, Paddy Dunican, called on the Government to get involved.

“UIR racecourses have today decided to withdraw from a media rights agreement that simply does not represent the interests of the membership.

“Our concerns at the inequitable distribution of funding under these deals has not been addressed, despite pledges from HRI, to conduct a review into allocation, as far back as 2016.

“UIR want what is best for racing and racegoers; parity of treatment, exposure of the sport, and enhanced attendances. To that end, HRI has an additional onus on it to derive the best possible deal, while transparently delivering value to all courses in a fair and equitable way,” he said.

A UIR statement said the five tracks had “grave reservations” about what it called the “inequitable distribution of funding under the proposed deal.”

It added that HRI had failed to make good on an undertaking in 2016, to facilitate an “independent review of the allocation of media rights money” and to ensure that all money derived from that deal “would go towards current or capital expenditure.”

To date, it said, they have failed, and or refused to commence this process.

UIR want the Minister to review the applicability of Section 10 of the Horse and Greyhound Racing Act 2001, which it contends is unconstitutional and amounts to an infringement of the property rights of racecourse owners.