Entain and Arena Racing Company Sign Ground-Breaking Media Rights and Distribution Deal for Horse Racing and Greyhound Racing
Entain and Arena Racing Company (Arena Racing) today announce the signing of a ground-breaking long-term media rights deal that covers horse racing media rights and establishes a landmark joint venture between Entain and Arena Racing for greyhound racing, through to 31 December 2029.
This exciting long-term deal will deliver a compelling range of horse racing and greyhound racing product for Entain’s retail & digital channels, Ladbrokes & Coral, as well as for its digital brands - Betdaq, Bwin and Sportingbet, and will launch a joint venture between the two parties for the distribution of greyhound racing content from Entain, Arena Racing and Independent greyhound tracks.
Both horse and greyhound media rights will be produced and distributed to the UK independent bookmaking sector via The Racing Partnership (“TRP”) and into international markets such as Spain, produced and distributed by Arena Racing subsidiary, Vermantia.
Horse Racing Media Rights
The horse racing media rights element of the Entain / Arena Racing partnership covers all UK, race day data & audio-visual coverage for races from Arena Racing’s sixteen UK racecourses, which include Doncaster, Newcastle, Chepstow and Lingfield Park. The deal also includes South African & Australian content and will commence on 1 January 2022 and run through to 31 December 2029.
Greyhound Racing Joint Venture
The ground-breaking joint venture (JV) between Entain and Arena Racing will deliver a single optimised UK Greyhound Racing schedule. The JV will become the vehicle for licensing media rights to Entain & other domestic and international betting operators from these tracks. This joint venture will launch on 1 January 2024 through to 31 December 2029.
The JV will hold the long term exclusive rights to premium greyhound content from twelve stadia owned across Arena Racing (Newcastle, Nottingham, Perry Barr and Sunderland), independent stadia within Greyhound Media Group (“GMG”) (Kinsley, Sheffield, Swindon and Yarmouth) as well as those owned by Entain (Crayford, Hove, Monmore Green and Romford).
Adrian Bower, Entain Chief Procurement Officer said today: “We are delighted to be partnering with Arena Racing on such a comprehensive long-term deal that will give certainty to both parties for the benefit of both horse racing and greyhound racing, as well as helping them navigate the Covid challenges and emerge stronger when the world gets back to normal”
“This is a progressive deal for greyhound racing, that will deliver a sustainable programme going forward, support greyhound welfare, and deliver more money into the sport”
“This landmark deal supports Entain’s omni-channel strategy for its UK digital brands and emphasises the huge value we place on the horse racing and greyhound racing products. We have been looking for a long-term deal that delivers benefits to both parties, allowing us to focus on navigating the immediate challenge of Covid, while generating greater value for all. Ladbrokes and Coral are two of the biggest and longest standing investors in, and supporters of horse racing and greyhound racing, and this significant commercial deal with Arena Racing is just further proof of our support for these two great British sports”
Kevin Robertson, Managing Director of Arena Racing’s Media and International Division said today:
“This deal between Arena Racing and Entain represents a new era of collaboration between the horse and greyhound racing industries and their bookmaker customers.”
“We are delighted to have framed this deal to offer long term certainty for both our horse and greyhound racing, as we look to recover from what have been incredibly difficult times for both industries. Importantly, this deal recognises the value for both horse and greyhound racing being sold directly by rightsholders to their key bookmaker customers. We are delighted to be working in partnership with a significant global partner in Entain who operate historic and popular brands such as Ladbrokes and Coral, continuing their long association with both sports.”
“Both Arena Racing and Entain are committed to the future of greyhound racing, and under the new JV we will be able to sustain and re-invigorate a sport that has been through significant change over the years. The launch of evening greyhound racing on Sky Sports Racing in February is hopefully the first of many new initiatives to promote and enhance the sport”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
About EntainEntain plc (LSE:ENT) is a FTSE100 company and is one of the world's largest sports-betting and gaming groups, operating both online and in the retail sector. The Group owns a comprehensive portfolio of established brands; Sports Brands include bwin, Coral, Crystalbet, Eurobet, Ladbrokes, Neds and Sportingbet; Gaming Brands include CasinoClub, Foxy Bingo, Gala, Gioco Digitale, partypoker and PartyCasino. The Group owns proprietary technology across all of its core product verticals and in addition to its B2C operations provides services to a number of third-party customers on a B2B basis. The Group has also entered into a joint-venture with MGM Resorts to capitalise on the sports-betting and gaming opportunity in the US. The Group is tax resident in the UK with licenses in more than 20 countries, across five continents.
For more information see the Group's website: www.entaingroup.com
About Arena Racing
Arena Racing Company (“Arena Racing”) is the largest commercial racing group in the UK.
Arena Racing is made up of the following sixteen racecourses: Bath, Brighton, Chepstow, Doncaster, Ffos Las, Fontwell Park, Great Yarmouth, Hereford, Lingfield Park, Newcastle, Royal Windsor, Sedgefield, Southwell, Uttoxeter, Wolverhampton and Worcester.
In addition to racecourses Arena Racing owns Newcastle, Nottingham, Sunderland and Perry Barr Greyhound Stadia and looks after the media interests of the Greyhound Media Group (“GMG”).
Arena Racing runs four of the six all-weather racecourses in the UK offering three different types of surface for horses to run on: Polytrack at Lingfield Park, fibresand at Southwell Racecourse and tapeta at Newcastle and Wolverhampton Racecourses – the only tapeta racing surfaces in Europe.
In 2013 Arena Racing pioneered the All-Weather Championships which see horses compete throughout the winter for the chance of qualifying for Finals Day on Good Friday at Lingfield Park. This initiative is helping raise the profile and prestige of all-weather racing in Great Britain.
Arena Racing hosts racing at all levels of the sport from Class 7 through to Group 1s. Doncaster Racecourse is home to the world’s oldest Classic, the Pertemps St Leger, run each year in September as part of the four-day St Leger Festival as well as the final Group 1 of the year in Britain, the Vertem Futurity Trophy. Feature jumps races include the Grade 1 Betfair Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle Racecourse, the Coral Welsh Grand National at Chepstow Racecourse and Midlands Grand National at Uttoxeter Racecourse.
As well as racing, Arena Racing also operates a hotel at Wolverhampton Racecourse, a hotel, spa resort and golf course at Lingfield Park and The Border Minstrel public house at Newcastle Racecourse in the grounds of Gosforth Park. The Hilton Garden Inn Doncaster Racecourse opened in September 2018.
Arena Racing is a significant shareholder in the horseracing TV channel Sky Sports Racing which is broadcast on the Sky platform to c.14 million homes.
Arena Racing plays a pivotal role in British Racing. It is a shareholder in British Champions Series and Racecourse Data Company; a signatory to a British Horseracing Authority’s and Horsemen’s Group Prize Money Agreement; and on the boards of the Racecourse Association (“RCA”), Great British Racing (“GBR”) and British Champion Series (“BCS”).
In 2015 Arena Racing set up The Racing Partnership. This limited company represents the media rights of the 16 Arena Racing owned-racecourses and the five independent racecourses Fakenham, Hexham, Newton Abbot, Plumpton and Ripon.
Further information about Arena Racing can be found at www.arenaracingcompany.co.uk.
For further information:
Entain plc
Jay Dossetter, Head of ESG and Press Office
j[email protected]
Powerscourt
Rob Greening / Elly Williamson
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7250 1446
[email protected]
Arena Racing Company
Sam Cone, Head of Communications & Public Affairs
Office: 020 7802 5120
Mobile: 07920 404 296
Email: [email protected]
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