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HBA Media has renewed its distribution rights to the Breeders’ Cup World Championships on a multi-year basis.
Covering the 2022, 2023 and 2024 events, the renewal of HBA’s contract with the fixture marks the 10th year of the partnership and covers exclusive linear and digital distribution.
The upcoming 2022 edition of the tournament will take place from 4-5 November at Keeneland Racecourse, Kentucky, with HBA delivering coverage of the event internationally.
“To reach 10 years of partnership with the Breeders’ Cup is something everyone at HBA is immensely proud of,” said Frank Sale, HBA Media Managing Director.
“The media landscape has changed dramatically over the course of our relationship, and we have worked closely with the team at the Breeders’ Cup to ensure that the global visibility and commercial value of the event is continually enhanced year-on-year.
“We are now entering another exciting era for sports rights and are enthused to continue building the Breeders’ Cup brand with worldwide sports networks and platforms.”
An additional caveat of the agreement between the two parties has seen HBA produce a ‘Golden Hour’ programme for the finale for an international audience over the past eight seasons.
Last year, HBA distributed content from the tournament – one of the US horse racing scene’s signature race meetings – to several media outlets globally, spread across 120 different territoires.
These included Sky Sports Racing, a long-standing broadcaster of the Cup; ITV Racing, with the UK network dispatching a team to the US specifically to cover the event; RacingTV, which covered the entire event for the first time; and NBC, which produced a multiple-hour broadcast.
Drew Fleming, Breeders’ Cup CEO, added: “As we near our 10-year association with HBA, we couldn’t be more pleased with the expanded distribution of the Breeders’ Cup World Championship to international audiences, unimaginable a decade ago.
“Global competition among the world’s greatest horses, jockeys and trainers is one of the hallmarks of the Breeders’ Cup, and we are delighted to showcase the two best days of thoroughbred racing each year in more than 120 territories around the world through the leadership and expertise of HBA.”
The deal follows on from two similar agreements secured by HBA Media earlier this year, retaining media rights to a number of major racing events in Europe.
Last month, the company put pen to paper with Royal Ascot racecourse, distributing coverage of this year’s festival to 20 broadcasters across 170 territories – this included Sky Sports Racing, ITV Racing, Virgin Media, NBC and Peacock, among others.
The month prior, HBA tied the knot with France Galop, which named the racing media distributor its global partner for the next four years, in a deal encompassing the flat and steeplechase authority’s entire portfolio of fixtures. Drew
“It is a huge achievement to have retained such a longstanding association with the Breeders’ Cup,” remarked HBA Chief Executive Henry Birtles.
“The event is a sporting phenomenon, and we look forward to working closely with their team in showcasing this great event to the world.
“Autumn will see the team embark on a distribution and production marathon – representing three of the finest horse racing events in the world – starting with the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in early October followed by the Melbourne and Breeders’ Cups in November.”
