The Breeders’ Cup and the NBC Sports Group Thursday announced an
unprecedented 10-year media rights partnership extension that will keep the
Breeders’ Cup on NBC and NBCSN through 2025. The agreement was announced by
Craig Fravel, president and CEO, Breeders’ Cup Ltd., and Jon Miller, president
of programming, NBC Sports and NBCSN.
As part of the agreement, NBC and NBCSN will combine to present at least
eight hours of live coverage of the Breeders’ Cup, including live primetime
coverage of the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on NBC in 2016 from Santa Anita
Park near Los Angeles, and in 2017 from the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club outside
San Diego.
The agreement is an extension of a current four-year agreement that began in
2012. That year marked the first time that the Classic was televised live in
primetime. NBC broadcasted the first-ever Breeders’ Cup in 1984. The new 10-year
extension is the Breeders’ Cup’s longest and most extensive media rights
agreement.
This past year, NBC Sports Group expanded its Breeders’ Cup coverage;
televising 11 programs of Breeders’ Cup qualifying races from the nation’s top
tracks under the banner of “Breeders’ Cup Challenge: Win and You’re In.”
“We’re proud to extend our partnership with the Breeders’ Cup as we continue
to showcase the most prestigious events in horse racing,” Miller said. “We look
forward each year to concluding the horse racing season with two days of
terrific racing at the Breeders’ Cup.”
The Breeders’ Cup, Thoroughbred racing’s most prestigious global racing
event, consists of 13 races held over two days, worth $26 million in purses and
awards. The culminating event of the Breeders’ Cup, the Breeders’ Cup Classic,
is contested at 1 1/4 miles on the main track, for three-year-olds and older,
and is often the determining race for the coveted Horse of the Year title. Over
the years, 11 Breeders’ Cup Classic winners have been voted Horse of the Year.
“We are extremely excited to extend for the next decade our outstanding
relationship with NBC and the NBC Sports Group in televising the Breeders’ Cup
World Championships as a cornerstone of its long-term expanded commitment to
Thoroughbred racing,” Fravel said. “The Breeders’ Cup has enjoyed an expanded
and revitalized presence on NBC with new fans viewing the Breeders’ Cup Classic
hour and NBC’s ability to cross-promote the Championships on its wide variety of
platforms.”
NBC Sports Group’s coverage of the 31st Breeders’ Cup begins Friday from
Santa Anita Park with the live telecast on NBCSN from 5-8 p.m. (all times EDT),
and coverage continues on Saturday from 3:30-8 p.m. on NBCSN; and from 8-9 p.m.
in primetime on NBC.
NBC Sports Group’s coverage of the Breeders’ Cup will be streamed on NBC
Sports Live Extra, NBC Sports Group’s live streaming product for desktops,
mobile devices and tablets via “TV Everywhere,” the media industry’s effort to
make quality content available to MVPD customers both in and out of the home and
on multiple platforms.
For desktops, NBC Sports Live Extra can be accessed at NBCSports.com/liveextra.
The NBC Sports Live Extra app for mobile devices and tablets is available at the
App Store for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, and on select Android handset and
tablet devices within Google Play.
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