Lingfield the latest battleground in Flutter-Arc media rights war as trainers call for prize-money agreement

National Trainers Federation chief executive Paul Johnson has called for agreements on prize-money based on a minimum share of racecourse revenues to be signed between tracks and the sport's participants, a measure he believes will alleviate concerns about the use of media streaming income.

Johnson's comments came as the dispute between Flutter and Arena Racing Company (Arc) over the price the bookmaking giant pays to stream racing in its portfolio of betting shops and online showed no sign of ending on Tuesday. Sky Bet and Paddy Power are declining to offer early prices at a third fixture at Arc tracks with Wednesday's afternoon card at Lingfield the latest SP-only meeting. 

Johnson said that failure to reach such agreements could undermine collective efforts to turn racing's fortunes around.

In powerful comments in Tuesday's Racing Post, Flutter's UK and Ireland boss Ian Brown claimed Arc was offering little more in prize-money than they were receiving in media rights from just his group of bookmakers and warned they would not be able to keep investing in "an unprofitable product with a shrinking audience".

Brown went on to state that, based on internal Flutter estimates, some racecourses were taking three times as much in streaming revenues on some meetings as they were offering in prize-money, and questioned "where the rest of the money is going".

The NTF has been part of the Thoroughbred Group's efforts to reach prize-money agreements based on racecourses' racing revenue, a mechanism which it claims allows for the different business models adopted by tracks and is not purely focused on streaming income.

Paul Johnson: NTF chief executive has renewed calls for prize-money agreements based on a minimum share of racing revenuesCredit: Racing Post/Scott Burton

While underlining that he had "no visibility" on the commercial agreements for streaming which exist between courses and bookmakers, Johnson said: "What we do see is that the sport has commercial arrangements to define most of the flows of money through the sport; how bookmakers pay racecourses via media rights, how the levy is paid, the agreement between the ROA and PJA on jockey fees and the agreement of minimum pay rates and terms between the NTF and Nars being some examples.  

"The one missing part is an agreement over the flow of money from racecourses through to participants via prize-money, something that remains largely down to the discretion of racecourses."

Johnson added: "We continue to seek deals with racecourses that would define a minimum proportion of their racing revenue, which obviously includes media rights, that has to flow into prize-money. 

"Putting these deals in place will provide bookmakers and participants with some comfort that a fair share of what is contributed is going into prize-money and will allow all of us to pull together to ensure that the sport has a bright future. Without them, participants will continue to be asked to do more to help grow the sport without any assurance that their extra work will provide any benefit to them."

Asked whether he agreed with Brown in questioning the ratio of three to one in terms of media streaming revenue and prize-money at some fixtures, Johnson said the NTF had no interest in telling racecourse executives how to run their businesses, but described future agreements on distribution of income through prize-money as "vital." 

Ian Brown has warned that British racing is becoming less attractive and less profitable to bookmakersCredit: Jon Enoch

And he said he recognised Brown's ambition in urging racing to go "further and faster" in adapting to changing customer expectations, though he cautioned against unrealistic expectations. 

"A number of racecourses have been open with us about their finances and we agree that the media rights payments are in excess of the prize-money at many core fixtures," said Johnson. "It would only be fair, however, to say that we do recognise that the allocation of prize-money is done across the whole fixture list rather than on a per fixture basis.  

"We also understand that running racecourses, just like training racehorses, is a high cost business, so the comparison between media rights and prize-money is not straightforward. We do not wish to get into the realms of trying to run the racecourses businesses for them but an agreement on a share of revenue is vital."

On Brown's call for racing's leaders to be more ambitious in the face of declining public interest, Johnson said: "It is a reasonable comment to make given the pressures that the sport is under and I think others within the sport would agree. Again, commercial agreements between racecourses and participants will help here.  

"We do need to be mindful, however, that the last few years have been hard going for the sport and that we do not find ourselves in a position to spend £40 million a year in the way that cricket did to launch The Hundred.

"I think we are all concerned with the direction that the sport is heading but remain confident that between participants, racecourses and bookmakers we can put in place the right arrangements to bring about the changes we need. The sport has a great deal to offer if we can work better together."

Read these next:

Flutter chief calls for major change and claims racing has become 'unprofitable' for bookmakers  

Here at Flutter we can't afford to keep investing in racing as an unprofitable product with a shrinking audience - change is needed  

Paddy Power and Sky Bet stick to their guns to offer only SP odds for Chepstow in media rights row with Arc 

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