Racing League, the new UK horseracing team competition, has this morning announced a multi-million-pound partnership with News UK – the owner of radio station, talkSPORT and publisher of national titles including The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times.
The collaboration is aimed at “opening up racing to a more diverse and mainstream audience.”
Racing in bespoke team colours, Racing League’s 12 teams – each consisting of 2-4 trainers working together, three jockeys, stable staff and a squad of 30 horses – will compete across 36 handicap races, for a total prize pot of over £2m.
There will be no free to air TV coverage of the Racing league though all the races will be shown live on Sky Sports Racing
The Sun will publish bespoke Racing League pull-outs with interviews, stats, guides and tips, ahead of each of the six consecutive Thursday evening race meetings, which are set to be hosted at Newcastle, Doncaster, Lingfield Park and Royal Windsor racecourses this summer.
In the build-up to the series curtain-raiser at Newcastle Racecourse on Thursday 29 July, and in addition to publishing six weekly columns, The Times will feature a comprehensive Racing League preview, profiling jockeys, such as Hollie Doyle, Frankie Dettori, and Oisin Murphy, and trainers, including John Gosden, Andrew Balding and Richard Fahey, who will make up the 12 confirmed teams.
It will be interesting to see what impact the coverage in a select group of media outlets will lead to in others.
Sports editors have long bemoaned the space they have to give over to racecards but if there was no demand from customers the likelihood is they would have been dropped.
Demand
The bet that racing is making now is that the demand for the sport will be sufficient to sustain interest across the media groups that are not involved while making new inroads with the media that is.
The Sun’s acclaimed fantasy game specialist, Dream Team will partner with Racing League, giving both horseracing enthusiasts and those new to the sport an opportunity to pick and manage their ultimate racing team, with the overall champion banking £10,000.
All of Racing League’s 36 races will be aired live on talkSPORT and talkSPORT 2 as well as on Sky Sports Racing.
“This investment in media is unprecedented in our sport and will help fulfil our aim to take racing mainstream this summer,” said Racing league CEO Oli Harris.
“We want millions of people to share in the fun and excitement of Racing League and follow the drama of the competition over a two-month period.”
“In terms of media prestige, our aim is to position horseracing alongside football, rugby and cricket, where it once was, and Racing League’s partnership with News UK will help us achieve that goal.”
“Racing League is a fantastic concept and one that our world-class brands will bring to life across print, digital and audio,” added News UK Broadcasting CEO, Scott Taunton.
“The Sun, The Times, The Sunday Times and talkSPORT have form when it comes to inspiring audiences around big sporting events and they will be there to bring all the excitement of Racing League to a large and diverse group of fans.”
Look back on our interview with Racing League founder Jeremy Wray from last October
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