Nine wins Melbourne Cup rights fight, but questions remain

The Nine Network will broadcast the Melbourne Cup Carnival for the next six years, after confirmation of a long-anticipated deal with Tabcorp and the Victoria Racing Club which still leaves several key details yet to be resolved.

The deal, which will run from 2024 until 2029, is reportedly about $20 million short of the $100 million secured for the previous five-year deal with Network Ten, but due to the engagement with Tabcorp as part of the process, is likely to be better in pure terms for the VRC.

However, the VRC will bear costs and responsibilities for the production of the four-day broadcast through its VRC Media arm in a change from the previous arrangement where production was facilitated through a third party.

The Victorian racing industry already has a broadcaster with such capabilities, Racing.com, but the VRC has opted to go it alone on its approach.

The new deal with Nine does not make any specific provision for Racing.com to continue its live broadcast of races in Melbourne Cup, only for Tabcorp to broadcast through its Sky platform and the TAB app with the right “to on-sell the coverage to wagering providers”.    

The Straight understands that any deal for a continued live broadcast from Racing.com of the four feature days of Flemington is still pending, with no guarantees from the VRC, Tabcorp or Nine.

In a perhaps telling detail, the industry-owned platform’s digital arm did not carry a story on the broadcast deal announcement on its immediate release on Tuesday morning, despite it being reported through several mainstream media channels, including the Nine-owned publications The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.

Traditionally, given its insider role within the Victorian racing industry, Racing.com’s digital platform is given the first opportunity to report on deals of such significance.

It is also believed Nine has its eye on other racing broadcast rights held by Racing.com, including Royal Ascot.

The announcement comes at a fractious time in the Victorian industry, with the likelihood of major changes at Racing Victoria at board level after widespread dissatisfaction from stakeholders, including the metropolitan clubs, over key strategic decisions. 

The previous VRC deal with Ten proved unsatisfactory for all involved, with free-to-air ratings for the Melbourne Cup slumping to their worst levels in history and the broadcast itself criticised for its content and format. Ten walked away on negotiations last June citing ‘commercial constraints’.

No details have yet been released on potential on-air talent for Nine’s Flemington broadcast, which will sit in opposition to Seven’s coverage of the feature Golden Eagle meeting at Rosehill on the same day.

It is believed that the presence of the Rosehill meeting on the Seven Network was a sticking point in the VRC/Tabcorp’s negotiations with that broadcaster and proved too big a hurdle to overcome for any deal to be struck, despite Seven’s near exclusive hold on racing through the rest of the year.

VRC chairman Neil Wilson said the new partnership with Nine encompassed broadcast, content, partnership rights and race naming rights and “brings together the biggest names in sport”.

“The VRC is delighted to extend and enhance its long-term partnership with Tabcorp. As Australia’s first major event, the Melbourne Cup Carnival will sit very appropriately in the calendar of Nine’s Wide World of Sport major event coverage,” Wilson said. 

“The Melbourne Cup Carnival is Australia’s pre-eminent racing event, and the partnership continues the VRC’s unwavering commitment to showcasing the very best the sport of racing has to offer and attracting new fans to the sport.” 

“The partnership continues the VRC’s unwavering commitment to showcasing the very best the sport of racing has to offer and attracting new fans to the sport”   

Wilson also underlined the VRCs commitment to “history and tradition” in signing the new deal with Nine, which has never held an exclusive broadcast licence for Cup week.   

“As its custodians, the VRC places significant emphasis on protecting the history and tradition of Cup week, which is loved by so many Australians, while innovating for the future and investing in our club and the major event that is the Melbourne Cup Carnival,” he said.

The deal is significant from Tabcorp’s perspective as it puts the wagering brand at the heart of Australia’s most historically important race week and carnival.

Tabcorp has ceded significant market share over recent years to its bookmaking rivals such as Sportsbet and Entain. However, it recently announced a 20-year deal to continue its retail and parimutuel monopoly in Victoria.

“Tabcorp’s partnership with the VRC and Nine is the most innovative in Australian sport and we can’t wait to bring our entire digital, broadcast and retail ecosystem together to grow and promote the Melbourne Cup Carnival together,” Tabcorp CEO, Adam Rytenskild, said.

“This partnership builds on Tabcorp winning the 20-year Victorian exclusive wagering licence and will be a key pillar of our growth strategy.

“Together with our brand and customer transformation, this partnership gives us a terrific platform to grow in Victoria, throughout Australia and around the world as we beam the Cup to more than 60 different countries through Sky Racing.” 

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