The National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), Breeders’ Cup Limited and NBC Sports have agreed to a four-year extension that will keep the Breeders’ Cup World Thoroughbred Championships on NBC through 2005, officials from the organizations announced today at a Times Square press conference. The Breeders’ Cup has been televised on NBC since the event’s inception in 1984.
As part of the new agreement, NBC will also televise a preview show from Belmont Park three to four weeks prior to the World Thoroughbred Championships to be produced in partnership with NYRA along with additional advance promotion of the event.
‘We are pleased to continue and build upon our longstanding relationship with NBC which has done such an outstanding job of televising this event since its beginning,’ said D.G. Van Clief, Jr., president of Breeders’ Cup.
‘We look forward to another four years on NBC and appreciate the network’s commitment to horseracing.’
Said Ken Schanzer, President, NBC Sports, ‘NBC has been home to the Breeders’ Cup for the past 17 years and we are delighted to extend our partnership with them and continue to telecast this remarkable event. With the Breeders’ Cup and the recent acquisition of the Visa Triple Crown, NBC Sports is home to the best of Thoroughbred horse racing.’
In addition to televising the World Thoroughbred Championships, NBC’s five-year contract to televise the VISA Triple Crown began this year.
Last June, Breeders’ Cup and the NTRA launched the World Thoroughbred Championships brand, re-naming the year-end championship event, while announcing several related marketing initiatives, including a new ‘Road to the World Thoroughbred Championships’ series airing on multiple networks.
Since then, Bessemer Trust Company (Juvenile) and Penske Auto Centers (Sprint) have signed on as title sponsors of Breeders’ Cup races and divisions and Alberto Culver (Filly & Mare Turf) and John Deere (Turf) signed on as a presenting sponsor.
In 2001, the cable network CNBC became an NTRA broadcast partner by telecasting the inaugural ‘Bessemer Trust Two-Year-Old Challenge,’ a series of races for juvenile colts that awards $250,000 to the owner of any horse who wins one of the series’ designated races plus the Bessemer Trust Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.
If the horse has been sold at public auction, the consignor is eligible to receive a $50,000 bonus. If that same horse goes on to win the Kentucky Derby on NBC the following year, the owner will earn an additional $1 million bonus.
NBC’s coverage of the Breeders’ Cup has won Eclipse Awards for National Television Achievement, as well as an Emmy Award for Outstanding Live Sports Special of 1992. NBC will televise this year’s Breeders’ Cup World Thoroughbred Championships live on Saturday, October 27, from New York’s Belmont Park (1:00-6:00 p.m. ET).
For further information please contact:
Eric Wing
(212) 907-9283
Cameron Blanchard,
NBC (212) 664-7202