NEWS
MI Developments, Churchill Downs at odds on content
Posted: Wednesday, March 02, 2011 6:50 PM
CHURCHILL DOWNS
PhotosByZ.com/Thoroughbred Times
by Frank Angst
A strained relationship between leading track and advance-deposit wagering platform owners MI Developments Inc. and Churchill Downs Inc. could threaten content availability of racing signals at their respective ADWs as racing enters the important spring season.
The problems developed last month when new advance-deposit wagering website DRFBets.com failed to reach an agreement to carry Fair Grounds and Oaklawn Park. Churchill Downs owns Fair Grounds and Churchill Downs Simulcast Productions negotiates Oaklawn’s signal fees with ADWs. MI Developments is a partner in the DRFBets.com website, which uses the platform of MI Developments’ ADW, XpressBet.com. Customers at the DRFBets.com site have access to past performance information from the ADW’s other partner, Daily Racing Form.
Churchill’s TwinSpires.com advance-deposit wagering website has offered free past performance information to its customers through Churchill’s Bloodstock Research Information Services.
The failure of DRFBets.com to reach an agreement on the signals from Churchill tracks could create some significant ripples. MI Developments and Churchill have not reached a formal content-sharing agreement this year, instead operating under more of a day-to-day agreement in which Churchill advance-deposit wagering platform TwinSpires.com has offered MI Developments’ popular winter tracks Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita Park while XpressBet has offered Fair Grounds.
The recent relative harmony between MI Developments and Churchill that has helped allow their tracks’ signals to be widely available on major ADW sites in recent years is threatened. The signal availability has proven popular with customers, who previously expressed frustration when different advance-deposit wagering sites carried different racing signals.
Churchill Downs Inc. spokeswoman Julie Koenig Loignon confirmed that Churchill has not provided racing content to DRFBets.com but she declined to offer reasons for that decision. Churchill President Robert Evans previously has said that advance-deposit wagering sites should compete based on customer service and technological platforms, not content.
XpressBet.com President Ron Luniewski confirmed that the ADW owners are at odds over content. If things were to escalate, it could create a situation where XpressBet.com offers MI Developments tracks like Golden Gate Fields, Gulfstream, Santa Anita, and the Maryland Jockey Club tracks, while TwinSpires carries Churchill tracks Arlington Park, Calder Race Course, Churchill Downs, and Fair Grounds.
“We think it’s a ludicrous position where they’re saying, ‘We don’t like the competition with DRFBets so you can’t have the content,” Luniewski said. “Bob Evans is right about what he has said about open content. We own racetracks and we have distribution channels but we never want to favor one distribution channel by giving them all of the content. We think Bob Evans is correct, let everyone compete on features and functionality.”
Horseplayers Association of North America (HANA) President Jeff Platt said a setup that forces players to have multiple ADW accounts in order to have access to all of the major signals would frustrate players.
“Our position at HANA is that players have to have options on where to bet,” Platt said.
Platt said competition among advance-deposit wagering platforms creates innovation, allowing players to receive better deals on pricing as well as options like free past performances, tip sheets, and contest promotions. He said while many players enjoy the features offered at a larger site like TwinSpires.com, new operators approved by the Thoroughbred Racing and Protective Bureau should not be hampered by being denied racing content.
Agreements involving HorseRacing Television, a racing channel co-owned by MI Developments and Churchill, also are creating strain between the two track owners, specifically signal-fee issues for broadcast rights following Churchill’s purchase of the large ADW platform Youbet.com. Those fees help offset expenses at the racing channel, which to this point has been losing money on operations.
Also straining relations between Churchill and MI Developments was a recent feud over racing dates in South Florida which eventually saw a compromise between Churchill’s Calder Race Course and MI Developments’ Gulfstream.
The recent discord has followed several years of calm. In 2007, Churchill and then MI Developments subsidiary Magna Entertainment Corp. formed TrackNet Media to market signals together. TrackNet was dissolved in May 2010 but relative calm continued in terms of signal availability.
“Three years after we formed TrackNet Media, we believe we have largely achieved our goals, including an open content environment where ADW operators now compete for customers based on features and value instead of exclusive access to content,” Evans said when TrackNet Media was dissolved.
MI Developments shareholders currently are considering a stock deal in which successful Thoroughbred owner-breeder Frank Stronach would take over the racing operations from the company that traditionally has focused on commercial real estate. Stronach hopes to complete the deal by the end of June.
Frank Angst is senior writer for Thoroughbred Times
READER COMMENTS
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Posted by: FJ, Dayton, OH on March 04, 2011 at 08:23 PM
I would think that all the tracks and theit parent companies would want all their content and live signal in as many places as would have it, the more availability there is, the more people will see it and want to participate. All this closed doors and protected signal stuff is bewildering
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Posted by: Robert, Hollywood, FL on March 03, 2011 at 09:20 PM
Dale you have it right. Ask the MHBPA which just went through the threat of closing down. Penn National Inc. has had enough of him and is trying to bale.
"He has destroyed the Old Gulfstream -- not only its infrastructure but its atmosphere. He has replaced it with what is being described as an entertainment center with overtones of Las Vegas. I'd call it bizarre and perverse.” - Andrew Beyer
All kinds of problems at his California holdings.
The Ontarion Jockey Club keeps Stronach an arms length away. Charlie must be sleeping on Franks 'Struflex' bedding cause he is delusional.
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Posted by: Charlie, Detroit, MI on March 03, 2011 at 09:27 AM
Frank Stronach is always there to help the horseman. You obviously do not know the man or this industry.
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Posted by: Dale, Raeford, NC on March 02, 2011 at 09:14 PM
every time there is an argument over tracks, racing dates now ADW signals, all one has to do is scratch the surface and there's Frank Stronach involved.
The guy is like a cockroach. He is everywhere.
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