USA Sports Acquires Rights to New Horse Racing League

USA Sports has acquired rights to the Horse Racing League, a new league with three race days next year and $10 million in prizes.

USA Sports announced the agreement as another sports rights acquisition. USA Sports described the league as “designed to bring season-long continuity to thoroughbred racing.” Its format brings elements from other sports into thoroughbred competition, rather than presenting three race meetings as the entire product.

What the league is proposing

The announcement lists four elements seen in other sports:

• A draft selection process.
• Premium live events.
• Brand-led teams.
• Rivalries with $10 million in prizes.

In USA Sports' description, the draft, team identities and rivalries give the three-date schedule a season-long frame. For the network, that means a property designed to carry an ongoing narrative across the calendar, not only a set of individual races.

The announcement does not explain how the draft will select participants, how the teams will carry brands, or how the $10 million will be divided. It also gives no duration or commercial terms for the USA rights agreement. The league can supply a distinct format; USA still has to establish how that format appears in its coverage.

Who is leading the league

Greg Maffei, the former longtime Liberty Media chief, is the Horse Racing League's Executive Chairman. He also serves as Founder/CEO of BANN Ventures, an investment firm focused on emerging sports, media and entertainment properties.

Maffei's dual position links the league's leadership to an investor with a stated interest in emerging sports and entertainment. The announcement did not disclose BANN Ventures' financial commitment to the league or the source of the $10 million in prizes.

The inaugural schedule

The league's first season starts next year:

• March 13: Miami.
• April 18: Lexington, Kentucky.
• May 15: Los Angeles.

USA will carry all three race days, and each will include multiple dirt and turf races. The three-stop sequence gives the league a compact test of the format USA Sports has agreed to support.

What does this deal change for USA Sports?

The concrete change is a defined league calendar across March, April and May. USA Sports has committed to carrying all three race days. Its announcement did not specify broadcast times, production plans, team or sponsor names, promotional commitments or how the league's other-sports elements will connect to race coverage.

Those details will determine whether the promised season-long continuity becomes a recognizable part of USA's schedule or remains a promise attached to three race weekends.

If USA sustains a through-line from Miami to Los Angeles, the league will have demonstrated that its other-sports template can deliver the season-long continuity it has promised.