NBC Sports completes Triple Crown set with Preakness Stakes extension

The NBC Sports Group division of US media company NBCUniversal has agreed a long-term extension to its broadcast agreement with the Maryland Jockey Club for the Preakness Stakes horseracing event.

Although the precise length of the extension was not officially disclosed, the Associated Press news agency said that it is for seven years.

The renewal extends the partnership for the middle part of the Triple Crown, which began in 2001. The extension includes multiplatform rights to the Preakness Stakes, undercard on Preakness Saturday, and Black-Eyed Susan day during Preakness week, which will be televised on NBC and NBCSN and featured on NBC’s digital platforms.

NBC Sports International will continue to distribute NBC’s coverage of the Preakness Stakes globally throughout the term of the deal.

The Preakness Stakes is the second leg of US horseracing’s storied Triple Crown, falling in between the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes.

NBC Sports has now secured long-term exclusive media agreements for all three legs of the Triple Crown, having signed a multi-year agreement with New York Racing Association for the Belmont Stakes in June and a 10-year partnership running through until 2025 for the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks in February 2014.

The 2015 Preakness Stakes on NBC averaged 8.9 million viewers as American Pharoah became the first Triple Crown winner for 37 years – the seventh consecutive year in which the event has topped eight million viewers in the US.