Races from the Belmont at Aqueduct meet run by the New York Racing Association began to be blacked out on Thursday on FanDuelTV and its online horse racing betting company TVG after the two sides could not agree on a new contract, according to NYRA and FanDuel. An earlier contract between NYRA and FanDuel expired on Monday, but the two sides had continued to negotiate through Wednesday. The Thursday card at Aqueduct is NYRA’s first live racing date since Sunday. The blackout is occurring one week in advance of the opening day for NYRA’s highly popular Saratoga meet, which draws interest from horseplayers nationally. NYRA and FanDuel officials said negotiations were “ongoing” on Thursday. NYRA’s races are broadcast daily on a handful of other wagering sites, including the association’s own NYRA Bets account-wagering platform, and most of its races are broadcast live on the FS1 or FS2 networks run by Fox Sports. The Fox Sports coverage ramps up during the Saratoga meet through a broadcast partnership between Fox and NYRA. “NYRA provides the racing content that fuels the profits of out-of-state [account-wagering companies] like TVG/FanDuel,” Tony Allevato, NYRA’s chief revenue officer, said in a statement. “NYRA must prioritize the overall health of the sport and broader industry here in New York and we will continue negotiations to seek an equitable resolution so that our racing is widely available nationwide.” :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. In a press release, NYRA included statements from the heads of the state’s horsemen and breeder’s group indicating support for the association’s stance with FanDuel. “New York's horse owners are deeply invested in making the NYRA racing product the best in the country,” Tina Bond, president of the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, said in the statement. “We staunchly agree that fair compensation for that investment is absolutely imperative. If the New York Thoroughbred industry thrives, we all benefit.” TVG/FanDuel was once the only outlet for full-card national television coverage in racing, but the growth of racing apps, sports betting, and distribution deals with networks eager to obtain rights for live content has provided racetracks with broader options over the past 10 years. In addition to Fox Sports, NYRA’s signal is currently available on two sports-betting apps and several other rival account-wagering companies. Still, FanDuel’s broadcast network is available in 60 million homes domestically, and its account-wagering operation remains one of the largest in racing. FanDuel and TVG have offered wagering on NYRA’s signals since 2000. Because of NYRA’s increasingly tight relationship with Fox Sports and an exclusive broadcast-rights deal, FanDuel has been prohibited from showing races from Belmont and Saratoga live on its television network since the summer of 2020, though the company had still been able to stream the NYRA simulcast feed on the websites of FanDuel and TVG. “While we hope to have this content available again soon, we cannot agree to new proposed terms that are substantially inconsistent with our prior agreements,” FanDuel said in a statement. “We understand and regret that this will be an inconvenience to our customers.” Contract impasses are not uncommon between racetracks and account-wagering companies, and the disputes are normally resolved quickly. Largely because of the Saratoga signal, the fee for NYRA’s races is one of the highest in the country. The current impasse between NYRA and FanDuel/TVG comes at a time when NYRA has been seeking higher fees for bets made within New York on its races from some account-wagering operators. The in-state fees are a significant component of the stall in negotiations, according to several officials. Fees from NYRA’s simulcast wagering revenues are divvied up statutorily to a handful of in-state constituencies, including the state’s politically powerful offtrack betting companies. While NYRA has consistently expressed frustration with those carve-outs, the association has not been able to build the political support to reduce the fees. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.