Jockey Club Racecourses Group Managing Dir Paul Fisher believes "all levels" of racing will benefit from a planned year-on-year increase of £2.1M ($2.6M) in prize money in '17. A total of £22.9M ($28.5M) will be contributed by JCR this year, split between £11.6M ($14.5M) to jumps racing and £11.3M ($14M) to flat racing. The National Hunt sphere will benefit from a £1.4M ($1.7M) "injection" with the group's seven "small courses" -- Carlisle, Exeter, Huntingdon, Market Rasen, Nottingham, Warwick and Wincanton -- "seeing budgeted increases to their prize money" of more than £100,000 ($124,650) each and by as much as £241,000 ($300,400) in the case of Carlisle. Total prize money across the 15 JCR tracks is "scheduled to exceed" £45M ($56M) in '17 across 341 fixtures, with average prize money of more than £132,000 ($164,540) per fixture (SKY SPORTS, 2/20).
Australia's "sports broadcasting revolution appears here to stay" after Optus recorded a "surge in sign-ups off the back of its acquisition of the Premier League rights." The telecom "sent shockwaves across the Australian landscape" in '15 with a three-year, A$180M-plus investment to secure the rights to the EPL. But the release of sales figures for the second half of '16 -- when it first transmitted the league -- "suggests it was a canny decision." Optus reportedly added 201,000 new "postpaid handset customers" between July and Dec. '16, while Telstra added 79,000 (AAP, 2/20).