UK horse racing media rights holder Racecourse Media Group (RMG) will be in need of a new CEO next year, with incumbent Martin Stevenson due to step down at the close of 2024.
RMG confirmed this week that Stevenson had informed its Board of Directors of his decision to depart the company, which distributes racing broadcasts both domestically and internationally, and manage the Racing TV outlet.
The company states that Stevenson believes it is the right time for RMG to transition to new leadership following a number of rights renewals this year and in 2023. He will retain leadership for the remainder of the year whilst the Board seeks new leadership.
Stevenson said: “I have a significant birthday approaching and I think now is the right time for me to relinquish the role and enable the business to put in place its leadership in plenty of time ahead of the next rights renewal cycle.
“It has been a huge honour and privilege to have been involved in the RMG project. Having joined as Finance Director when it was still a start-up, to helping it grow to become the largest funding organisation in British horseracing, it has been an exciting and engaging journey.
“The business has achieved a great deal in reclaiming control of our racecourses’ media and data rights and has created real substantial commercial success for the industry, having now delivered more than £1.2bn to the industry.”
RMG provides coverage of fixtures from the bulk of British and Irish racecourses. This coverage is distributed domestically via Racing TV, and internationally via deals with overseas stakeholders such as the Royal Calcutta Turf Club in India and Sky Racing, part of the Tabcorp gaming group, in Australia.
Stevenson first joined the company back in 2007 as Finance Director before being promoted to CEO in March 2021 towards the tail end of the UK’s COVID-19 pandemic-induced lockdowns, which put significant strain on the racing sector.
Commenting on Stevenson’s forthcoming departure from RMG, Nevin Truesdale, CEO of the Jockey Club, said: “It has been a pleasure to work with Martin as a trusted and highly respected colleague for over 10 years, in both the roles we have held in our respective businesses.
“The success of RMG in delivering significant incremental value to British Racing and enabling the Jockey Club and other shareholder racecourses to invest record amounts into prize-money and other investments over the last 20 years has been in no small part due to what Martin has delivered.
“He has played a key role in RMG’s undoubted success in increasing the value of British racing’s betting and data rights and I would like to thank him, on behalf of all of us at the Jockey Club and the other RMG shareholders, for all that he has done.”
