Betsy is publishing its top ten power lists for both NSW and Victoria, detailing the key powerbrokers in racing and their key relationships.
Some on these lists will be household names – there are others that punters will have never heard of.
But they are all crucial players in an industry worth billions of dollars.
The list is not designed to highlight those in positions of power or roles that give them prominence, it’s created to have a look at those who actually have an impact, with the ability to shape crucial decisions on how racing in Australia is run, and crucially, how punters are treated as a result.
Read Betsy’s power list so far here:
7. CRAIG HUTCHISON
Craig Hutchison must be thanking the business gods that Racing Victoria outbid him for Victorian radio station Racing and Sports 927 in 2021.
It was essentially his much smaller Alan Bond moment [for those who don’t get the reference, google!].
Hutchison’s company bid somewhere between $6-8 million for the station, [others claim it was even more], only to be trumped by a cashed up RV in the peak of COVID, where money was as plentiful for racing as lockdowns were for the sorry Victorians.
Just four years later RV needed to sell the station, which essentially became troublesome when TAB walked away from its long-term advertising deal.
This time Hutchison did the deal for around $3.2 million. It’s good business.
The result was a bonanza for the 50-year-old, who will now simulcast much of SEN’s racing products onto RSN – plus SEN now has much needed bandwidth across regional Victoria which is increasingly hard to come by.
The reality is that Hutchison is now in a powerful position.
In an industry worth hundreds of millions in advertising and marketing dollars from bookies, Hutchison will be looking to cash in.
He now essentially owns all racing radio in the state, some of the content which will be simulcast onto the screens of Racing Victoria’s own racing.com.
Former RSN host Michael Felgate – who had to interview Hutchison on RSN in July despite being told his show would not continue with SEN [and did an excellent job] – asked him a pertinent question.
I’m paraphrasing, but will SEN have the same content handcuffs that all of RV’s media outlets have had to manage?
Could they actually ask the hard questions, probe in areas RV will be uncomfortable, criticise trainer or jockeys where appropriate and create engaging content on the back of criticism and occasionally negativity?
SEN know better than anyone that quality debate, discussion, talkback and controversy engage punters. It’s a large part of the SEN grid already.
They are areas Hutchison knows well and is well aware they drive audience and therefore lucrative advertisers.
The SEN boss played a significant role in the emergence of Kane Cornes in the AFL space.
Cornes, love or hate him, is one of the most influential figures in the AFL media world. How would racing react or accept something similar?
RV, as are most administrators, is very sensitive to criticism. No insult or critique, implied or not, goes unnoticed.
The story goes that one former racing.com employee gave an implied, but fair, critique of RV on air and didn’t even have time to remove his make-up before his boss was ringing to call in their disapproval.
Just recently social media criticism of RV led to high-level complaints. We could go on.
This mindset won’t make racing radio profitable for Hutchison. How SEN and Hutchison manage to walk the tight-rope will be fascinating.
One pleasing message from Hutchison’s RSN interview is his commitment to continued investment into racing.
Hutchison was at the centre of a number of Herald Sun stories that reported concerns about the financial performance of SEN and wider investments.
The relationship between Newscorp and Hutchison [and some of his high profile staff] has traditionally been complicated and competitive [amplified as time goes on, no doubt, by competing commercial interests].
For what it’s worth, the view of a respected few with inside knowledge of the business say it’s in decent shape.
Hutchison remains influential in the AFL given his media assets and production of football products. From the radio rights, shows such as the Agenda Setters and even the AFL Record, his reach his everywhere.
He’s viewed as an innovator and risk taker [his production arm recently delivered the AFL Legends game to huge numbers] and unlike most journalists, places a huge emphasis on commercial outcomes.
For racing, having someone of Hutchison’s ilk, business background and understanding of what makes good content is incredibly valuable.
But what else could he do?
His production arm, Rainmaker, already produces all Harness Racing in Victoria, shown on Sky Racing.
Hutchison has now cornered a significant part of racing media and now has the task of growing the audience further, relying on broadcasters such as Gareth Hall and even Gerard Whateley.
Whateley’s ability to cross over between major sports and racing is important.
A keen racing fan with an interest in the sport’s history, it will be fascinating to see whether Whateley is utilised across the SEN Track and RSN networks.
Racing needs more mainstream appeal. It needs to lean into debate, controversy, celebrations and celebrity, and it needs commentators who can live with occasionally being ostracised by an industry that doesn’t take criticism well.
Hutchison’s knowledge of sport – and what content works for the punter – is why he could give away the journalism pay cheques and make good money running a business. He’s known to be a keen punter himself.
As RV looks to further cut costs and derisk the media business – and without a big media player in racing in an industry worth billions – the relationship between the media mogul and racing will be fascinating to watch.
