NBC Sports Agreement Brings National Spotlight to Maryland Million and Preakness Preview Day

The recently announced media rights agreement between the Maryland Jockey Club and NBC Sports represents a major commitment to the future of the Preakness Stakes. Additionally, the agreement will introduce a much broader national audience to two other signature events on Maryland’s racing calendar.

Over the next six years, Peacock will provide national streaming coverage of the Jim McKay Maryland Million and Preakness Preview Day, highlighted by the Federico Tesio and Weber City Miss Stakes.

The expanded coverage is a significant victory for Maryland’s horsemen, breeders, owners and racing fans. It places Maryland racing before a national audience beyond Preakness weekend and creates new opportunities to promote the people, horses and farms that sustain the industry throughout the year.

For the Maryland Million, the agreement marks a long-awaited return to national coverage. ESPN televised the event during its early years, but the popular fall celebration of Maryland racing has not received that level of exposure in decades.

“The major announcement of the media deal was a culminating moment that will go down as the single greatest month in the history of the sport in the state,” said Maryland Million President TK Kuegler. “Amid all of the well-deserved Preakness and Black-Eyed Susan talk, what did not get as much coverage was a hard-fought-for aspect of the deal that opens up national media coverage for the Maryland Million.”

Created in 1986, the Jim McKay Maryland Million showcases the progeny of Maryland stallions while celebrating the state’s racing and breeding heritage. It has grown into much more than a stakes program. The event brings together horsemen, breeders, fans and families for one of the most anticipated days of the Maryland racing season.

The enthusiasm surrounding its inclusion in the NBC Sports agreement was evident during Governor Wes Moore’s press conference announcing the partnership.

“The largest cheer of the press conference was for the announcement that the Maryland Million was part of the NBC media deal,” Kuegler said. “I had multiple people from out of town come up to me and say they had no idea what the Maryland Million was—and that they were surprised it received the largest cheer.”

That reaction demonstrated both the deep affection Maryland’s racing community has for the event and the opportunity national exposure provides. Peacock’s reach will allow racing fans across the country to discover what Marylanders have celebrated for four decades: a program built around locally connected horses and the people who breed, own, train and care for them.

The agreement will also bring Preakness Preview Day to a national audience. The spring program is anchored by two stakes that provide direct pathways to Maryland’s signature races. The Federico Tesio Stakes offers an automatic berth in the Preakness Stakes to an eligible winner, while the Weber City Miss Stakes provides its winner with a place in the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes.

National coverage will give viewers the opportunity to meet potential Preakness and Black-Eyed Susan contenders earlier in their journeys. It will also connect the excitement of Preakness weekend to Maryland’s year-round racing program.

Together, the addition of Maryland Million Day and Preakness Preview Day makes the NBC Sports agreement about far more than one weekend. It gives Maryland racing three distinct moments in the national spotlight: the road to the Preakness in the spring, the Preakness and Black-Eyed Susan in May, and the celebration of the state’s breeding and racing industry during the Maryland Million in the fall.

“This is a huge win,” Kuegler said. “It will continue the path we are on of making the Maryland Million not only a single day of racing, but a yearlong celebration of the sport for the state.”

More details about the Jim McKay Maryland Million and future Peacock broadcast schedules will be announced as they become available.

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