According to a report in the Sport Business Journal, the Triple Crown schedule could be shaken up in 2027 as media rights to the Preakness go up for grabs after this year’s edition. The report indicates that the middle jewel of the Triple Crown “is set to make a historic shift to one week later in May,” three weeks after the Kentucky Derby.
However, Maryland Jockey Club president and general manager Bill Knauf denied the published SBJ report. He told The Blood-Horse: “We are in the middle of media rights negotiations and have yet to meet with two potential partners. It is unfortunate that the story was written that way so that people believe that everything is settled.”
The SBJ report states that “whether the Belmont Stakes — traditionally run three weeks after the Preakness — would also shift a week could depend on who wins the media rights to the Preakness.”
The 2026 edition of the Preakness Stakes will be the final contracted year the race is with NBC Sports; while NBC has been reported to be interested in retaining the rights to the Preakness, other networks reportedly interested include FOX Sports, Amazon, and Netflix.
The Kentucky Derby will be on NBC through 2032, but the Belmont Stakes rights are currently held by FOX through 2030.
If FOX wins the bid for media rights to the Preakness Stakes, the SBJ reports sources said FOX “would endorse moving the Belmont Stakes back a week, thus giving three weeks between each race.” If FOX does not win the Preakness rights, the Belmont may not move, the SBJ reported.
Knauf told The Blood-Horse it is too early in the media rights negotiations process to know whether the date of the Preakness will change: “We are holding all of our meetings and after that we will circle back with NYRA and Churchill Downs and talk with them. We are exploring all possibilities for dates and who will be our business partners.”
While the five-week schedule of the Triple Crown series has come under fire many times in the past decade, only five of the 13 Triple Crown winners completed the schedule at the modern spacing, which was put in place in 1969: Secretariat, Seattle Slew, Affirmed, American Pharoah, and Justify.
However, the argument for extending the schedule has been reignited in the past few years as connections of Kentucky Derby winners Sovereignty (2025) and Rich Strike (2022) both opted to skip the middle jewel of the Triple Crown.
Read more at the Sport Business Journal and The Blood-Horse.
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