Churchill Downs buys Preakness rights in $85 million deal

Churchill Downs has moved to take control of the Preakness Stakes and the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes in an $85 million deal that puts one of Baltimore’s signature sports assets in the hands of the Louisville racing giant while Maryland keeps the races on the calendar at Pimlico Race Course.

The agreement covers the intellectual property, trademarks and related rights for both races, but it does not hand Baltimore’s spring racing tradition outright to Churchill Downs. Instead, Maryland will continue to conduct the Preakness and the Black-Eyed Susan under an exclusive license and will pay an annual fee for the rights it needs to stage them. The transaction is expected to close after the 2026 Preakness Stakes, so this year’s race will proceed under the current structure even as the ownership framework shifts around it.

For Baltimore, the stakes reach far beyond the winner’s circle. The Preakness is a tourism engine, a national television property and a core piece of the city’s racing identity, especially in Park Heights, where the future of Pimlico has been tied to redevelopment plans for years. Maryland officials have said the rebuilt Pimlico project is expected to support more than 500 jobs and more than 100 racing days a year, while the state’s Thoroughbred racing industry sustains more than 28,000 jobs and has generated about $3 billion in economic impact.

The state took ownership of Pimlico in 2024, and that same deal anticipated that Preakness rights would later be transferred through a long-term licensing arrangement after Preakness 151 in 2026. The package also included a $10 million community investment through the Department of Housing and Community Development for Park Heights priorities, a signal that the racecourse rebuild is being treated as both an entertainment project and a neighborhood redevelopment tool.

Churchill Downs said it will fund the purchase with cash on hand and its existing credit facility. Company chief executive Bill Carstanjen cast the move as an investment in one of American sports’ most recognizable brands and said the rights could help support a redeveloped Pimlico and place the Preakness in a broader sports and entertainment market. That pitch matters in Baltimore because it suggests both opportunity and risk: the city may gain a deeper corporate backer for the race, but it also gives up more direct control over a property that has long been central to its public image.

That tension has only grown as Pimlico itself has been rebuilt. In August 2025, Gov. Wes Moore said demolition of the clubhouse marked a major milestone, with new racecourse construction expected to begin by early 2026. With the clubhouse gone and construction moving ahead, the question now is not whether the Preakness stays in Baltimore. It is who holds the leverage as Park Heights and Pimlico enter their next phase.