California racing faces concern as FanDuel TV plans broadcast shutdown

California racing is staring at a real visibility problem, and the hit is bigger than a single cable channel disappearing from the lineup. When the California Horse Racing Board raised FanDuel TV’s planned shutdown of its horse-racing broadcasts at its May 13 meeting in Sacramento, vice chairman Oscar Gonzales framed it as a competitive threat for a state that still depends heavily on television coverage to push wagering and keep its races in front of bettors.

The concern lands at a bad time for the market. CHRB executive director Scott Chaney said California afternoon handle was down 6 percent year to date, with the steepest nighttime declines tied in part to the absence of Standardbred racing in the state. That matters because California does not have casino gaming to cushion the sport the way some other racing states do. When broadcast reach shrinks here, the damage does not stop at fewer viewers. It hits field exposure, betting momentum, and the promotional pipeline that helps turn casual interest into actual handle.

Gonzales also pointed to a March 31 letter from the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters urging FanDuel TV and Flutter Entertainment to reconsider the phase-out. The group said the move would affect more than 170 employees, a number that includes some of the most familiar names in racing television, among them Matt Bernier, Andie Biancone, Christina Blacker, Caton Bredar, Simon Bray, Matt Carothers, Larry Collmus, Scott Hazelton, Nick Hines, Joaquin Jaime, Peter Lurie and Anthony Pascale. That is not just an internal corporate reset. It is the possible unraveling of one of racing’s most recognizable megaphones.

The timing is especially sensitive in California because the state still has a live racing calendar, but on a much narrower footprint than it once had. CHRB materials show the 2026 Thoroughbred race dates were allocated at the board’s October 16, 2025 meeting, while Fresno’s statewide harness dates were set at the November 19, 2025 meeting. The Fresno harness meet is listed from November 4, 2026, through May 11, 2027. In other words, California still has horses on the track across Thoroughbred, harness and quarter horse racing, but the sport’s broadcast presence is being asked to carry more weight with less margin for error.

FanDuel has said its linear TV network no longer fits its long-term strategy, and industry reports said more than 100 jobs would be eliminated by the end of November 2026 as the shutdown is phased out through the end of 2027. Andrew Moore said the company was shifting investment toward areas most critical to its roadmap, while Amy Howe said the network no longer aligned with long-term priorities. Flutter Entertainment’s July 2025 purchase of Boyd Gaming’s 5 percent FanDuel stake gave Flutter full ownership, and the broader message is hard to miss: this is a strategic retreat from a product that racing still treats as essential.