CBS Sports, which showed the other two races, had much lower ratings for them, with the possible exceptions of years in which the Crown was at stake like 1973, 1977, and 1978.
Incorporated in September 1985, Triple Crown Productions opened its offices at Churchill Downs in January 1986 and inaugurated a common nomination form and fees for all three races.
The first two phases of the bonus would have two distinct payouts to the owners of horses running in the Triple Crown series.
If the same jockey won a second race during the same annual series then the Chrysler vehicle would be given to the winning trainer.
An enduring feature of the Challenge was the establishment of a point system to determine which horse had the highest combined Triple Crown total finish.
The horse that earned the highest number of points and started in all three races was awarded the million dollars.
In the winter and spring, Visa produced and aired television commercials focusing on its sponsorship of the three grade I races comprising the Triple Crown—the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes—and increased the marketing budget dramatically following the Preakness if a horse were eligible to win the Visa Triple Crown Challenge.
That meant that the winning connections would earn between $1,800,000 and $2,460,000 for the individual race purses and add $5 million for a Triple Crown sweep.
Many believe Visa withdrew its sponsorship as a result of the New York Racing Association's decision to break with the other two tracks on a television contract.
On October 4, 2004, NYRA announced that the American Broadcasting Company and ESPN would hold television rights to the Belmont Stakes, breaking from Triple Crown Productions' deal with NBC Sports.
When the NYRA deal ended in 2010, Comcast acquired rights for all three races, in separate contracts, to air on their channels.
It did not hurt that many horses, like Funny Cide and Smarty Jones, were making Triple Crown runs during those years (although all of them failed).