Tax breaks for intercounty footballers

[Zulu]

It won't happen and anyone arguing it will are scaremongering in a Trumplike fashion - Make an outlandish claim with no supporters facts.

[magpie seanie]

It won't happen and anyone arguing it will are scaremongering in a Trumplike fashion - Make an outlandish claim with no supporters facts.

Whatever

[Zulu]

Exactly, not a single supporting fact.

[magpie seanie]

No - just the field I grow my fucks in is barren dude.

[Zulu]

Do you wear your red baseball cap with the slogan 'Make the GAA Great Again' in that field?

[magpie seanie]

I'm just stating an opinion of something I believe will happen. I'm not alone in that belief. Frankly I'm not too concerned what a GPA apologist like you thinks of my opinion. I understand why you want to deny it's happening. Like when lads are getting payment for playing intercounty - it's not payment for playing intercounty. It's really preserving the amateur ethos. I get it. These are not the droids you're looking for.....

[Zulu]

We can all try predict the future but to be taken seriously it needs to be based in some reality. Even a brief consideration of the issues would lead any sane person to the conclusion that a professional GAA would be highly unlikely. Nobody has ever been able to provide a detailed plan for how a professional GAA would be sustainable. So rant away if you want to but don't be surprised when your BS is called out.

GPA apologist, Jesus wept.

[johnneycool]

Dublin aside I just don't see how the numbers could stack up.

Interpro rugby is held afloat by the international dimension that the GAA doesn't have and they're only supporting four teams.

Could Clare hurlers, Limerick hurlers, even Cork or Tipp hurlers with big fan bases go pro? I doubt it.

[Kickham csc]

Yes....it will be in the region of 8-12 for football and 6-8 for hurling I'd guess. It will happen though unless we get a President who radically changes course and someone who would do that will find it impossible to get elected.

If it was 8-12 counties going pro, why would anyone go to see the match who are from a county not playing?

The Antrim football community still attend the Ulster final, because Antrim are involved, but if Antrim were not a professional team, and not playing in a competition, what vested interest would I have in attending other games. I'll focus on the club scene.

If that happens then revenue would fall, which would hurt the ability of the GAA to maintain professional clubs.

Also, if the gaa goes professional, they can't stop players joining other counties. So Dublin would more than likely dominate.

If 1 or 2 teams dominate in a league, attendances will fall, again hurting the ability to support. So going pro will need 4-8 teams being competitive.

Lastly, diverting money to players means diverting money away from clubs and coaching initiatives. People loyal to clubs might boycott attending professional games if there is a sense that the games no longer benefit my community (as opposed to 90% of revenue reinvested into the GAA)

Lastly, if we go professional, is the GAA no longer a Tax exempt organization, if so, substantial money will again be diverted away.

So anyone who things that going professional is going to happen, need to consider the complexities and difficulties that going professional will present to the organization.

[magpie seanie]

Yes....it will be in the region of 8-12 for football and 6-8 for hurling I'd guess. It will happen though unless we get a President who radically changes course and someone who would do that will find it impossible to get elected.

If it was 8-12 counties going pro, why would anyone go to see the match who are from a county not playing?

The Antrim football community still attend the Ulster final, because Antrim are involved, but if Antrim were not a professional team, and not playing in a competition, what vested interest would I have in attending other games. I'll focus on the club scene.

If that happens then revenue would fall, which would hurt the ability of the GAA to maintain professional clubs.

Also, if the gaa goes professional, they can't stop players joining other counties. So Dublin would more than likely dominate.

If 1 or 2 teams dominate in a league, attendances will fall, again hurting the ability to support. So going pro will need 4-8 teams being competitive.

Lastly, diverting money to players means diverting money away from clubs and coaching initiatives. People loyal to clubs might boycott attending professional games if there is a sense that the games no longer benefit my community (as opposed to 90% of revenue reinvested into the GAA)

Lastly, if we go professional, is the GAA no longer a Tax exempt organization, if so, substantial money will again be diverted away.

So anyone who things that going professional is going to happen, need to consider the complexities and difficulties that going professional will present to the organization.

Millions are being spent on preparing county teams each year......it's already happening. You'd have to estimate somewhere north of €40-50M a year spent by county boards alone annually on county teams.

I do concede though that the popularity of the pro game might wane after the initial years when the event junkies decide to go elsewhere. Which wouldn't bother me either. We could start afresh and run the association correctly.

[Zulu]

Fantasy stuff. If €40 million is being spent on IC teams at the moment then the money for preparation alone would double (at least) for full time squads. Add in wages for players and staff, upgrading home venues and maintaining training facilities etc. and the annual cost of maintaining a professional game would be astronomical. You don't care about reality though as you just want to rant and rave about the sky falling in. We can't address our real issues when people focus on imaginary boogeymen.

[magpie seanie]

Fantasy stuff. If €40 million is being spent on IC teams at the moment then the money for preparation alone would double (at least) for full time squads. Add in wages for players and staff, upgrading home venues and maintaining training facilities etc. and the annual cost of maintaining a professional game would be astronomical. You don't care about reality though as you just want to rant and rave about the sky falling in. We can't address our real issues when people focus on imaginary boogeymen.

Sligo spent over €1m on county teams last year. That's on record, in their financial results. There are 32 counties. Most are bigger than Sligo. Some have very high level teams in both codes. It's a fair assumption that most counties spend more than Sligo. So I'd say €40M is a very conservative estimate and that's based on what's paid officially through the books.

To me this wouldn't be the sky falling in. I'd welcome it as it would be much more honest and workable than the shite and lies that goes on presently. So I'm not sure what you're on about with boogeymen. I couldn't care less if it's financially viable....I just want it to be up front and honest with everything on the table. What's happening nowadays is not viable and that's for certain sure. I'm more concerned about the 99%, rather than the privileged elite that the entire association is being run for.

[Itchy]

It could happen. Not that long ago large crowds used to attend Railway cup games, with the right promotion who knows what could happen. Big money partner with SKY who have form for this sort of thing.

I wouldnt like to see professionalism as it will kill the game just like it has killed rugby at every level except the elite.

[Rossfan]

Not a big enough population to sustain 32 professional football teams so you'd end up with 8 or 10 max regional teams.
They'd end up playing each other 3 or 4 times in a long boring League series which would end up flopping IMHO especially with no international outlet.

[Zulu]

Fantasy stuff. If €40 million is being spent on IC teams at the moment then the money for preparation alone would double (at least) for full time squads. Add in wages for players and staff, upgrading home venues and maintaining training facilities etc. and the annual cost of maintaining a professional game would be astronomical. You don't care about reality though as you just want to rant and rave about the sky falling in. We can't address our real issues when people focus on imaginary boogeymen.

Sligo spent over €1m on county teams last year. That's on record, in their financial results. There are 32 counties. Most are bigger than Sligo. Some have very high level teams in both codes. It's a fair assumption that most counties spend more than Sligo. So I'd say €40M is a very conservative estimate and that's based on what's paid officially through the books.

To me this wouldn't be the sky falling in. I'd welcome it as it would be much more honest and workable than the shite and lies that goes on presently. So I'm not sure what you're on about with boogeymen. I couldn't care less if it's financially viable....I just want it to be up front and honest with everything on the table. What's happening nowadays is not viable and that's for certain sure. I'm more concerned about the 99%, rather than the privileged elite that the entire association is being run for.

You've lost me now, so your not saying we are going professional? What's not up front, you've just quoted the figures for Sligo so what's been hidden. If you don't like what's going on then fine but there's no logic in claiming we are going professional when it would be a massively difficult transition.