GAA doing a deal with SkySports

[Rossfan]

Why can't RTÉ just get the crew from Seó Spóirt to double job on Sundays as Béarla?

[twohands!!!]

Why can't RTÉ just get the crew from Seó Spóirt to double job on Sundays as Béarla?

Dara O'Cinneide is utterly wasted on that show.

[screenexile]

The best part of Sky's coverage is that they have lads there who aren't long out of the game and know what's happening.

O'Se is a bit loose on the co-commentating but good in the studio. I like Earley as co-commentator. Senan Connell is a bit of a spoofer but to be fair McGuinness and Canavan are both excellent and Wyse is very good at pulling the thing together along with Carney being fairly switched on with the whole thing.

I could listen to Jim McGuinness talk football all day long (another excellent article in the Times today) and Canavan has a great grasp of modern day tactics and showing the viewer exactly what's going on.

Contrast this with the bile of 'th th th' of O'Rourke, 'intinsity and shi'ite football' of Spillane and the 'howl on howl on' of Brolly on RTE and there is no comparison!

(It's not worth £50 though)

[Syferus]

I'll be watching all the games on RTE 2 from now on - we've only got SD Sky Sports and RTE 2 is in HD. I doubt I'll be bothering to switch over at the half either. It all matters a lot less than we think here I'd say.

[DennistheMenace]

Sky are leagues ahead of RTE in terms of analysis already, I hope they get more games next year.

[Jeepers Creepers]

The pigeons are more detailed on SKY HD as well.

[thejuice]

So another year over. Has the sky deal done anything for GAA in the UK. Has its audience grown or I guess its fallen away or stagnant.

It's probably been a bad deal for Sky who probably saw no sign of a return on their investment and the GAA got their money but the so called growing of the game abroad isn't happening from what I can see.

[Zulu]

So another year over. Has the sky deal done anything for GAA in the UK. Has its audience grown or I guess its fallen away or stagnant.

It's probably been a bad deal for Sky who probably saw no sign of a return on their investment and the GAA got their money but the so called growing of the game abroad isn't happening from what I can see.

I'm interested to hear what you have to back this up?

[thejuice]

Well if I'm honest not much beyond that clubs around England where I am aren't getting many new recruits from outside the Irish diaspora. Looking online I don't see any indicators of a non-Irish audience emerging as a result of the games being on Sky.

But please show me I'm wrong.

[Minder]

I saw something during the week that the viewing numbers for the hurling final were through the floor

[Zulu]

I don't have any evidence either way but I'm not making broad statements that are supported by next to nothing. Nor would I expect hundreds or even dozens to be joining clubs because they saw one or two games on TV. I don't know if Sky will help us in Britain but we won't know for a good few years either way so making statements like you did is pretty pointless.

[From the Bunker]

I saw something during the week that the viewing numbers for the hurling final were through the floor

Does through the floor = Poor, (opposite of Through the roof = Great!)?

[Tiocfaidh Ned]

PERHAPS it was the sight of Kilkenny winning yet another All-Ireland hurling title, but UK viewers of Sky's GAA coverage appear to have been turning off in droves.

Just 32,000 people – roughly the population of Carrickfergus – tuned into Sky's coverage of Kilkenny against Galway in the Croke Park decider on September 6th, according to Paul Rouse, a professor at University College Dublin.

Kilkenny's four point win saw them collect their eleventh title in 16 years.

Sky has reportedly haemorrhaged viewers since the 2014 showpiece between Kilkenny and Tipperary, with the figure 70 percent lower this September than last.

The 2014 final attracted a peak audience of over 100,000 on Sky, which aims to bring GAA to the British market as part of a three-year deal agreed in April 2014.

http://www.irishnews.com/news/2015/09/17/news/sky-viewing-figures-slump-by-70-percent-for-all-ireland-hurling-final-264121/

[thejuice]

The growth of American football in the UK in the last 15 years or so was something that was demonstrably a direct result of it being on sky. Teams around Britain and Ireland were recruiting more players than they can handle and new teams were starting every year. Sports websites and forums had NFL sections and pages when they didn't before. Viewing figures grew year on year and soon there were games being played to full houses in Wembley stadium.

That's what I'm comparing it to. Maybe it won't happen as fast or maybe sky need to buy the whole lot to provide the full story so that audiences are fully up to speed on things. I can't say but from what I see there is very little outside interest but I could be wrong.

[Zulu]

American football was first on TV over here in the 80's and was dropped but had a second coming with Sky which just goes to show it can take many years for a game to take hold. Bear in mind that NFL has a proper season too unlike the farce that is the GAA season and American football can more easily grow by the nature of the sport and the fact that there isn't a lot of fairly high level players playing in Britain unlike the GAA. We need to grow through the kids, American football can grow through adults, we can't.