GAA to bring in 75M in TV and sponsorship over the next 3 years.

[Bogball XV]

http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-football/euro75m-bonanza-1246496.html

By Martin Breheny
Friday December 14 2007


The GAA is close to signing off on a Christmas bonanza which is likely to earn €75m from TV and sponsorship deals over the next three years.


It is very close to concluding the new €9.7m per year deal for a six-way sponsorship of the All-Ireland hurling and football championships while negotiations are at an advanced stage on the new TV arrangements which will see TV3 and Setanta sharing coverage with RTE for the first time.

The TV and the sponsorship deals are linked, with broadcasters required to use the various company names as part of their match day presentations, similar to what prevails for major international events.

Financial details of the various arrangements have not been made available publicly but according to a confidential promotional pack, seen by the Irish Independent, the GAA priced the All-Ireland football championship sponsorship at €5.1m per company for three years and hurling at €4.6m.

Six companies -- three for either code -- were being sought, bringing the total take for the 2008-2009-2010 seasons to €29.1m, more than three times the return from Guinness and Bank of Ireland who have sponsored the championships since the mid-90s.

The new TV deal, which ends RTE's monopoly of All-Ireland senior championship coverage, is expected to be worth at least €15m a year.

Figures for this year's media coverage are not available but the GAA's annual accounts for 2006 show that it yielded €6.9m. However, it's certain to be considerably higher under the new arrangements and may actually reach €15m. The new TV deal has been broken into a whole series of packages, including TV and radio rights at national and local level.

The top of the range package features TV rights for the All-Ireland finals, semi-finals and quarter-finals. Packages two and three feature various break-ups of 10 provincial and All-Ireland qualifier games, followed by packages four and five which are comprised of 10 picks from further down the line.

The National League and All-Ireland club championship feature on further packages while there are multi-packages involving lesser TV coverage such as news and on-the-spot reports and radio at national and local level.

Pay-per-view

TV3 has already secured the rights for a package which features seven provincial and three qualifier ties. The rest are still being negotiated although it's certain that RTE will retain its hold on the glamour games at the concluding stages of the championships.

Setanta's involvement has raised the spectre of pay-per-view although this has been vehemently denied by the company.

However, others insist that while it's not on the agenda at present, it could raise its controversial head if Setanta establish a firm foothold on GAA coverage over the next few years.

The break-up of RTE's monopoly is good news for the GAA who now stand to earn up to twice as much from TV coverage while radio at all levels is being targeted in a specific way for the first time. Local radio has provided an excellent service for the GAA over the past decade but since many of the stations are now hugely profitable and being sold for large amounts, their days of enjoying free access to Gaelic Games are almost certainly over.

Meanwhile, the new sponsorship proposals, which will see no overall titled backer for either hurling and football, has met with an enthusiastic response from the corporate world according to the GAA's Director of Marketing, Dermot Power.

He said that the football championships had been over-subscribed while there was plenty of interest in hurling too.

"It shows just how highly Gaelic Games are regarded right now," said Power, who has headed the sponsorship negotiations.

The GAA hopes to be able to announce details of the new sponsorship, possibly as early as next week.

The new TV/sponsorship deals will boost the GAA's coffers to unprecedented levels as, if all goes to plan, they can look forward to banking €25m a year over the next three years from those sources alone.

- Martin Breheny

So what are they going to do with the cash bonanza I hear you all say, well, apparently, they're going to have free admission to all games from now on, I want to be the first to commend the guys at the top on a great and visionary idea.  What better promotion for our games could there be, using tv money to subsidise the attending supporter is a novel idea and not only promotes the game, but better atmosphere in packed grounds leads to a better product for tv purposes.

[lynchbhoy]

Brilliant
but the GPA lads now want 'company cars'

[orangeman]

Music to Dessie's ears !!!!!!!!!!! Money,money,money, give us more money or else we'll go on strike !!

[tayto]

Some wedge of cash alright. They could reduce ticket prices a bit. Do up some of the more tired looking grounds.

[Jinxy]

A man could buy a couple of solid gold houses and a few rocket cars with that kind of scratch.

[bingobus]

Lets build massive county grounds in every county in Ireland - Minimun 60k and a smaller one of 30k for County Jnr B finals.

Wait a minute....apparently thats been done.

Now Mr Farrell, to whom do I make this cheque out to...

[lynchbhoy]

Lets build massive county grounds in every county in Ireland - Minimun 60k and a smaller one of 30k for County Jnr B finals.

Wait a minute....apparently thats been done.

Now Mr Farrell, to whom do I make this cheque out to...

build loads of all weather pitches so games can be played and training can occur all year round - more applicable for kids leagues/training to keep them interested, rather than have them bored all wnter long with unplayable pitches

[bailestil]

Lets build massive county grounds in every county in Ireland - Minimun 60k and a smaller one of 30k for County Jnr B finals.

Wait a minute....apparently thats been done.

Now Mr Farrell, to whom do I make this cheque out to...

build loads of all weather pitches so games can be played and training can occur all year round - more applicable for kids leagues/training to keep them interested, rather than have them bored all wnter long with unplayable pitches

i'd agree completely with you on that one lynchboy but then the player burnout brigade will come and say players are doing too much. These type of pitches would make a huge difference in increasing participation in urban areas. And in turn promote the games more than any tv station ever could. Hope the money isn't swallowed up by county board player expenses.

[Star Spangler]

Cheap at that price.  The two best field sports in the world?  A f**king bargain!

[orangeman]

The GPA will swallow a good sized cheque alright.

[lynchbhoy]

Lets build massive county grounds in every county in Ireland - Minimun 60k and a smaller one of 30k for County Jnr B finals.

Wait a minute....apparently thats been done.

Now Mr Farrell, to whom do I make this cheque out to...

build loads of all weather pitches so games can be played and training can occur all year round - more applicable for kids leagues/training to keep them interested, rather than have them bored all wnter long with unplayable pitches

i'd agree completely with you on that one lynchboy but then the player burnout brigade will come and say players are doing too much. These type of pitches would make a huge difference in increasing participation in urban areas. And in turn promote the games more than any tv station ever could. Hope the money isn't swallowed up by county board player expenses.

planing and supervision of players and a structure that is set out will see that this shouldnt happen

as for the pitches, we opened ours in dublin last year and started the minor training last early Nov - and kept going until the lads had to stop for the leaving cert exams.
I will say now that it was the biggest single factor in winning the Dub Minor championship.

Dublin Senior Div 1 league final was played on it last Jan too under floodlights. Even without lights its a fantastic pitch to have to allow kids to train in football and especially hurling.

If yer going to Ko samui I may be able to give you a few tips - less so bangkok, only there 3 days - if you need any tips on anything in particular.

[bailestil]

You wouldn't wanna see the sporting facilities in derry. They must be the worst in ireland for its population. Two floodlit grass pitches. One is the brandywell the other city of derry rfc. Our minors were training in the dark with the spill of streetlighting. Or on stupid sliding sand astroturf. But I'll not be using that as an excuse for our exit at semi finals. I've heard that the ulster council are going to utilise 'soccer and rugby' dividend  to improve pitches. I hope this money is similarly invested. Won't be getting to anything on the east coast of thailand. Will be at krabi etc down the west coast.

[full back]

What way will it work with Setanta?

"Setanta's involvement has raised the spectre of pay-per-view although this has been vehemently denied by the company."

I am quite sure that you have to pay to view Setanta

[bailestil]

As has been mentioned before has gaa got any commitment from tv3 with regards to coverage in large areas of the north. Where even if u have sky you can't get it.

[Star Spangler]

What way will it work with Setanta?

"Setanta's involvement has raised the spectre of pay-per-view although this has been vehemently denied by the company."

I am quite sure that you have to pay to view Setanta

Pay-per-view is not the same as paying a subscription for a sports channel.  Pay-per-view works on the basis of each event.  Like the way Sky did Hattons fight last weekend.  If they introduced pay-per-view for football it would mean having to pay seperately for each game you watched.