Are professional sports economically viable in Ireland?

[Rossfan]

The GAA could go pro but are not willing to go pro. . The market is there for it.

The market is not there for a long series of games between say 12 fully pro teams made up of players from all over the place and no real International competition or tournaments to take part in.
You'd be lucky to average 6,000 per game until the inevitable string of end of season play offs.
You'd need at leaast 25 players plus 5 or 6 management/coaching plus hired expertise not to mention grounds rental, travel, insurance etc etc. - about €5m to run a team for a year.

[Hound]

The GAA could go pro but are not willing to go pro. They need more games to make it work. There would have to be a champions league or NFL type system to generate more games. The market is there for it.

Technically, I would say a professional GAA league could work, but only for gaelic football and not for 32 counties. But it wouldnt be the GAA as we know it, and while it may attract a few extra players to stay with gaelic rather than pursue soccer, rugby, aussie rules, etc, its hard to believe it would be a better sport or spectacle, so why would we do it?

In the interests of a Friday hypothesis, I propose this would be the format if gaelic moved professional:

Southern Conference:
Kerry
Cork
Clare-Limerick-Tipp
Wexford-Carlow-Waterford-KK

Eastern Conference:
Dublin
Louth-Meath
Laois-Offaly
Wicklow-Kildare

Western Conference:
Galway
Mayo-Sligo
Roscommon-Longford-Westmeath
Donegal-Leitrim

Northern Conference:
Tyrone-Fermanagh
Armagh-Down
Monaghan-Cavan
Derry-Antrim

A regular season of 18 matches. You play every team once, but teams in your own conference twice. Top team in each conference gets into the quarter-finals along with the 4 other teams with the best records (some conferences may have more than two in the QFs).

As its a professional sport now, there has to be some element of a transfer system, but strictly regulated to stop everyone wanting to play for the Wicklow-Kildare Moneybags! Teams who haven't qualfied for the quarter-finals are entitled to take up to a total of 3 players each year from other counties, subject to 3 conditions - the player must agree, the player must be over 23 and the player must have played less than 8 times the previous season for his home county/region.

Sold?
I doubt it!

[Bingo]

Even anyone thinking the GAA could go pro is very sadly deluded. It can't work on any level.

[deiseach]

Australian Rules is the obvious model for any professional football setup. Does anyone how their catchment areas work? There seem to be a half-dozen clubs in Melbourne. Do they all draw from the same fan base?

[Rossfan]

Victoria was historically their strong hold.
I presume there's a huge population in Melbourne and Victoria is as far as I know the most populous State.

[deiseach]

Victoria was historically their strong hold.
I presume there's a huge population in Melbourne and Victoria is as far as I know the most populous State.

I mean, what distinguishes an Essendon fan from a Hawthorn fan.

[ballinaman]

Victoria was historically their strong hold.
I presume there's a huge population in Melbourne and Victoria is as far as I know the most populous State.

I mean, what distinguishes an Essendon fan from a Hawthorn fan.

Geography by and large is what I gathered when I asked the same question when I was in Melbourne a few years ago.

[seafoid]

Even anyone thinking the GAA could go pro is very sadly deluded. It can't work on any level.

Professional GAA would be a pain in the arse. You'd never EVER have the likes of Tyrone winning.
Cavan would be guaranteed to NEVER win anything. Same with Ros and all the other counties with bad land.
And that would be shite.

[seafoid]

I think the champions league shows how rotten professional sports are in terms of variety . There hasn't been a team from Eastern Europe in a CL final for over 2 decades. It is all about money, more or less. 

[rodney trotter]

The GAA could go pro but are not willing to go pro. They need more games to make it work. There would have to be a champions league or NFL type system to generate more games. The market is there for it.

Technically, I would say a professional GAA league could work, but only for gaelic football and not for 32 counties. But it wouldnt be the GAA as we know it, and while it may attract a few extra players to stay with gaelic rather than pursue soccer, rugby, aussie rules, etc, its hard to believe it would be a better sport or spectacle, so why would we do it?

In the interests of a Friday hypothesis, I propose this would be the format if gaelic moved professional:

Southern Conference:
Kerry
Cork
Clare-Limerick-Tipp
Wexford-Carlow-Waterford-KK

Eastern Conference:
Dublin
Louth-Meath
Laois-Offaly
Wicklow-Kildare

Western Conference:
Galway
Mayo-Sligo
Roscommon-Longford-Westmeath
Donegal-Leitrim

Northern Conference:
Tyrone-Fermanagh
Armagh-Down
Monaghan-Cavan
Derry-Antrim

A regular season of 18 matches. You play every team once, but teams in your own conference twice. Top team in each conference gets into the quarter-finals along with the 4 other teams with the best records (some conferences may have more than two in the QFs).

As its a professional sport now, there has to be some element of a transfer system, but strictly regulated to stop everyone wanting to play for the Wicklow-Kildare Moneybags! Teams who haven't qualfied for the quarter-finals are entitled to take up to a total of 3 players each year from other counties, subject to 3 conditions - the player must agree, the player must be over 23 and the player must have played less than 8 times the previous season for his home county/region.

Sold?
I doubt it!

It will never happen but if there was to one County for Georgraphical reasons moved from Ulster it wouldn't be Donegal. Obviously its on the West Coast, but its nowhere near the likes of Longford or Westmeath ,which Cavan is.

[deiseach]

Southern Conference:
Kerry
Cork
Clare-Limerick-Tipp
Wexford-Carlow-Waterford-KK

Why should Kilkenny get to piggyback on the blood sweat and tears we shed for football?

[Bord na Mona man]

Rugby supports 3.5 professional franchises, though much of this is funded by the international game.

In theory, given their strength, soccer and the GAA could each support 10-12 professional franchises. The big IF would be.

1) If the tens of millions of euro that leave the economy every year filling the coffers of the English game could be diverted into the Irish game.
2) If GAA fans actually supported the new GAA franchises and attended at the same rates.

Neither if the above is ever likely to happen.

[seafoid]

Rugby supports 3.5 professional franchises, though much of this is funded by the international game.

In theory, given their strength, soccer and the GAA could each support 10-12 professional franchises. The big IF would be.

1) If the tens of millions of euro that leave the economy every year filling the coffers of the English game could be diverted into the Irish game.
2) If GAA fans actually supported the new GAA franchises and attended at the same rates.

Neither if the above is ever likely to happen.

I think you need 30m people or more to get regular attendances above 40K at pro sports league matches.

[Canalman]

Victoria was historically their strong hold.
I presume there's a huge population in Melbourne and Victoria is as far as I know the most populous State.

I mean, what distinguishes an Essendon fan from a Hawthorn fan.

Geography by and large is what I gathered when I asked the same question when I was in Melbourne a few years ago.

To  a degree yes. AFL clubs in Melbourne can also have an ethnic/ socio economic element to them or so I am told

Melbourne ............. WASPS/ Old money
Collingwood/ Richmond/ Nth Melbourne............... Irish/Catholic
Carlton................. Italian
Essendon/Hawthorn.......... Protestant


Not really relevant anymore I suppose but was told that it lingers on still a small bit.

Important to point out from what I saw anyway that AFL was the only gig in town in Victoria with no soccer , rugby etc support to contend with.

[Bord na Mona man]

Rugby supports 3.5 professional franchises, though much of this is funded by the international game.

In theory, given their strength, soccer and the GAA could each support 10-12 professional franchises. The big IF would be.

1) If the tens of millions of euro that leave the economy every year filling the coffers of the English game could be diverted into the Irish game.
2) If GAA fans actually supported the new GAA franchises and attended at the same rates.

Neither if the above is ever likely to happen.

I think you need 30m people or more to get regular attendances above 40K at pro sports league matches.

You don't necessarily need to be getting 40k attendances to fund a pro-team though.
Say it costs roughly 500k to prepare a decent GAA county team.
Pool 3 counties together into a franchise.  The number of players being trained stays the same, so the overheads don't treble.
If the money raising powers of the counties remained the same (unlikely, but let's pretend), then the leftover pot (say €1 million) would be what pays the players wages.

Some rationalisation would take place afterwards to increase profit. More games to bring in more revenue. Firing any non-playing paid coaches and replacing them with your county players. And so on.
It would be cut throat if the public actually went along with it!