Seán Moran: GAA need to be more assertive to politicians on media rights

Will there be a sense of ‘after the Lord Mayor’s show’ when the GAA present themselves to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media for its hearings on the future of sports broadcasting and more, specifically the GAAGO streaming service?

From Croke Park’s perspective, it won’t matter as long as they don’t become the Lord Mayor’s show.

When the GAA delegation of commercial director Peter McKenna and director general Tom Ryan take their place in front of the committee, which will also hear from the FAI and IRFU, among others, they can expect a number of questions.

There is the obvious perspective, enthusiastically echoed by many politicians, that no matches should be behind a paywall. That has been a constant refrain since Sky obtained a championship rights bundle nine years ago and renewed it until last year.

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The GAA according to its official guide has as its basic aim “the strengthening of the National Identity in a 32-County Ireland through the preservation and promotion of Gaelic games and pastimes”.

Its volunteers and full-time officials might argue that their primary task is the organisation and administration of a vast national recreational network, which requires resources.

The main source of funding for the association is gate receipts, which last year brought in €33.4 million or 35 per cent of total income. Commercial is next with €22.4 million, the biggest slice of which (€15.3 million) is made up of media rights.

The idea that the GAA should compromise its ability to earn commercial revenue so that people can sit at home and watch matches for free is hardly reasonable or realistic.

Of course the games as played at the highest level are powerful promotional tools but there are more matches free-to-air than ever across RTÉ, TG4 and, in the current rights issue, the BBC.

What fixtures have ended up on GAAGO have either been attractive additional matches (this year there are far more fixtures because of the football format change) in the Saturday slots, previously taken by Sky, or matches in the early rounds of the provincial championships or Tailteann Cup that would never have been shown on terrestrial in the past.

Striking a balance between commercial interests and promotional access is a constant challenge but the aggravation is many-headed. It started with unhappiness over three Munster hurling championship matches – Clare-Tipperary, Limerick-Clare and Cork-Tipperary – being shown exclusively on GAAGO.

Limerick-Clare was accidental because it was meant to be on a Sunday but got moved on the advice of the Garda because of the Great Limerick Run, meaning that two out of 11 Munster hurling matches were scheduled for the subscription charge.

The allegation that the GAA and RTÉ connive to put popular matches on GAAGO while fixtures of little or no interest go out on television has to be qualified by the arrangement of the media rights in packages, one of which includes the provincial finals, three of which in football were all too foreseeable turkey shoots.

There remain both All-Ireland finals, four out of four semi-finals and four out of six quarterfinals, between football and hurling, that transmit free to air plus all of the other matches earlier in the championship.

Mayo Fine Gael TD Alan Dillon, the former county player and football All Star, who is vice-chair of the Oireachtas Committee, was critical of the GAAGO deal last May.

“The GAA has already handed over the months of August and September to rugby and soccer with the new shorter intercounty championship format. And now, to watch GAA matches is becoming an even harder experience for supporters and volunteers who want to watch games at home. What kind of promotion of our national games is this?”

What the GAA has actually done with the new format is to hand over the months of August and September to its club players, a departure still on trial but one which has met the approval of a vast number of its playing members.

It’s hard to think of a more effective promotion of the national games and that is the calculation on which the association voted at last year’s congress.

Deputy Dillon also questioned availability.

“There is digital inequality across the country. Without adequate broadband and streaming services, we are alienating many viewers and supporters of our national games.”

It is a fair argument but technological deficiencies have always created difficulty, from access to televisions 60 years ago and the quality of reception in more recent times. Yet it’s a surprising point for a Government TD to make given all of the positive spin being put on the roll-out of broadband.

Defending its media policy isn’t the hardest task for the GAA but – apart from one hard-hitting correction directed at Virgin Media – the association has been reticent. President Larry McCarthy walked away from Virgin’s Joe Caulfield when the issue of free-to-air matches was raised a month ago.

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The GAA defended the action, saying that the television company had been asked to concentrate on the hurling championship launch and they had “reneged on that arrangement”.

Surely it would have made sense to take the question and lodge its protest with the TV company afterwards. It had already been made clear that there would be a review of GAAGO’s first year operating as a major (as opposed to overseas) rights holder. Nothing more needed to be said.

Instead the walkout created an air of furtiveness about a legitimate commercial policy.

The GAA delegation will hope to make a better fist of it on Wednesday.

*As an All Star selector, I have free access to GAAGO, worth €79.

email: sean.moran@irishtimes.com