Congress vote could end GAA’s pay-per-view TV deal

A simple majority vote against further negotiations regarding the GAA’s pay-per-view TV rights may be enough to end any extension of the current Sky deal – at least in the short term.

Confirmation that a motion seeking to rule out any further pay-per-view deals has made it to next month’s Congress clár will ensure a full Association debate on the issue for the first time. While all motions require a two-thirds majority in order to pass, the general outcome of that debate may influence what way the GAA deal with future Sky negotiations.

Among the 65 motions headed for Congress in Carlow next month is motion 42 – passed at last month’s Dublin Convention – which calls for a new rule (1.18) with regard to broadcast rights, whereby “all televised inter-county championship games shall be available on free to air TV”.

It will certainly make for some heated debate at Congress, set for the weekend of February 26/27th, particularly as one of the main criticisms of the Sky deal in the first place was that it was never subjected to the Congress clár. While motion 42 may struggle to reach that two-thirds majority, it has been suggested a simple majority against the motion may be enough to change the GAA’s stance on the issue at central level.

Their three-year deal with Sky comes to an end following the conclusion of the 2016 season, and the GAA must then decide to extend the contract with Sky or revert to free-to-air only. Motion 42, if passed, would come into effect from January 1st, 2017.

Exclusive rights

It’s almost two years now since Croke Park made the decision to sell exclusive rights for 14 live hurling and football games to Sky, opening up the market to satellite pay-per-view broadcasters. Several motions against an extension of that deal were presented for Congress, including from Kerry, although only the Dublin motion (from inner city club St Joseph’s O’Connell Boys, unanimously passed at the Dublin convention) will be voted on.

GAA director general Páraic Duffy has already warned against eliminating the option of pay-per-view deals, addressing the issue in his annual report, highlighting the fact “our television broadcast partners, RTÉ, TG4, Sky Sports, Setanta and BBC, carried 145 live-match broadcasts in 2015” and that “with the coverage of games available to emigrants in Britain through Sky Sports, we are providing for our members and supporters abroad as never before”.

Duffy then added: “Other sports bodies are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their exploitation of their broadcast rights, so the work to maintain the GAA presence on television intensifies accordingly.

“These international changes have a knock-on effect on sport in Ireland, as they significantly alter the balance of resources among the major Irish sporting bodies. It is clear that this imbalance will become significantly greater in the foreseeable future. With this in mind, it is crucial that we do not hamper ourselves in our approach to our upcoming broadcast negotiations. The Association has traditionally adopted a policy of free-to-air availability in the Irish market for the vast majority of its major competitions.”

According to Duffy’s report, in 2015, 114 games were shown live, or on full deferred coverage on terrestrial TV: “This policy will remain central to the next set of rights agreements – there will be no reduction in the number of live senior championship games shown free-to-air.

“However, any restriction that prohibits the GAA from engaging with all interested parties, including subscription TV providers, would seriously reduce our negotiating power and thus our ability to achieve the true worth of our assets, and would inevitably lead to a greatly reduced media-rights income. In what is already a small pool of potential broadcast partners, we must ensure the existence of a genuine market for our games and maintain the option of engaging with all interested parties, regardless of whether they are free-to-air or subscription providers.”

Sky viewing figures for the 2015 All-Ireland hurling final represented a dramatic decline of the 2014 figures. The average viewing figures for the Kilkenny-Galway final was only 32,000, compared to 104,000 from the previous year.

Most of the other 65 motions – beyond mundane housekeeping matters –have already been aired, including motion 2 from Central Council (which is the new B-championship football proposal), and motion 40, from the playing rules standing committee, which is looking to introduce “the mark” as used in International Rules, but only for kick-outs past the 45m line, and not prevented the short kick-outs either.

There is also a regular motion looking to open all county grounds, not just Croke Park, at the discretion of Central Council. Motion 47, passed at the Clare convention, is looking to amend Rule 5.1 (b) so that “Central Council shall have the power to authorise the use of Croke Park and all county grounds for games other than those controlled by the Association.”

Congress 2016 – Key Motions Motion 2: to amend the senior football championship by introducing a new 'B' football championship, made up of the teams in Division Four of the league who fail to make their provincial finals. Motion 4: to amend the minor grade in football and hurling to under-17 (rather than under-18, as per current rule) Motion 5: to amend the under-21 grade in football to under-20 (under-21 in hurling would remain). Motion 7: that All-Ireland senior football finals be played on the first Sunday in September (unless there are five Sundays in the month, whereby it would be played on the second Sunday), and that the hurling final also be brought forward to two weeks before that football final. Central Council could still make other arrangements in exceptional circumstances (Papal visits, etc) Motion 12: to amend rule 1.15 on anti-doping to allow from general anti-doping amendments "from time to time". Motion 40: to introduce "the mark" in the rules of football, whereby a player who cleanly the catches the kick-out from past the 45m line is awarded the option of taking a free kick, or playing on immediately. Motion 41: to eliminate the word "body" when deliberately colliding with an opponent under the current rules of aggressive fouls (black cards). Motion 43: to exclude county PRO's from the five-year limit in office. Motion 47: to amend Rule 5.1 (b) so that "Central Council shall have the power to authorise the use of Croke Park and all county grounds for games other than those controlled by the Association." Motion 58: that the winners of the Christy Ring Cup are rewarded same year with a place in the Leinster hurling quarter-finals.