The broadcaster pulled it's GAA coverage this week while it's strategy here revolves around the women's national soccer team. 

The joys of October 11 at Hampden Park – where a peak TV audience of 593k watched – as the Irish WNT celebrated a first ever FIFA World Cup qualification, complete with Sky logos on the shirts, was platinum sports branding.

The Pitch understands that while no fee has yet been agreed or announced by FIFA, current figures being discussed in Zurich stand at just over €1m for each of the eventual 32 qualifiers.

Ticket resale website Viagogo points finger at governing body in spite of it being the platform selling tickets for exorbitant mark-ups 

 Committee members questioned HRI CEO Suzanne Eade about ‘transparency and full accountability' at the €82m Kildare track, where a “vast amount of public money (had been paid out) on an investment that has gone wrong”.

Tickets for Ireland’s opening Rugby World Cup game in France ended up on a notorious scalping site, priced as high as €1,316 each

In 2019, the last full year of normal sports attendances before the pandemic, approximately 60 per cent of all revenue at Leinster came through its ticket office.

There may be better news ahead with ongoing attempts to lure a large tech operator over the line, with tentative hopes that an announcement might be ready by the time the players meet up in 10 days.

Currently, there are no formal ‘fit-and-proper’ tests for potential owners of league sides, where anyone can effectively takeover a club without having to go through a formal interrogation process.

Grassroots coaches can expect to pay up to €3,000 for a ‘Uefa A Licence’, while the same Level 4 standard for goalkeeping coaching - which are shorter courses - is as high as €1,640.