Larry Ryan: How do we strike a fair deal for our sporting fix?
DROPPING THE BALL: Gabe Davis of the Buffalo Bills fails to catch a pass while defended by Jonathan Jones of the New England Patriots during their NFL match in Orchard Park last weekend. Since the league switched to Amazon Prime for Thursday games this regular season, nearly four million viewers were shed, by some estimates. Pic: Timothy T Ludwig/Getty Images
Will I pay to watch a Gaelic football match on GAA GO this year? I’ve been pondering this — not so much an existential question, as a practical one. I’ll probably put the hand in the pocket for the odd hurling match alright — there are nine earmarked pay per view — even for non-professional reasons. But the football? Maybe if the Tipp bandwagon picks up speed again. Or David Clifford is behind a paywall, perhaps the only means of restricting him.
But will I pull out the credit card for one of the Leinster football semi-finals? Or for the Tailteann Cup ‘Game of the Week’ on May 13? Hands up, it seems unlikely. If you came in of a Saturday evening 10 minutes after one of these games had started, no doubt you’d leave it on the box, half-watching, even if just to grumble about it. And maybe the game would turn out to be brilliant.
