Jack Anderson: What the GAA can learn from AFL on TV rights and championship format

A world apart, the two associations have a lot in common.

Munster GAA Senior Hurling Championship Round 1, FBD Semple Stadium, Thurles, Tipperary 20/4/2025 Tipperary vs Limerick A view GAA+ microphones Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/James Crombie

Fri, 22 May, 2026 - 07:14

Jack Anderson is a professor of sports law and global expert in governance, and regulation. He advises sporting bodies and contributes widely to public debate – as well as being a Limerick hurling supporter.

It’s a staple question in English lit exams: give the counter argument to the opening line – all happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way – of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. Did Tolstoy get in wrong? Isn’t the opposite more credible: happy families are happy for all sorts of different reasons, but unhappy families have a lot in common (financial strain, parental strife, addiction, etc)?

As sporting bodies, the AFL and GAA share a lot of happy attributes but as of late, they also have some unhappiness in common. While they are played enthusiastically by pockets of diaspora around the world, neither organisation has any meaningful international presence unless, of course, they play each other.