Backing Katie Taylor's big night was no gamble for Lidl
CENTRE STAGE: Katie Taylor places her gloves in the centre of the ring following her undisputed super lightweight championship fight victory over Flora Pili at Croke Park. The moment capped a huge marketing coup for Lidl. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
An enduring image of Katie Taylor’s Croke Park farewell fight will her gloves resting on the canvas after victory over Flora Pili. A 25-year boxing career, 10 of those as a pro, was over. Her hard-earned belts followed, all laid across the Lidl logo emblazoned on the ring for one of Irish sport’s most memorable nights.
Some viewers found the branding intrusive, a corporate distraction from the emotion of Taylor’s goodbye to the sport and fans. Robert Ryan, CEO of title sponsor Lidl, disagrees. He believes another company’s logo would have occupied the canvas had Lidl not been involved, and called the partnership a “natural fit”, citing the company’s backing of women’s sport and Taylor’s history of breaking down barriers.
“Certainly not,” said Ryan when asked whether the logo took away from the moment.
“Every boxing match has a sponsorship, and it was all about Katie. Being there on the night, looking in, the moment, it was about Katie, her gloves being in the centre of the ring, the belt being there, her family being there. And I think that was what the moment was all about. And I don't think that was lost on anyone.
“We certainly knew that Katie was going to lay her gloves down in the ring. However, the way it was picked up, of course, it's an iconic image of the night. But it's Katie's moment. It's all about Katie.”
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Taylor attended the launch of the Lidl National Football League at Croke Park in January, revealing that 2026 would be her last year in the ring and that she'd love to throw her final punch as a pro in Croke Park.
“After that, there was a lot of talk,” said Ryan.
“Could it happen? Could it not happen? We reached out to Brian Peters at the time and said, if there's an opportunity to get involved, we'd love to do it, because we firmly believe Katie deserved her send-off.
“Remember, if you go back four or five months, the fight was potentially not going to happen. She was going to retire without getting her big farewell. I think it would have been a travesty if the fight didn't happen. Anything we could do to help make it happen, we were delighted to do.”
ICONIC! 🌟
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) September 5, 2026
A fairytale ending to the career of Katie Taylor ❤️#TaylorPili pic.twitter.com/L9JZUHMfuF
Looking back, sponsoring the event seems to be an obvious choice but there was uncertainty about whether it would sell out. That uncertainty did not last long.
“To be honest, for us, Katie wasn't a gamble,” said Ryan.
“When you look at the person that Katie is and the role model that she is. Back in January, we surveyed the existing LGFA players. Over 90% of LGFA players said Katie Taylor without question paved the way for them for future success.
“That, for us, was a very significant statistic. Existing sports stars talked about the Katie Taylor effect when we did our research into the impact that she's had on female sport.
“Sure, it's boxing. It's a little bit different to what we do. But it’s Katie in Croke Park, an iconic Irish fighter, an incredibly humble and incredible role model for boys and girls across the country.
“In hindsight, you could say it's a no-brainer. But our brand fit and the alignment with Katie, who she is and what she does, made it an easy decision to make.”
What the association was worth to Lidl is harder to quantify.
“We certainly couldn't put a figure on it, but to be involved with someone like Katie was just too good an opportunity for us to turn down,” said Ryan.
Seventeen days before the fight, RTÉ announced it would be broadcasting the event free-to-air. RTÉ’s audience for the event peaked at 1.6m. For Lidl – which also sponsored RTÉ’s coverage – that exposure turned an already high-profile partnership into a marketing coup.
“RTÉ coming on board brought the audience to the length and breadth of the country in a way that I'm sure wouldn't have happened if it was on DAZN,” said Ryan.
“That was, of course, a bonus for us when we came on board. The RTÉ negotiations, I think, only concluded three or four weeks ago. They were only announced quite recently, so we had no idea of RTÉ being on board.”
Over the last 10 years, Lidl has invested €15m in ladies football. When Taylor attended the National League launch in January, the company announced it would be investing a further €7.5m over the next five years. That is where Lidl will continue to focus its sponsorship.
The record attendance for All-Ireland ladies football finals day is 56,114, set in 2019 when Dublin beat Galway in the senior decider. Ryan’s ambition is to fill Croke Park.
“I think this event was unique,” said Ryan. “I doubt we'll see another Katie Taylor. Hopefully we will. But in the next number of years, we may not see another Katie Taylor and we may not see an event of this stature in this country.
“And for us, our sponsorship is very much full square behind the LGFA. What I would love is to have the same crowd filling Croke Park for All-Ireland final day. That would be incredible.
“In the last number of years, we've seen almost 60,000 people attend an LGFA final. And what I'd love to do is to do everything we can to get those numbers back into Croke Park and to one day, hopefully in the not too distant future, have the same kind of event happening on All-Ireland final day.”
