GAA set for €25m windfall

THE GAA stands to make over €25m from the new three-year broadcasting contracts announced yesterday.

However, president Nickey Brennan rejected claims the association has sold its soul, claiming money was not the defining factor in the agreements.

With TV3 and Setanta both offering viable alternatives to RTÉ for live championship coverage for the first time, the GAA was in its strongest ever bargaining position, especially with RTÉ whose monopoly on the football and hurling All-Irelands has now been broken.

The national broadcaster will still be the association’s primary partner after yesterday’s announcement that the Montrose outfit has won the rights to screen 40 championship matches. TV3 was awarded the rights to 10 games some months ago.

RTÉ will still maintain the rights to the juiciest morsels, including both All-Ireland finals, but TV3’s package does include an option on two provincial deciders. Both stations will have highlight access to the other’s live games while RTÉ has also secured exclusive live national radio rights.

As expected, Setanta will not be screening any live championship action, allaying fears that some games would be unavailable on terrestrial TV. Clearly those concerns were a factor in the GAA’s final decision.

‘‘There was an awful lot spoken out there about the GAA selling their soul,” said Brennan. “While I am not going to answer any questions about how much money the GAA is getting from any of the service providers, I would say that it is significantly improved from the last contract.

‘‘We’re very pleased with the outcome but, let me make this quite clear, the GAA did not do this just for money. If this was just a money deal we may not have the outcome we have here today. We went for a combination of finance, quality of coverage, experience and — obviously with TV3 — they bring a whole new dimension to it as well.’’

The live rights for the Allianz National Leagues and AIB Club Championships are to be divided up between TG4 and Setanta with the former also airing college ties. During the championship, games will be aired in some form seven nights a week.

In total, 52 live championship ties were broadcast last year, including replays. With 50 games already divvied up between RTÉ and TV3, that will be exceeded under the new contract which kicks in after the National Leagues.

However, Brennan was emphatic in rejecting the suggestion that there was an element of overkill regarding live coverage at this point.

‘‘All we’re doing is what we’ve been doing for the last number of years. There’s a strong audience out there for it. Our attendances have not been impacted on over the last number of years, we’ve continued to maintain our attendances. It’s always something we’re conscious of, I won’t deny that.”

Meanwhile, the International Rules series will be laid to rest once and for all next month if either Central Council or the AFL Commission vote against the new disciplinary proposals agreed between the associations in Dubai two weeks ago.

‘‘That’s the end of it. We tick that box and move on to the next challenge. Simple as that,’’ said GAA president Nickey Brennan when the possibility of one or two no votes being delivered was put to him.

However, if the green light is forthcoming from both the GAA and AFL, the next series will be played in Australia this October.

The new proposals are being distributed to the counties this week and Brennan pleaded for members to ‘‘push emotion to one side’’ when deciding the fate of the hybrid code.

How likely that is remains to be seen as a similar plea concerning the proposed U19 championship was given short thrift at Special Congress last month.

Brennan has admitted that he is no great fan of the International Series but he is confident that the proposals on discipline are sufficient to safeguard against a repeat of the violent scenes in the 2005 and 2006 games.

‘‘The annoyance expressed by people after the last series, myself included, was more than justified. I can’t deny that, when the last game finished here in Croke Park, I saw it as the end of the series as well.

‘‘My brief as president has been to cater for a wide range of views so we at least had to attempt to meet with the AFL and see were they prepared to change many aspects of the series.

‘‘The document marks a very comprehensive change in terms of the playing rules, disciplinary side and organisation of the series and does offer a real good possibility to bring the series back on track.’’

Brennan also expressed confidence that the proposal to carry any sanctions over into the AFL Premiership would not be met with alarm by AFL clubs, while he rejected the suggestion that linking Irish suspensions to the league and not the championship diluted the deterrent factor. The president and Director General Paraic Duffy both stressed their conviction that, far from adding to the trickle of talent leaving Ireland for Australia, a resumption of the Series would serve as a bulwark to recruitment by AFL clubs.