Cork GAA inks €2million inter-county sponsorship deal with Sports Direct

Details of the five year agreement will be announced in the next month or so

DONE DEAL: Cork GAA has inked a lucrative €2m sponsorship deal with Mike Ashley's retail giant Sports Direct. Details of the agreement will be announced in the next month or so.

CORK GAA has agreed terms with sports retail giant Sports Direct for around €2million to replace Chill Insurance as the Board’s primary inter-county sponsor.

The deal is reputed to be worth €400,000 a year up to 2025, with further six figure bonuses on offer for All-Ireland success in either hurling or football.

Sports Direct is owned by Mike Ashley, the controversial figurehead of Newcastle United, and this is the company’s first foray into the inter-county GAA market. The retailer has an existing outlet in Blackpool and also has approved plans to take over the Easons store on Patrick Street in the city.

The deal was agreed some weeks ago but has been kept on ice while Cork’s U20 hurlers were continuing their progress in the Munster championship in deference to the current sponsors, Chill. Cork won the provincial decider, defeating Tipperary by two points, and no decision has yet been made on the All-Ireland stage of the competition. It would be interesting to see whether Chill retain the right to jersey sponsorship for those games on the basis that they come under existing terms and conditions. Chill has been Cork GAA’s main sponsor since 2013 and extended for two more seasons in 2018.

The Sports Direct deal, worth a minimum of €2m over five years, won’t be announced for a number of weeks amid continuing uncertainty over the start of the 2021 inter-county season. However, the agreement is a positive first step for the revamped Cork GAA executive and commercial structures, which were subsumed under the ‘One Cork’ umbrella in November. 

The rebrand unveiled an ambitious programme of investment and commercial activity that it expects will realise over €20 million in revenue over the next five years. The stated ambition is to deliver a strategy to fully resource all facets of Cork GAA in financial terms.

The Sports Direct brand is not without controversy in relation to worker conditions but it has continued a successful expansion into this country. Ashley has reportedly been involved in negotiations to sell Newcastle Utd to a Saudi consortium for around €400m – though staying in the Premier League is seen as key in terms of retaining suitor interest. Ashley bought the club for around €150m in 2007.

Ashley's Frasers retail empire recently issued a profit warning, saying publicised guidance of a 20% to 30% boost in profits this year is unlikely to be achieved.

This despite an initial surge since the first lockdown ended as it increased its profits. Pre-tax profit rose by 17.6% to £106.1 million at Frasers Group, in the half-year to the end of October, even amid a 7.4% drop in revenue to £1.9 billion.