Cork GAA agrees lucrative streaming deal with Clubber

Kevin O'Donovan, CEO Cork county board. Pic: Eddie O'Hare

Cork GAA has agreed a three-year streaming deal with Clubber believed to be worth over €500,000 to the cash-strapped county board.

The deal’s finer points will be circulated to delegates at next Tuesday’s behind-closed-doors county board meeting, but the Irish Examiner understands that Cork GAA will pocket close to €180,000 per year from the agreement.

The figure put on the table by Clubber was far in excess of any other party involved in the bidding process.

The Cork executive initially appeared to be heading for a deal with a different production company for a fee closer to €125,000 per annum, but ended up agreeing terms with Clubber.

After engaging in a revenue-sharing model with production company TVM for the 2023 and 2024 county championship seasons, the Cork executive decided to end in-house control of their match streaming service when it emerged that Rebels Online was failing to hit anticipated targets.

Fees for the Rebels Online pay-per-view service had ranged from €9.99-€14.99 a game up to €79.99 for a season pass.

The advice to Cork officials was to uninvolve themselves from the costs of streaming games and to instead put their streaming rights back out to tender.

The decision of the Cork executive to opt for Clubber as the new streaming provider of club games in the county further grows Clubber’s presence in the province as the production company holds existing deals with Kerry GAA, Tipperary GAA, and Munster GAA for whom they stream post-primary, provincial club, and minor and U20 inter-county fixtures.

The new deal will provide a welcome cash injection to a Cork county board that recently announced levies for clubs to help service its €31m-plus SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh debt and raise funds for a centre of excellence.

At the in-camera January county board meeting, the Cork executive unveiled a strategic financial plan to raise between €400,000 and €500,000 per year. A portion of it will be generated by charging clubs up to €2,200 per annum depending on their number of affiliations.

During the 2023 convention, Cork GAA CEO Kevin O’Donovan described the county’s cash flow problem as “stark”.

“Our discussion every day is cash flow, rather than profit and loss,” he told delegates.