On April Fool’s Day 2014, the GAA and Sky Sports announced a media rights deal that was destined to forever alter the broadcasting landscape for Gaelic games.
For GAA traditionalists, it was an April 1st prank with no punchline. But nine years on, the GAA’s partnership with the subscription channel has now ended by “mutual consent”.
Negotiations for a new five-year media rights package have been under way for some time and details are expected to be confirmed in the coming days. So, what does it all mean for the GAA? Is this the moment they harness the potential for a full bells and whistles streaming service? The association were able to use the Covid lockdowns as a testbed for how GAAGO could be expanded by streaming live national league matches.
It is interesting now to read what Noel Quinn, the GAA’s senior marketing and media rights manager, told The Irish Times in April 2021.
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“It’s funny. It took a pandemic for us to really think about what the future holds. The GAA were always forward thinking when it came to streaming because it’s now the seventh year of GAAGO. The key differentiator there is that it was originally set up to serve an overseas market. When the pandemic hit, we looked at the no-crowds equals a need to broadcast in the domestic market.”
BBC are expected to get more live matches, but it won’t be game-changing numbers while Peter McKenna name-checked Amazon as a possible partner in his 2021 report. Still, RTÉ are likely to be the biggest winners.
Liam O’Neill was GAA President in 2014 when the Sky deal was announced.
“I didn’t negotiate it,” he says. “But I did agree to take the flak for it.”
Yet when the news broke on Monday that Sky and the GAA were going their separate ways, it didn’t spark any real emotion within O’Neill.
“I got some fair abuse over it at the time, but others were supportive. And it’s so long ago now, when you are an ex-president these things recede with time. When I heard it, I suppose it was only just news to me, same as everybody else.”
The timing of Sky’s statement is interesting. Given the GAA’s announcement of the new five-year deal is “imminent”, according to a GAA spokesperson, it appears Sky were getting out ahead of the news.
“Despite our participation in the broadcast rights bidding process, lengthy negotiations and a strong willingness on both sides to continue our partnership, Sky and the GAA have been unable to reach a renewal agreement,” said JD Buckley, chief executive of Sky Ireland.
It is understood Sky wanted to increase their output of live championship matches and broached the possibility of broadcasting national league games. However, it appears the GAA were unwilling to move on that, while Sky’s suggestions the new split season was an issue did not sit well with some in Croke Park, who viewed it as commenting on competition structures.
“A factor in this decision has been the new shortened GAA season and its knock-on impact on the number of games Sky Sports wanted to broadcast,” stated Buckley.
Former GAA president Seán Kelly believes the news of Sky’s departure is worrying for the association.
“I was surprised when I heard it,” admits Kelly. “I’d like to know the real reason they are pulling out, is it because they weren’t getting enough games to grow that market or is it that the market itself wasn’t growing?
“When it comes to big conglomerates like Sky, maybe the audience share mightn’t have been high enough. I’d like to know what their expectations were, that’s really the key, not what the viewing figures were but what their expectations were and whether or not they saw going forward an opportunity to grow that to meet those expectations?”
O’Neill never actually invested in Sky Sports for his home, not out of any strong political belief either way, just he had enough going on in life to keep him busy and he wasn’t too bothered, truth be told.
Still, the media storm of April 2014 and thereafter wasn’t the easiest to ride out. Just two weeks after the announcement, he was hauled before a Dáil committee.
“We went into a crowd of wild cats but by the end of the meeting they were like tamed pussies,” smiles O’Neill now.
“Timmy [Dooley] was putting some questions to us and had obviously got strong views. I remember answering him by saying, ‘Brian Boru declared himself the king of the Irish, not the king of Ireland. We view our Gaelic games for all Irish people, not just for those living on the island.’ And that was the case. And remains the case.
“So while there was criticism at the time, we were aware there was also a bigger picture.”
A bigger picture Kelly hopes is not dominated by RTÉ.
“The worst thing of all would be a monopoly because with that comes complacency.”
Nine years on from the April Fool’s announcement, the details of the GAA’S latest media rights deal are set to emerge as Halloween approaches. But only time will tell if Sky’s departure ultimately proves to be a trick or treat for the GAA.
