As an amateur organisation operating at the top of the professional sports food chain in Ireland, the GAA should not really exist.
And yet the ethos that runs through the Association from every bake sale for an Under six-team t-shirt all the way to 82,000 celebrating an All Ireland Final in Croke Park ensures that it does, and in some style.
It is the sport we attend the most games of, watch the most on TV or the multitude of streams that now exist across the County scene and the one that sponsors most want to be attached to.
If there was one element that is central to that it is in the community reach that the sport in all its forms provides along the highways and byways of the island.
When the GAA president Larry McCarthy said at a media briefing in Croke Park yesterday that “the sponsorship portfolio will not determine the choice of what will be the best structure for the Football Championship,” you knew it was not just saying what the grassroots wanted to hear.
He recognised that the partnership with the sponsors that could be affected by change were important and highly valued and that ongoing conversations had been maintained throughout.
If Option B (See our detailed description of the options from this morning) is adopted it will mean the Allianz Football League being rolled into the All Ireland Football Championship, supported by SuperValu, AIB and eir.
Can four sponsors be accommodated within the broad range of activities that encompass the Championship? Of course, they can.
Or could it be reduced to three with the likely departure of eir and the balance made up over the long run by the three remaining sponsors gaining more and contributing more? Of course, it might.
The withdrawal of Liberty Insurance as a Headline Sponsor of the Hurling and Camogie Championships meant that there is space to add a major Insurance partner to the roster of All Ireland partners and Allianz has been there with the Leagues and at schools level for 30 years.
Nobody is going to fall out over whatever choice is made.
There was much discussion earlier in the week of the different revenue wins and losses there might be but it was clear yesterday that any forecasts were dependent on the more populated counties going further, and the most attractive matchups being found.
The seven matches that form the core of the Series, from Quarterfinals to the Final itself will be there in whatever format is decided upon, the crowds will come and the sport will continue to thrive.
“The decision on Saturday will be made on football choices,” said Mccarthy. All the rest will find a way to be accommodated.
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