The CEO of Supermac’s, long term sponsors of the Galway Football and Hurling teams has written to the GAA outlining concern over the impact on sponsors of games going behind a paywall.
He is reported to be calling for the GAA to assure him, and other sponsors, that the games featuring their teams will be played on terrestrial TV next season.
We can only imagine that there will be a follow up letter requesting assurances that they will also win every game and get to play in every All Ireland final because not doing so will reduce the visibility of their sponsorship.
Sponsors get involved in sport because it gives them access to the heartstrings of those for whom it is an important part of their own lives and identity.
This weekend the four All Ireland Semi-Finalists will be sponsored by a multi-national insurance giant in AIG, a global food group in Kerry, a major construction company in Errigal Group and most quirkily of all by a New York Flooring Company, All-Boro Flooring on the Monaghan shirt.
They all do it for a particular reason or set of reasons and they will all have a set of requirements to give them value for the investment they have made.
Additional exposure through reaching the final stages of the tournaments they play in is great when it happens but will not feature on any Heads of Agreement, written or verbal.
The GAA takes in €15 million a year in broadcast rights income, enough to keep the sport thriving all the way from schools and club top the inter-county level, and in the many other ways in which it impacts on community.
County sponsorship is also an important source of revenue but not quite to that same level and not with the right to demand assurances that run counter to the day to day effective operation of the sport.
The timing of the letter, arriving on the day when the political establishment turns its spotlight on the future of sports broadcasting, may of course be wholly coincidental, and if a soundbite from a TD or senator using it to indicate the unease through the country at having to actually pay to watch matches, then maybe that will lead to an extra portion of fries being bought on the way home.
Sport for Business is all about enhancing the relationship between sporting bodies, sponsors, the communities in which they operate and the way in which they do so.
It was great that Supermacs extended their partnership with Galway by another five years as recently as last November and we are always happy to give exposure to their positive contribution.
This kite flying exercise won’t be featuring in the highlight activation exercises of the year.
