RTÉ has secured the Irish free-to-air broadcast rights to Katie Taylor’s historic final fight at Croke Park, ensuring that one of the most anticipated sporting occasions of the year will be available to a national audience without subscription.
Taylor will face undefeated French challenger Flora Pili on Saturday, September 5 in front of a sold-out Croke Park crowd of 82,000, bringing professional boxing back to the stadium for the first time in more than half a century.
The fight will be shown live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, with coverage also across 2FM. DAZN, which was announced as the worldwide broadcast partner when the fight was confirmed in June, will continue to carry the event internationally.
For RTÉ, the acquisition adds another major event to an exceptional summer of live sport, which has included extensive coverage of the FIFA World Cup, the GAA Championships, and the European Championships in athletics, swimming, and gymnastics.
It also has the potential to deliver one of the largest Irish television audiences of the sporting year.
“RTÉ was there at the start of Katie’s journey as an amateur, and we are delighted to be there for the final chapter,” said RTÉ Head of Sport Declan McBennett.
“Katie is, and always will be, one of Ireland’s greatest ever sporting icons, and it is fitting that she ends her illustrious career in Croke Park in front of a full stadium and a national audience.”
The agreement is significant in opening an event originally positioned around DAZN’s global boxing platform to the widest possible audience in Taylor’s home market.
It follows years in which some of Taylor’s biggest professional fights, including her trilogy with Amanda Serrano, have been delivered principally through subscription streaming.
Her farewell now combines a capacity crowd at Ireland’s largest stadium with universal free-to-air television access at home.
A National Sporting Occasion
The scale of interest was demonstrated immediately when tickets went on sale in June. More than 40,000 were purchased during the pre-sale before the remaining allocation was exhausted in about 30 minutes of the general sale.
It is a remarkable conclusion to a career which began long before women’s boxing was admitted to the Olympic programme and which has played a central role in bringing the sport into the mainstream.
Taylor won Olympic gold in London in 2012 and has since become an undisputed world champion at both lightweight and super lightweight.
She will enter Croke Park with a professional record of 25 wins and 1 defeat, including 6 knockouts.
Against Pili, she will defend her WBO, WBA and IBF Super Lightweight World titles and Ring Magazine championship, while also fighting for the vacant WBC crown.
Victory would see her leave the sport as an undisputed champion for a third time.
Pili brings a 12-0 professional record and is the WBC mandatory challenger.
The event is being promoted by Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing, in association with Aiken Promotions and Taylor’s longtime manager, Brian Peters.
Lidl Ireland is the Title Event Partner, extending its already substantial position in Irish women’s sport. The retailer also signed Taylor to a new three-year ambassador agreement earlier this summer.
That gives the event an interesting crossover between broadcast, sponsorship and the wider growth in the commercial profile of women’s sport.
Croke Park History
The occasion will also revive one of the more extraordinary chapters in Croke Park’s sporting history.
The last professional boxing event at the stadium was in July 1972 when Muhammad Ali defeated Detroit heavyweight Alvin “Blue” Lewis.
More than five decades later, Taylor will become the focus of an event on a completely different scale.
The Bray fighter has frequently spoken throughout her career about wanting the opportunity to fight at Croke Park and recently revealed how important securing the venue had become as she contemplated retirement.
“Look at the life that boxing has given me and look at the memories that it’s given me,” she said.
“I just wanted to elevate the sport and pursue my passion, and this is what I love to do. This is what I was born for.
“I’ve had a chance to headline these iconic arenas and be involved in these iconic fights. Just to open the door for the next generation of female fighters, that to me is everything. I’m just forever grateful.”
RTÉ will announce full details of its fight-night coverage closer to September 5.
Sport for Business Perspective
Securing free-to-air access completes the picture of what is increasingly becoming one of the defining Irish sporting occasions of this generation.
The 82,000 tickets are already gone. Lidl has built a major brand activation around the occasion. DAZN will carry Taylor’s farewell around the world. Now RTÉ gives virtually every household in Ireland the opportunity to watch it live.
There are sporting events that attract large audiences and others that briefly become shared national experiences.
Everything about Katie Taylor at Croke Park suggests this has the potential to be firmly in the latter category.
RTÉ, Croke Park Stadium, Lidl Ireland and Boxing Ireland are full members of Sport for Business.
If you would like to be part of the Sport for Business community and see your organisation in our content, on our stages, and in the conversation happening every day around the commercial world of Irish Sport, email us today and let’s see what is possible.
Image Credit: Matchroom.
ABOUT SPORT FOR BUSINESS
Sport for Business is Ireland’s leading platform focused on the commercial, strategic and societal impact of sport. It connects decision-makers across governing bodies, clubs, brands, agencies, and public institutions through high-quality content, events, and insights.
Sport for Business explores how sport drives economic value, participation, inclusion and national identity, and how your story can be part of ours.
Through analysis, storytelling and convening the sector, it helps leaders understand trends, share best practices, and make better-informed decisions. It positions sport not just as entertainment but as a vital contributor to Ireland’s social and economic fabric.
Find out more about becoming a member today.
Or sign up for our Daily Sport for Business Snapshot email bulletins to get a flavour of the material we cover.
Sign up for our News Bulletins here.
