HoganStand GAA Football and Hurling

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GAA's Premier League Moment!

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The GAA will never gain the main financial rewards that soccer enjoys in England. However it is my opinion Sky have dipped there toes into the GAA and like the potential they see, to cover the summer months. In order to sell the product, Sky need colour, atmosphere, competitive games, and most importantly elitism. They changed the product in soccer, rugby league, and darts. Make no makesure the super 8 proposal is everything Sky Sports love, it will bring full houses, hype, and the top teams playing each other throughout the summer, when there is a void in there schedule. Even a September All Ireland final does not suit Sky as the big soccer games are starting to take shape, August is better for them. So yes we will see big games, but the super 8 proposal will bring our games in line with other sports, the elite will flourish. The GAA will now have a product they can sell, and the rewards will increase considerably on future media deals as a result. Like in the other sports I mentioned the majority of teams will struggle to compete, and in the end there will be 6 or 7 teams who make the super 8 year on year, with maybe a new team having a good year once in a while. I just wonder, with 5 to 10 years of this structure, will semi professionalism amongst the elite become an aim, I suspect it might!. sam1884 (UK) - Posts: 999 - 27/02/2017 15:52:23 1961666 Link
Replying To sam1884: "The GAA will never gain the main financial rewards that soccer enjoys in England. However it is my opinion Sky have dipped there toes into the GAA and like the potential they see, to cover the summer months. In order to sell the product, Sky need colour, atmosphere, competitive games, and most importantly elitism. They changed the product in soccer, rugby league, and darts. Make no makesure the super 8 proposal is everything Sky Sports love, it will bring full houses, hype, and the top teams playing each other throughout the summer, when there is a void in there schedule. Even a September All Ireland final does not suit Sky as the big soccer games are starting to take shape, August is better for them. So yes we will see big games, but the super 8 proposal will bring our games in line with other sports, the elite will flourish. The GAA will now have a product they can sell, and the rewards will increase considerably on future media deals as a result. Like in the other sports I mentioned the majority of teams will struggle to compete, and in the end there will be 6 or 7 teams who make the super 8 year on year, with maybe a new team having a good year once in a while. I just wonder, with 5 to 10 years of this structure, will semi professionalism amongst the elite become an aim, I suspect it might!." If your suggesting the Sky deal influenced the GAA's thinking, I am not buying that. The GAA finals will be on in August, the start of the Premier League and all the hype that goes with it. yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11230 - 27/02/2017 16:14:09 1961686 Link
Replying To sam1884: "The GAA will never gain the main financial rewards that soccer enjoys in England. However it is my opinion Sky have dipped there toes into the GAA and like the potential they see, to cover the summer months. In order to sell the product, Sky need colour, atmosphere, competitive games, and most importantly elitism. They changed the product in soccer, rugby league, and darts. Make no makesure the super 8 proposal is everything Sky Sports love, it will bring full houses, hype, and the top teams playing each other throughout the summer, when there is a void in there schedule. Even a September All Ireland final does not suit Sky as the big soccer games are starting to take shape, August is better for them. So yes we will see big games, but the super 8 proposal will bring our games in line with other sports, the elite will flourish. The GAA will now have a product they can sell, and the rewards will increase considerably on future media deals as a result. Like in the other sports I mentioned the majority of teams will struggle to compete, and in the end there will be 6 or 7 teams who make the super 8 year on year, with maybe a new team having a good year once in a while. I just wonder, with 5 to 10 years of this structure, will semi professionalism amongst the elite become an aim, I suspect it might!." I'm sure this is Sky's aim with Duffy a willing accomplice although he can't see the long-term repercussions. Who cares about the players and fans - it's all about revenue generation. Games moved to 2.00pm on Sundays, 6.00pm or 7:30pm on Saturdays. Sky won't be happy until they have 100% coverage of households in Ireland. Then pay-per-view. opa01 (Cavan) - Posts: 502 - 27/02/2017 16:20:14 1961689 Link
Replying To yew_tree: "If your suggesting the Sky deal influenced the GAA's thinking, I am not buying that. The GAA finals will be on in August, the start of the Premier League and all the hype that goes with it." Maybe your right and it had no influence. However it is very similar to how elitism was brought into Soccer, Darts and probably more similar to the GAA, Rugby League. Rugby League changed overnight with the introduction of a super league involving only the top marketable teams. Sky was at the core of this change as they needed a sport to cover during the summer months. The next TV deal will tell the story, when this super 8 set up is being as successful as I expect it will be. I don't doubt the games will be brilliant and add a new excitement to the championship. However it will only involve top tiered counties, and that will be the main problem. sam1884 (UK) - Posts: 999 - 27/02/2017 18:25:11 1961763 Link
Replying To opa01: "I'm sure this is Sky's aim with Duffy a willing accomplice although he can't see the long-term repercussions. Who cares about the players and fans - it's all about revenue generation. Games moved to 2.00pm on Sundays, 6.00pm or 7:30pm on Saturdays. Sky won't be happy until they have 100% coverage of households in Ireland. Then pay-per-view." Spot on. I have been saying this for a few years. It's no coincidence the Championship changes coincide with SKY's new deal. I would not be surprised if the GAA and SKY had planned this together. I suspect that SKY ultimately want sole broadcasting rights to Gaelic Games in the UK, including the North. SKY will want a return on their investment and eventually RTE on SKY will be blanked out in the UK and North when RTE are broadcasting GAA matches This will force GAA fans to take out a SKY SPORTS subscription to watch Gaelic Games. SKY already do this with the Republic's soccer games. We can't get RTE's coverage as it is blanked out. The GAA will then run for cover and trot out the excuse that "we have no control over broadcasting rights". The FAI did this when people complained about losing Republic games. Ulsterman (Antrim) - Posts: 9702 - 27/02/2017 20:22:51 1961818 Link
People are overreacting. A standard has always been set for the All-Ireland series. It used to be for provincial winners. It opened up to 4 qualifiers. The often spoken of Champions League has some form of qualification. If 8 groups of 4 was brought in, it doesn't set any level of achievement. It'll be like the Italian clubs participating in the Heineken Cup without having to qualify, it doesn't set any level of achievement. Hurling will adopt the 2 groups of 4 format. It will prompt the football championship to expand to 4 groups of 4 due to having 4 provincial championships compared with only 2 in hurling. legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 7840 - 27/02/2017 20:59:13 1961839 Link
If the outcome is a more competitive championship, more money and better standard of games, I fail to see the problem. People fear change, but broadly this is great. TheUsername (Dublin) - Posts: 4445 - 27/02/2017 21:18:05 1961852 Link
I don't think legendzis and theusername are getting it. It's not really about football, it's about money. it's about pay-per-view, btw, ADMIN, why are you allowing 5 or 6 threads that are all roughly about the same thing. i.e. pauric Duffy's plan for the super8. surely they should all be consolidated in to one thread. s goldrick (Cavan) - Posts: 5518 - 28/02/2017 13:49:49 1962086 Link