Saturday night's clash between Cork and Limerick will go down as one of the most exciting GAA games in quite some time, making it an even bigger pity that a fairly sizeable portion of the population would not have watched the action from the Munster Championship fixture.
The game at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh was not shown on terrestrial television, with the match instead being broadcast on GAAGO. With that being a paid online service, the number of viewers would have been far lower than if the same contest had been on RTÉ.
The use of GAAGO has caused quite a bit of debate in recent times.
Some feel that the GAA are exploiting supporters with the service, using it as a method to squeeze some extra money from consumers. On the other hand, it has been pointed out that if many of these games were not shown on GAAGO, they would not be broadcast at all.
Speaking on The Saturday Game over the weekend, former Tyrone star Sean Cavanagh very much fell into the former camp. He labelled the GAA as 'one of the richest organisations in the world' and suggested that they were exploiting supporters with the use of the service.
"There is a growing disconnect between the association and the people at the grassroots..." - The Saturday Game panel discuss the GAAGO platform and ponder what might be done to improve the service and make it more accessible. pic.twitter.com/gXFLbVcCsv
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) May 11, 2024
For me, there is a suspicion that the GAA is using GAAGO as a vehicle to maximise more revenue and more profit. That's wrong, it's driving profit off normal GAA people...
As long as GAAGO is a profit making organisation, there will always be suspicions that they are putting those best games behind the paywall. The money is 50/50, 50 per cent RTÉ and 50 per cent GAA.
The GAA is profit making out of this vehicle, it is being used as a subsidy...
The GAA are one of the richest organisations in the world. If anything, they should be saying for the big games 'we will show them to everyone, we will find a way'.
Those comments have not gone down well within the Association.
READ HERE: GAA President Jarlath Burns Had A Very Ulster Response To Question On Provincial Issues
GAA: Jarlath Burns calls out Sean Cavanagh for 'crazy' TV comments
The GAA are keen to persist with the use of GAAGO over the coming seasons, with the current president of the Association believing that the discussion surrounding the service has been very unfair.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1, Jarlath Burns would single out Sean Cavanagh's comments in particular, labelling them as 'crazy' and suggesting that someone from his professional background should know better.
'That's superficial, emotional comment'
Jarlath Burns takes issue with the likes of Sean Cavanagh commenting on the revenue generated by GAA without contemplating were that money is spent #gaago pic.twitter.com/VCEmhmX5Bi— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) May 13, 2024
That's a superficial and emotional comment that doesn't take into account the complexities of the logistics that we have to deal with in the real world.
Sean Cavanagh on Saturday night on live TV, and he is an accountant at an accountancy practice, said that the GAA is one of the richest organisations in the world.
We have €140million of a turnover, of which we give back 83 per cent to our own members, counties, and clubs.
For someone to make that comment live on The Saturday Game, considering the business that he is in, is just absolutely crazy...
The only place we can get (money) from is with the selling of our games. GAAGO is a very small part of that...
I will make no apologies for saying that I want GAAGO to become a major revenue generator for our Association, because we need that money to upgrade our facilities.
While we may well see some tweaks to GAAGO over the coming years, these comments from Jarlath Burns would suggest that it it very much here to stay.
Sean Cavanagh would soon respond to that criticism from Burns.
Speaking on RTÉ GAA Podcast, he said that while he should have clarified that he neglected to mention that the GAA were an amateur organisation, he felt that were not currently under any sort of financial pressure.
I maybe left out the word 'amateur.
I haven't pulled out the recent accounts but I remember seeing a couple of years ago 40,50, 60m of cash reserves and a balance sheet of €100m. I'm an accountant, I know this stuff.
For an amateur organisation owned by the members, owned by the people that are lining pitches, by people in every club up and down the country, for me that looks like a very healthy position...
I remember GAAGO being sold to me as 'this is going to provide games to the world, outside of Ireland' but for me, Saturday night was us punishing people within Ireland who should be seeing that game because this organisation, which is owned by RTÉ and the GAA.
There's definitely a strong suspicion that there has been tactical picking of the games to generate revenue and profit.
Whether fans like GAAGO or not, it seems as though it will be a big part of the GAA's broadcasting strategy for the foreseeable future.
SEE ALSO: Explained - Why Cork's Patrick Horgan Was Denied Access To Pitch Before Limerick Game
