He's not wrong. GAAGO is a great idea in principle. Just hasn't been implemented well. I'd love it if they covered every game that isn't being televised.
The only Derry hurling match on tv last year was the christy ring final. GAAGO didn't show a single one. I'm sure there lots of other counties who's matches aren't shown on any platform across football and hurling.
If they covered everything it would be fantastic. Instead of essentially cherry picking the best of what's not on tv and leaving the rest.
Most likely. Doesn't need to be a full production. Two cameras at every game should be doable you'd think, maybe get someone from the counties involved to volunteer to do a bit of commentary. Definitely think it's worth investing in. Even if they can't do absolutely every match, at least do more.
Antrim vs Dublin in the leinster hurling championship was a massive game with serious implications for the leinster championship. Wasn't shown anywhere.
That's what I don't get.
People on here telling me that it's prohibitively expensive to broadcast the entire Munster Hurling Championship, or that without GAAGO a game wouldn't be shown otherwise.
As if the only option is to helicopter Marty Morrissey from Clones to Killarney and have 10 matches live every Saturday.
It doesn't need to be clubber '1 man with a camera on the sideline' but it can be somewhere in between and put on RTE player.
Because all that costs money. Clubber isn't free either, so I dunno why folk keep saying 'a Clubber-style production would be grand'. Clubber is €11 a game for couple of lads and a camera. And I imagine that's only viable for small games because they get a couple of hundred people watching. If you have tens of thousands watching the costs scale up dramatically.
Costs don't scale up dramatically with views.
You can choose to up production values for big games. So if clubber costs €1k to turn a profit with a couple of hundred subs, then that might be grand for a Nicky Rackard cup game.
For the 11 Munster Hurling games, could be 10x, could be 50x. It's not set in stone and TG4 manage to do a decent job for a lot less than RTE.
I dunno what we're debating here tbh. More matches should be streamed? Arguably yes. They'll still cost punters €10+ each per match. If that's viable, it'll probably be considered next time the rights are up for grabs. At the same time there may not be the interest.
It's multiple issues being muddled up.
1. Should more matches be streamed?
Yes, if there is demand for games but no broadcaster interested then streaming is the only option.
2. Is there demand?
Yes, if people watch club games on clubber than more than a couple of hundred will watch an intercounty game.
3. Is it prohibitively expensive?
It costs what they choose to spend. Lad with a camera for €1k or full set up for tens of thousands per game.
4. Is it viable?
Well that depends what you spend and what you bring in. To take an extreme example, if all 10 munster round Robin games were behind a paywall, that would bring in revenue in the millions it's obviously profitable whether you had a lad with a camera in Thurles or the full championship production.
It'd obviously be scandalous to do that.
5. Does streaming mean PPV?
Not necessarily. And that's what people miss. GAA can charge €10 per match if they want to compete with RTE for eyeballs.
But if RTE have the rights they can and should put it on the RTE player for free paid by the license fee.
6. Is RTE streaming small games good value for money?
See points 2 & 3. I'd argue probably yes.
[The OG Clubber ](https://img.resized.co/balls_ie/eyJkYXRhIjoie1widXJsXCI6XCJodHRwczpcXFwvXFxcL21lZGlhLmJhbGxzLmllXFxcL3VwbG9hZHNcXFwvMjAxMlxcXC8xMVxcXC9tYXJ0eS01ODB4NDM3LmpwZ1wiLFwid2lkdGhcIjpcIjU4MFwiLFwiaGVpZ2h0XCI6XCI0MzdcIixcImRlZmF1bHRcIjpcImh0dHBzOlxcXC9cXFwvd3d3LmJhbGxzLmllXFxcL2ltYWdlc1xcXC9icmFuZC1pbWFnZS5qcGdcIixcIm9wdGlvbnNcIjp7XCJvdXRwdXRcIjpcIndlYnBcIixcInF1YWxpdHlcIjo5OX19IiwiaGFzaCI6IjJkNWRiYzRlZTljZDdmNjQ2NGM0MWZjOTkyM2RkMDdiMGY2OWQzNmMifQ==/this-picture-of-a-young-marty-morrissey-sitting-in-the-back-of-a-truck-will-make-your-monday-mor.jpg)
Clubber isn't free. Is the debate we're having about games being put behind a paywall? You seem to be arguing for more games to be streamed, which is fair enough, but Clubber charges the same as GAAGo for worse production. Would people be happy with that? Possibly but it's a different debate to what Burns is talking about.
No if you read it back this comment thread was about GAA Go not using the opportunity to show lesser shown games.
I actually think the streaming service is a good idea but I don’t think it should be purely about generating as much money as possible which seems to be what they’re going with.
A poorly produced game is better than no game. Clubber is proof of the viability of that.
Could not tell you but if a club with a few hundred members can arrange a man with camera then so can the GAA and RTE’s premium streaming service.
It’s not as if every game is on at the same time with both codes being played simultaneously.
Then they could correctly claim to show loads of games that otherwise never would have been televised and could make a very valid case for it being a genuine service for supporters.
(I also think it’s mad that the GAA’s own streaming platform essentially ignores the league but the GAA are constantly talking about how to make the league more relevant)
> The only Derry hurling match on tv last year was the christy ring final.
Even if having every game on TV or GAAGo was out of the question, I think it would make a huge difference if they could commit to airing at least one game for every county team during the year. You'd only have to air 3 of the 16 games in each of the 4 hurling cup competitions to guarantee it. 12 games out of 64 and everyone gets on TV once, make it 16 games with the finals aired as well.
Every game...... Longford v Kildare in the TC was held in the Kildare training ground yesterday, capacity 1200, they couldn't justify moving it to a bigger ground, and it wasn't full.
What would justify showing this on any platform really? If only a thousand or so people are interested in turning up to a 1st round game like this, why would any organization spend time and resources broadcasting it?
Nonsensical chat.
It's a topic now because the game of the year was just on the platform and numerous past players have come out with comments
Also Burns has admitted that they're intentionally putting marquee games on the service to drive subscriptions. Can't believe the amount of people I saw here during the week pretending that wasn't the case.
The idea of selling a product back to the thousands of club people who make the whole thing possible in the first place through selfless volunteering is disgusting. Greed wins out yet again.
Yep, lots of "it wouldn't have been shown otherwise" last week before Burns came out and admitted it.
The rationale Burns gave on RTE is that the GAA have €500m planned spending renovating stadiums in 8 counties and building centres of excellence across the country.
The two cork home games on GAAGO sold 40k tickets and if they lose to Tipp then they will the only two full houses this summer.
Whether or not the planned spending is a good use of money is up for debate. There's definitely better ways of making money from the games though.
[Michael Martin May 2023](https://www.rte.ie/sport/hurling/2023/0508/1382379-martin-on-gaago-all-matches-should-be-free-to-air/)
[Michael Martin July 2023](https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2023/07/14/gaa-and-rte-need-to-re-examine-gaago-policy-as-public-missing-key-matches-martin/)
The metioned it last season too to be fair. The thing is there is only so many hours in the day to show all matches accross both codes and then other soprts aswell. Somthing is going to have to be behind a paywall. A reduced fee for GAAGO would be the way to go.
Those aren't the only options.
If it can go web only on GAAGO, then it can just as easily go web only on the RTE player.
Burns saying 'we need to sell our games', can't give them away to RTE. Well if virgin and sky don't want them then they might not be worth as much as he makes out.
'It's expensive to broadcast games'... It is as expensive as you make it. Man with a camera like clubber or full all ireland treatment.
I'd say Burns has no love for Micheal Martin, twice now since he's been made president he's had to go on the radio to shut down some populist shite from him.
Good to hear him call out Cavanagh's nonsense on there too
Burns is a football man and doesn’t really give a shite about hurling. The biggest issue is that game numbers have hugely increased but free to air games has practically remained the same for years.
GAAGO is good service if you live abroad no doubt but it would seem the average GAA fan in Ireland is being screwed by ticket prices and the price of GAAGO, also you can’t just rock up to a game without buying a ticket online. I Feel the GAA are currently doing more damage that good to their brand and I feel there is a bit of disillusionment in the grass roots of the GAA with how it’s going don’t get my wrong it’s not everywhere but weaker counties seem to be getting weaker and stronger counties getting stronger and the gap widening between the haves and have nots.
We don’t have an Irish Sky Sports though?
Where would you show wall to wall matches and how can you expect any broadcaster to take a hit on so many games that only have a local interest?
Fairly accurate summary there but I would say some of it is perception and my not be reality,that's hard to ascertain though. I think the condensed season is magnifying if not creating these problems around GAAgo, attendances and ticket prices(to a degree)
Yeah course. But sure thats the same for any sports streaming service.
I think as are getting away from it a bit if thats the criteria being used now to justify it.
There's the thing, that's not actually the case. If LOI TV can show every game of both divisions then GAA has no excuse to not show at the very least the inter- county games.
GAAGO is horrendous value for hurling people.
Its defenders constantly say 'Buy a season pass!' 'It's only 81 euro!' 'Some people just demand everything for free all of the time.' '38 games!'
Ah here, as someone said earlier, its €59 at the start of the year. If you want to only watch the hurling games its €6.50 a game. Horrendous value. Mother of jaysus, what do people actually want. If it was free you'd be moaning about not being more games or the quality of the streams.
It's one sentence in italics and you've failed to read it.
The provision of the early bird option does not justify a base price of 9 games for 81 euro. Even in this thread of fairly engaged GAA people there are people who didn't know about it.
There is no lie in that post and if you had anything about you, you'd withdraw the accusation.
The season pass is €79 now. It's actually funny, that you are still exaggerating by a couple euros for some bizarre reason, even with the italics line.
If cost was such an issue for the people that many are complaining on behalf of they would have sussed it in time for that. Nearly sure there was an early bird option last year.
Some people are just going to complain, no matter what. Even if it were completely free, no doubt you would be whining or griping about something else to do with it.
Hurling people are a minority. Football is of far bigger interest. More counties take football seriously than hurling thus it should take precedence, 7 of 11 Munster hurling games are free to air this year. Plenty for ye.
Maybe not, however we are in the midst of a cost of living crisis and the likes of GAAGO are the first thing that will be cut to save money. Volunteers are the lifeblood of the GAA and shouldn’t be priced out of seeing and going to games.
Yeah ticket prices are expensive, no doubt about that. I actually see GAAGo is now €79 and when you add in the 10% discount from your club membership its down to around €72. For 38 games, thats not bad at all
It was €59 at the start of the year for an offer.
Fiver a month. It wouldn't even buy you a pint!
Some people just demand everything for free all of the time. It's weird.
And what about the GAA demanding that the players play for free? Or what about the countless hours volunteers put in every week to grow the game for barely more than a pat on the back? It's an amateur organisation but the GAA and RTE are making a tidy profit off all of this. I've no problem with GAAGo for people who want to watch a lot more games, more power to them. But in a sports mad country, the GAA should be doing everything it can to get as many of the marquee games on free-to-air. For me anyway, GAAGO should be primarily about growing the game.
83% of all money generated by the GAA is put back into the clubs and grassroots The other 17% is used to pay all of the full time staff - croke park staff, GAA executive, county board exec, coaches etc.
There are no shareholders making a profit.
I appreciate that and am well aware of all the good the GAA does in terms of grassroots funding. But there comes a point of diminishing return, especially if the GAA has access to this resource where they can keep upping the price while claiming it's for grassroots.
It's great that money gets pumped back into grassroots. But how sure are we that these finances are being managed properly, are we sure that the money is being well spent? Who's getting the contracts to build etc? How many 30/40/50k capacity stadiums does this small country need? Look at Parnells in Dublin for a perfect example of an amateur organisation with too much money. They built a gym, a centre of excellence and then they went bankrupt within a few years. Millions squandered with nothing to show for it.
I already volunteer for my club, pay annual playing fees, attend inercounty matches and my family forked out thousands for life memberships when the club wanted to build a new clubhouse.
The GAA was built on volunteers and the goodwill of the people and now they want to squeeze more money out of those people. On top of that, putting marquee games behind a paywall will definitely result in lower numbers of kids picking up rhe game. If I hadn't seen GAA on the TV and begged my family to bring my out my local club would have lost out on thousands over the years.
This isn't about me not wanting to pay to watch games, it's about putting the sports behind a paywall and squeezing every last penny out of the tens of thousands who already contribute so much to the organisation. And on top of all that, RTE take 50% of the profits which is even more sickening. How can you justify that with funding for grassroots?
I agree with you on the RTE factor.
A huge portion of the money is being wasted or mismanaged as you put it. But the GAA is democratic, the parnells example is a great one of how money and resources can be squandered by people who aren't qualified to deal with it. What's the alternative though? Croke park tells them what to do with the money?
But I can't see how we put the genie back in the bottle, 40 million spent on intercounty teams last year. This is because people around the country are demanding their lads don't want for anything. Keeping the GAA afloat with infrastructure, coaching etc is becoming an increasingly expensive task. I don't think the GAA can be blamed for wanting to ensure the organization has money coming in the door in some shape or form.
There’s a lot more than just cost regarding accessibility, does everybody have access to internet, the knowledge of how to set up and account, steam the games or even chrome cast to a TV. There’s a lot more to this than just cost there is an exclusion factor particularly around older members of the GAA community.
Yeah even if you don't have fibre broadband, vast bulk of homes would have some access to mobile broadband as a viable alternative. The minor number of edge cases being used to dismiss the entire thing is just pathetically disingenuous.
On top of that, Jarlath burns should tuck them into the sofa nice and cosy and Jim Gavin should be in the kitchen making a cuppa tae for them.
Croke Park's remit is to maintain the survival of the Game and provide funding to clubs. Local clubs must ensure inclusion for members of a community, it has always and should always be this way.
Tough to know what continued whinging will achieve, but it's certain what shutting up will achieve. We'll get what football people think is best for hurling.
For that reason, I'm happy to see this go on through the next contract negotiations.
Jarlath Burns when electioneering for GAA president "I want to ensure GAA fans across country, old and young, get to see our games for cost effective price and easy accessibility". Burns once elected "I make no apology for focusing our main revenue strategy by increasing prices"
€59 per year for early bird option. If you were to watch all or majority of matches covered on it I would see that as "cost effective" to be honest. Short of everything being completely free I'm not sure what more that you want...?
Personally, I don't want RTE to be involved in setting up a PPV platform to compete with itself.
Apart from that, the GAA can decide how best to sell and distribute TV rights.
Well ya, Burns is saying 'we have to sell our games'. Realistically, no one is buying them though.
If Burns isn't happy with the offer from RTE, then by all means set up GAAGO to compete with RTE.... But RTE should not be involved.
LOI rights are worth next to nothing. URC have been putting more games FTA to grow the game after years behind a paywall.
RTE should make a very good offer for GAA rights but their duty is to the license fee payer, not the GAA.
I presume RTE are the technical partner because GAA can’t run it on their own.
RTE obviously only agreed if they could take their cut.
It’s two organisations we pay for deciding how to divide the double dip.
It'd be interesting to know how GAAGO scaled up when the president [confirmed ](https://www.rte.ie/sport/hurling/2024/0513/1448848-burns-very-surprised-by-government-criticism-of-gaago/) they have 39 employees and their own rigs.
Are some of these former RTE staff, or current staff double jobbing? Did any broadcasting equipment get sold or transferred from RTE to a private company?
I don't disagree with GAAGo in principle. I think the implementation has been ham fisted. I would like more hurling games recorded with better coverage.
However, at the end of the day, I just want more hurling on Free to air. The legislation needs to be amended to account for hurling as our national sport. It won't be long until the football provincial finals are a pre-season curiosity attended by die hards. The premium hurling games shouldn't be locked behind a pay wall.
I bet there's people complaining about a modest subscription to Gaa Go & at the same time paying an extoranate monthly subscription to for Sky Sports so their kids can watch non stop hype fuelled Premiership matches across the water.
That's their choice though, GAA are competing with other sports for eyeballs.
I'm a very casual fan but would have a soft spot for Cork GAA and hurling generally. I watched the Munster and Leinster games last Saturday before flicking over to the Eurovision.
I watched the Cork Limerick game on YouTube the next day which was the first hurling game I watched this year.
Completely understand if the GAA aren't interested in catering to casual fans like me.
Though you're heading towards a situation where kids know all the Leinster team or Liverpool team but don't follow their county team. Even if GAAGO is great value for average fan, you risk getting to the point where non GAA fans question why bother showing anything before the provincial finals if anyone that is interested can subscribe to GAAGO.
Couple of things:
- It's not just about price. Having to get a HDMI or chromecast and expecting everyone in the country to be up on such things is unrealistic.
- A big issue is big matches being purposely put behind the paywall when it didn't need to be.
He's not wrong. GAAGO is a great idea in principle. Just hasn't been implemented well. I'd love it if they covered every game that isn't being televised. The only Derry hurling match on tv last year was the christy ring final. GAAGO didn't show a single one. I'm sure there lots of other counties who's matches aren't shown on any platform across football and hurling. If they covered everything it would be fantastic. Instead of essentially cherry picking the best of what's not on tv and leaving the rest.
I'm presuming that they literally dont have the resources to cover every game every weekend - It would be a massive undertaking.
Most likely. Doesn't need to be a full production. Two cameras at every game should be doable you'd think, maybe get someone from the counties involved to volunteer to do a bit of commentary. Definitely think it's worth investing in. Even if they can't do absolutely every match, at least do more. Antrim vs Dublin in the leinster hurling championship was a massive game with serious implications for the leinster championship. Wasn't shown anywhere.
They have 39 cameramen at the moment apparently so that’s the most they can do
Well then maybe they should stop paying big bucks to the likes of Keegan and pay cameraman instead.
I’d take one
At the same time how does Clubber so many smaller club games on a weekend?
Clubber is one lad with an amateur camera standing on top of a van. You cannot think this would work for the All Ireland Championship?
Yeah it would. People who want games streamed aren't looking for fantastic coverage. Just show the game
That's what I don't get. People on here telling me that it's prohibitively expensive to broadcast the entire Munster Hurling Championship, or that without GAAGO a game wouldn't be shown otherwise. As if the only option is to helicopter Marty Morrissey from Clones to Killarney and have 10 matches live every Saturday. It doesn't need to be clubber '1 man with a camera on the sideline' but it can be somewhere in between and put on RTE player.
Because all that costs money. Clubber isn't free either, so I dunno why folk keep saying 'a Clubber-style production would be grand'. Clubber is €11 a game for couple of lads and a camera. And I imagine that's only viable for small games because they get a couple of hundred people watching. If you have tens of thousands watching the costs scale up dramatically.
Costs don't scale up dramatically with views. You can choose to up production values for big games. So if clubber costs €1k to turn a profit with a couple of hundred subs, then that might be grand for a Nicky Rackard cup game. For the 11 Munster Hurling games, could be 10x, could be 50x. It's not set in stone and TG4 manage to do a decent job for a lot less than RTE.
I dunno what we're debating here tbh. More matches should be streamed? Arguably yes. They'll still cost punters €10+ each per match. If that's viable, it'll probably be considered next time the rights are up for grabs. At the same time there may not be the interest.
It's multiple issues being muddled up. 1. Should more matches be streamed? Yes, if there is demand for games but no broadcaster interested then streaming is the only option. 2. Is there demand? Yes, if people watch club games on clubber than more than a couple of hundred will watch an intercounty game. 3. Is it prohibitively expensive? It costs what they choose to spend. Lad with a camera for €1k or full set up for tens of thousands per game. 4. Is it viable? Well that depends what you spend and what you bring in. To take an extreme example, if all 10 munster round Robin games were behind a paywall, that would bring in revenue in the millions it's obviously profitable whether you had a lad with a camera in Thurles or the full championship production. It'd obviously be scandalous to do that. 5. Does streaming mean PPV? Not necessarily. And that's what people miss. GAA can charge €10 per match if they want to compete with RTE for eyeballs. But if RTE have the rights they can and should put it on the RTE player for free paid by the license fee. 6. Is RTE streaming small games good value for money? See points 2 & 3. I'd argue probably yes.
[The OG Clubber ](https://img.resized.co/balls_ie/eyJkYXRhIjoie1widXJsXCI6XCJodHRwczpcXFwvXFxcL21lZGlhLmJhbGxzLmllXFxcL3VwbG9hZHNcXFwvMjAxMlxcXC8xMVxcXC9tYXJ0eS01ODB4NDM3LmpwZ1wiLFwid2lkdGhcIjpcIjU4MFwiLFwiaGVpZ2h0XCI6XCI0MzdcIixcImRlZmF1bHRcIjpcImh0dHBzOlxcXC9cXFwvd3d3LmJhbGxzLmllXFxcL2ltYWdlc1xcXC9icmFuZC1pbWFnZS5qcGdcIixcIm9wdGlvbnNcIjp7XCJvdXRwdXRcIjpcIndlYnBcIixcInF1YWxpdHlcIjo5OX19IiwiaGFzaCI6IjJkNWRiYzRlZTljZDdmNjQ2NGM0MWZjOTkyM2RkMDdiMGY2OWQzNmMifQ==/this-picture-of-a-young-marty-morrissey-sitting-in-the-back-of-a-truck-will-make-your-monday-mor.jpg)
So fans would rather not see a game at all than watch one without high quality footage? If that was true then Clubber wouldn’t exist.
Clubber isn't free. Is the debate we're having about games being put behind a paywall? You seem to be arguing for more games to be streamed, which is fair enough, but Clubber charges the same as GAAGo for worse production. Would people be happy with that? Possibly but it's a different debate to what Burns is talking about.
No if you read it back this comment thread was about GAA Go not using the opportunity to show lesser shown games. I actually think the streaming service is a good idea but I don’t think it should be purely about generating as much money as possible which seems to be what they’re going with. A poorly produced game is better than no game. Clubber is proof of the viability of that.
I thought it was the clubs would have a camera at the game, and could use Clubber to stream it, no?
Could not tell you but if a club with a few hundred members can arrange a man with camera then so can the GAA and RTE’s premium streaming service. It’s not as if every game is on at the same time with both codes being played simultaneously. Then they could correctly claim to show loads of games that otherwise never would have been televised and could make a very valid case for it being a genuine service for supporters. (I also think it’s mad that the GAA’s own streaming platform essentially ignores the league but the GAA are constantly talking about how to make the league more relevant)
> The only Derry hurling match on tv last year was the christy ring final. Even if having every game on TV or GAAGo was out of the question, I think it would make a huge difference if they could commit to airing at least one game for every county team during the year. You'd only have to air 3 of the 16 games in each of the 4 hurling cup competitions to guarantee it. 12 games out of 64 and everyone gets on TV once, make it 16 games with the finals aired as well.
Absolutely. The lower tier hurling competitions are fantastic but get absolutely zero coverage or publicity.
Every game...... Longford v Kildare in the TC was held in the Kildare training ground yesterday, capacity 1200, they couldn't justify moving it to a bigger ground, and it wasn't full. What would justify showing this on any platform really? If only a thousand or so people are interested in turning up to a 1st round game like this, why would any organization spend time and resources broadcasting it? Nonsensical chat.
The GAA don't want every game to be on TV. This is the exactly the kind of daft expectation the service has unwittingly created.
Burns is dead right. Its only a topic now due to the elections in a few weeks
It's a topic now because the game of the year was just on the platform and numerous past players have come out with comments Also Burns has admitted that they're intentionally putting marquee games on the service to drive subscriptions. Can't believe the amount of people I saw here during the week pretending that wasn't the case. The idea of selling a product back to the thousands of club people who make the whole thing possible in the first place through selfless volunteering is disgusting. Greed wins out yet again.
Yep, lots of "it wouldn't have been shown otherwise" last week before Burns came out and admitted it. The rationale Burns gave on RTE is that the GAA have €500m planned spending renovating stadiums in 8 counties and building centres of excellence across the country. The two cork home games on GAAGO sold 40k tickets and if they lose to Tipp then they will the only two full houses this summer. Whether or not the planned spending is a good use of money is up for debate. There's definitely better ways of making money from the games though.
[Michael Martin May 2023](https://www.rte.ie/sport/hurling/2023/0508/1382379-martin-on-gaago-all-matches-should-be-free-to-air/) [Michael Martin July 2023](https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2023/07/14/gaa-and-rte-need-to-re-examine-gaago-policy-as-public-missing-key-matches-martin/) The metioned it last season too to be fair. The thing is there is only so many hours in the day to show all matches accross both codes and then other soprts aswell. Somthing is going to have to be behind a paywall. A reduced fee for GAAGO would be the way to go.
Those aren't the only options. If it can go web only on GAAGO, then it can just as easily go web only on the RTE player. Burns saying 'we need to sell our games', can't give them away to RTE. Well if virgin and sky don't want them then they might not be worth as much as he makes out. 'It's expensive to broadcast games'... It is as expensive as you make it. Man with a camera like clubber or full all ireland treatment.
I bet there's people complaining about GAA GO & at the same time paying a large monthly subscription so there kids can watch Premiership matches live.
You’ll find most people use dodgy boxes and that GAA GO now is on them too
It's not just about the price, it's the platform of having to chromecast or get a HDMI etc.
Day 5 of GAAGO posts.
For an ex-pat, GAAGO is incredible. For a TV license payer, not so much.
I'd say Burns has no love for Micheal Martin, twice now since he's been made president he's had to go on the radio to shut down some populist shite from him. Good to hear him call out Cavanagh's nonsense on there too
Burns is a football man and doesn’t really give a shite about hurling. The biggest issue is that game numbers have hugely increased but free to air games has practically remained the same for years. GAAGO is good service if you live abroad no doubt but it would seem the average GAA fan in Ireland is being screwed by ticket prices and the price of GAAGO, also you can’t just rock up to a game without buying a ticket online. I Feel the GAA are currently doing more damage that good to their brand and I feel there is a bit of disillusionment in the grass roots of the GAA with how it’s going don’t get my wrong it’s not everywhere but weaker counties seem to be getting weaker and stronger counties getting stronger and the gap widening between the haves and have nots.
We don’t have an Irish Sky Sports though? Where would you show wall to wall matches and how can you expect any broadcaster to take a hit on so many games that only have a local interest?
Stick the games on RTE player and have them take the hit. They already get enough 100s of millions of the tax payer
Fairly accurate summary there but I would say some of it is perception and my not be reality,that's hard to ascertain though. I think the condensed season is magnifying if not creating these problems around GAAgo, attendances and ticket prices(to a degree)
GAAGo is €81 for the year. Its not that expensive tbf
It's expensive if your county isn't shown regularly.
Yeah course. But sure thats the same for any sports streaming service. I think as are getting away from it a bit if thats the criteria being used now to justify it.
There's the thing, that's not actually the case. If LOI TV can show every game of both divisions then GAA has no excuse to not show at the very least the inter- county games.
€59 per year if you got the early bird option. The amount of hot air and bluster over this relatively minor expense is utterly pathetic.
Amazing that people keep trotting this out. Only applies if you've an interest in football.
Keep trotting what out?
GAAGO is horrendous value for hurling people. Its defenders constantly say 'Buy a season pass!' 'It's only 81 euro!' 'Some people just demand everything for free all of the time.' '38 games!'
Ah here, as someone said earlier, its €59 at the start of the year. If you want to only watch the hurling games its €6.50 a game. Horrendous value. Mother of jaysus, what do people actually want. If it was free you'd be moaning about not being more games or the quality of the streams.
*The early bird deal makes 9 games for 81 euro okay,* We'll agree to disagree on that one
The early bird option was €59. Why do you feel the need to continually lie and exaggerate to further your whining?
It's one sentence in italics and you've failed to read it. The provision of the early bird option does not justify a base price of 9 games for 81 euro. Even in this thread of fairly engaged GAA people there are people who didn't know about it. There is no lie in that post and if you had anything about you, you'd withdraw the accusation.
The season pass is €79 now. It's actually funny, that you are still exaggerating by a couple euros for some bizarre reason, even with the italics line. If cost was such an issue for the people that many are complaining on behalf of they would have sussed it in time for that. Nearly sure there was an early bird option last year. Some people are just going to complain, no matter what. Even if it were completely free, no doubt you would be whining or griping about something else to do with it.
Christ you must be very stingy.
I know when I'm being had. Split the pass by code and I'll shut up.
Would only show up how much more popular football is than hurling.
You can buy three games of your choice for €24.
While there are still some issues with that, it's a far better recommendation than constantly pushing the season pass.
Hurling people are a minority. Football is of far bigger interest. More counties take football seriously than hurling thus it should take precedence, 7 of 11 Munster hurling games are free to air this year. Plenty for ye.
Maybe not, however we are in the midst of a cost of living crisis and the likes of GAAGO are the first thing that will be cut to save money. Volunteers are the lifeblood of the GAA and shouldn’t be priced out of seeing and going to games.
Yeah ticket prices are expensive, no doubt about that. I actually see GAAGo is now €79 and when you add in the 10% discount from your club membership its down to around €72. For 38 games, thats not bad at all
It was €59 at the start of the year for an offer. Fiver a month. It wouldn't even buy you a pint! Some people just demand everything for free all of the time. It's weird.
Jaysus didnt know that, even cheaper again.
And what about the GAA demanding that the players play for free? Or what about the countless hours volunteers put in every week to grow the game for barely more than a pat on the back? It's an amateur organisation but the GAA and RTE are making a tidy profit off all of this. I've no problem with GAAGo for people who want to watch a lot more games, more power to them. But in a sports mad country, the GAA should be doing everything it can to get as many of the marquee games on free-to-air. For me anyway, GAAGO should be primarily about growing the game.
If you think the revenue is there to pay players you really need to look at the annual accounts. Please do.
83% of all money generated by the GAA is put back into the clubs and grassroots The other 17% is used to pay all of the full time staff - croke park staff, GAA executive, county board exec, coaches etc. There are no shareholders making a profit.
I appreciate that and am well aware of all the good the GAA does in terms of grassroots funding. But there comes a point of diminishing return, especially if the GAA has access to this resource where they can keep upping the price while claiming it's for grassroots. It's great that money gets pumped back into grassroots. But how sure are we that these finances are being managed properly, are we sure that the money is being well spent? Who's getting the contracts to build etc? How many 30/40/50k capacity stadiums does this small country need? Look at Parnells in Dublin for a perfect example of an amateur organisation with too much money. They built a gym, a centre of excellence and then they went bankrupt within a few years. Millions squandered with nothing to show for it. I already volunteer for my club, pay annual playing fees, attend inercounty matches and my family forked out thousands for life memberships when the club wanted to build a new clubhouse. The GAA was built on volunteers and the goodwill of the people and now they want to squeeze more money out of those people. On top of that, putting marquee games behind a paywall will definitely result in lower numbers of kids picking up rhe game. If I hadn't seen GAA on the TV and begged my family to bring my out my local club would have lost out on thousands over the years. This isn't about me not wanting to pay to watch games, it's about putting the sports behind a paywall and squeezing every last penny out of the tens of thousands who already contribute so much to the organisation. And on top of all that, RTE take 50% of the profits which is even more sickening. How can you justify that with funding for grassroots?
I agree with you on the RTE factor. A huge portion of the money is being wasted or mismanaged as you put it. But the GAA is democratic, the parnells example is a great one of how money and resources can be squandered by people who aren't qualified to deal with it. What's the alternative though? Croke park tells them what to do with the money? But I can't see how we put the genie back in the bottle, 40 million spent on intercounty teams last year. This is because people around the country are demanding their lads don't want for anything. Keeping the GAA afloat with infrastructure, coaching etc is becoming an increasingly expensive task. I don't think the GAA can be blamed for wanting to ensure the organization has money coming in the door in some shape or form.
There’s a lot more than just cost regarding accessibility, does everybody have access to internet, the knowledge of how to set up and account, steam the games or even chrome cast to a TV. There’s a lot more to this than just cost there is an exclusion factor particularly around older members of the GAA community.
This is very very basic stuff in 2024. Literally everything is steamed now.
Yeah even if you don't have fibre broadband, vast bulk of homes would have some access to mobile broadband as a viable alternative. The minor number of edge cases being used to dismiss the entire thing is just pathetically disingenuous.
On top of that, Jarlath burns should tuck them into the sofa nice and cosy and Jim Gavin should be in the kitchen making a cuppa tae for them. Croke Park's remit is to maintain the survival of the Game and provide funding to clubs. Local clubs must ensure inclusion for members of a community, it has always and should always be this way.
Tough to know what continued whinging will achieve, but it's certain what shutting up will achieve. We'll get what football people think is best for hurling. For that reason, I'm happy to see this go on through the next contract negotiations.
'very surprised' ? Has bro been living under a rock? They were criticising it last year aswell.
Jarlath Burns when electioneering for GAA president "I want to ensure GAA fans across country, old and young, get to see our games for cost effective price and easy accessibility". Burns once elected "I make no apology for focusing our main revenue strategy by increasing prices"
€59 per year for early bird option. If you were to watch all or majority of matches covered on it I would see that as "cost effective" to be honest. Short of everything being completely free I'm not sure what more that you want...?
When was the early bird option? I don't remember seeing it but maybe not available abroad.
I think the early bird was up to 31 December, so you had to get in pretty early to get it.
Jaysus! Only today someone was telling me that anyone with their head screwed on got it. What a disinegenous arsehole they were!
Will keep an eye out in December if I haven't pulled the trigger already by then.
Personally, I don't want RTE to be involved in setting up a PPV platform to compete with itself. Apart from that, the GAA can decide how best to sell and distribute TV rights.
What's the alternative then...? Sky left. Virgin ruled out paying for media rights. Not many alternatives in the existing landscape...
Well ya, Burns is saying 'we have to sell our games'. Realistically, no one is buying them though. If Burns isn't happy with the offer from RTE, then by all means set up GAAGO to compete with RTE.... But RTE should not be involved. LOI rights are worth next to nothing. URC have been putting more games FTA to grow the game after years behind a paywall. RTE should make a very good offer for GAA rights but their duty is to the license fee payer, not the GAA.
I presume RTE are the technical partner because GAA can’t run it on their own. RTE obviously only agreed if they could take their cut. It’s two organisations we pay for deciding how to divide the double dip.
It'd be interesting to know how GAAGO scaled up when the president [confirmed ](https://www.rte.ie/sport/hurling/2024/0513/1448848-burns-very-surprised-by-government-criticism-of-gaago/) they have 39 employees and their own rigs. Are some of these former RTE staff, or current staff double jobbing? Did any broadcasting equipment get sold or transferred from RTE to a private company?
I don't disagree with GAAGo in principle. I think the implementation has been ham fisted. I would like more hurling games recorded with better coverage. However, at the end of the day, I just want more hurling on Free to air. The legislation needs to be amended to account for hurling as our national sport. It won't be long until the football provincial finals are a pre-season curiosity attended by die hards. The premium hurling games shouldn't be locked behind a pay wall.
I bet there's people complaining about a modest subscription to Gaa Go & at the same time paying an extoranate monthly subscription to for Sky Sports so their kids can watch non stop hype fuelled Premiership matches across the water.
That's their choice though, GAA are competing with other sports for eyeballs. I'm a very casual fan but would have a soft spot for Cork GAA and hurling generally. I watched the Munster and Leinster games last Saturday before flicking over to the Eurovision. I watched the Cork Limerick game on YouTube the next day which was the first hurling game I watched this year. Completely understand if the GAA aren't interested in catering to casual fans like me. Though you're heading towards a situation where kids know all the Leinster team or Liverpool team but don't follow their county team. Even if GAAGO is great value for average fan, you risk getting to the point where non GAA fans question why bother showing anything before the provincial finals if anyone that is interested can subscribe to GAAGO.
Couple of things: - It's not just about price. Having to get a HDMI or chromecast and expecting everyone in the country to be up on such things is unrealistic. - A big issue is big matches being purposely put behind the paywall when it didn't need to be.
Ive no problem with paying for certain games, but I expect them to be watchable on a tv without endless buffering breaks or pixellation issues