Irish public-service broadcaster RTE has reached a deal with the Gaelic Athletic Association for its new subscription-based online streaming service GAAGO to be a sponsor of the All Ireland Senior Football Championship.
GAAGO will be available outside Ireland and offer live and on-demand coverage of the GAA’s Gaelic football and hurling competitions during the 2014 championships.
Páraic Duffy, GAA director general, said: “GAAGO is a new brand that will require significant levels of exposure and awareness, and sponsorship of the All Ireland Senior Football Championship will provide both in a most effective way.”
Terms of the sponsorship agreement were not disclosed, but it places GAAGO alongside telecommunications company Eircom and supermarket chain SuperValu as the third and final brand in GAA’s multi-sponsor model for Gaelic football, stepping in on account of Ulster Bank opting to end its six-year association last year.
Etihad Airways, food wholesaler Centra and Liberty Insurance hold the sponsorship slots for the GAA Hurling All Ireland Senior Championship to complete the organisation’s roster.
The new agreement between RTE and the GAA draws a line under a dispute relating to last month’s decision to award a portion of the championships’ broadcasting rights to pay-television giant BSkyB. The GAA accused RTE – which acquired the biggest television rights package along with online rights – of lacking balance in its news and sports coverage of the controversial move to bring Sky into the fold.