Sky Sports keeps hold of 14 GAA games for this summer’s Championship

As you were...

'The end of the world is nigh' was the cry from GAA fans last year as the Chicken Licken brigade of the organisation decried the Sky Sports deal as the worst thing to happen to hurling and football since the the last 'what about the children' moment. After various fans and former players came out in support, and in opposition to the deal last year, it seems that the fear that all games would be on the British broadcaster and not free-to-air are unfounded. It's been revealed this afternoon that Rachel Wyse and Co will still have 14 live games this season, with RTE broadcasting 31 matches-the exact same amount as was divided between both broadcasters in 2014. There was a fear that Sky would look to push its coverage of some more high profile games such as provincial finals but as of yet RTE still holds the whip hand. Sky will broadcast eight Saturday evening qualifiers, two All-Ireland football championship quarter-finals-featuring the Ulster and Leinster champions, two Saturday evening provincial championship games, and two Sunday provincial championship games. They will also be able to broadcast the the All-Ireland semi finals and finals in both hurling and football. The schedule of games is to be announced in the coming days with SKY hoping for much better figures for their games this season after viewership last year was reported  surprisingly low for many of the games. Academic Paul Rouse reported that just 1 in 400 people watched GAA on SKY in Britain last year ,and claimed just over 50,000 people saw Kerry play Donegal in the All-Ireland football final, with the All-Ireland hurling final gathering an audience of 104,000. H/T to Irish Times