Ahead of the Ryder Cup in 2006 there was talk by the relevant Minister of Communications at the time, Noel Dempsey, that the impending golf event at the K Club was of such cultural and national significance that the sporting action should be viewed on free to air and not solely by Sky Sports subscribers. In the end nothing changed as Sky Sports had signed a long term agreement with the European Tour so the Ryder Cup remained available only on pay per view.
With golf still available on pay per view, such as the 3 Irish Open, there are no mutterings that the annual sports event is of similar significance yet Failte Ireland pay one million euro to sponsor and support the event with a very modest viewership. So was it just the 2006 Ryder Cup itself that was significant? Or allowing the people of Ireland watch golf?
When the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Eamon Ryan TD, triggered a debate about rugby - or a one side of a possible debate - many of the similar questions arise in 2010 as did four years ago. Not about the bona fides of the Minister – or indeed the need for consultation - but rather that the idea was floated as another populist measure short on hard facts or practicality.
But the most confusing of all is, why now?
At first glance it seems more about specific events that have cache rather than a long term concern for the development of sport.
As charming as the notion is that the Minister suddenly realised he could only view the match between Leinster and Munster in the Magner’s League recently with his son in a public house hardly constitutes a rationale to consider that rugby matches should be designated free to air. Indeed you could argue that the comments of Irish Rugby Football Union CEO, Philip Browne, about the Minister lacked similar balance when he suggested he was "cracked" for even suggesting the notion.
Clearly the matter really rests on economics and the costs of free to air versus pay per view.
In an effort to start that discussion one matter should be made perfectly clear, the term “free to air” - which somehow creates a notion that sport will be accessible free of cost – is a misnomer. Someone always pays somewhere for the service and broadcasters expect to make a profit for providing a service so at the end of any match someone gets charged.
Normally the consumer has choice - an option to pay for a TV licence for example or pay premium rates to a satellite provider for the programmes you wish to watch.
In the first instance a designated broadcaster will deliver a range of services on current affairs, sports, culture and arts maintaining as much balance as possible to meet the widespread audience needs. In Ireland such a service is offered by RTE for the most part and for clarity, the national broadcaster is subject to the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources.
In terms of sport market forces and rates apply for major events which could dictate higher values in some markets than others, some sports events a higher premium than others. The fact that Irish rugby, on the foot of the past few years, has significant value is something that for instance GAA is more limited in achieving given reduced interest in other world TV markets in the sport. So the appeal of Gaelic Football and Hurling may be only to domestic broadcasters such as RTE or TV3 and hence the pricing maybe more modest with free to air – rather that designation to a non terrestrial channel – the most cost effective solution.
A bit like the World Series in baseball and the NCAA Final Four basketball championships in the United States – they carry little value outside the domestic US marketplace.
Events currently available on a free-to-air basis include the Summer Olympics, the All-Ireland senior inter-county football and hurling finals, Ireland's home and away qualifying games in the European Championship and the World Cup, Ireland's games in the European Championship finals and World Cup finals. They also include the opening games, the semi-finals and final of the European Championship Finals and the World Cup, Ireland's games in the Rugby World Cup finals, the Irish Grand National and the Irish Derby, the Nations Cup at the Dublin Horse Show.
As it stands the Minister plans to add to the list: the provincial finals, quarter-finals and semi-finals in the All-Ireland senior football and hurling championships, Ireland's games in the Six Nations, the European Rugby Cup games and the Cheltenham Festival.
Over the years sport in Ireland has survived on whatever means possible to meet the challenges of not only fostering the best talent but also paying for it and the ancillary support services needed – which is not easy given our small population base. Indeed, ask any parent supporting their local soccer, rugby or gaelic team how much energy, time and money is needed to keep afloat an under eleven side?
Imagine the cost in the context of professional sports, where in Ireland, the nation always needs to punch above our weight to make any impact.
As each sport has found a commercial solution over the years, according to its ethos, so has rugby since it went professional in 1995 and faced the challenges of the status quo on all fronts, with players even struggling to understand that being professional was about delivering results - not just taking the money. The evolution of the game through the past decade and a half enabled the sport’s administrators support a structure that now meets the needs of players, provincial teams and the national team. The system has removed any of the traditional impediments that limited success in the past and to their credit the Six Nations Grand Slam in 2009 vindicated the policies of the IRFU.
To suggest now, given the following that has built up for rugby, should be free to air is naïve and one has to accept at face value that any quick changes could unravel the finances put in place by the IRFU, Six Nations and European Club Rugby [ERC]. Especially when no one has been offering a short term funding alternative to ameliorate any possible negative impact of such a significant change - so that the sport does not suffer in the short term.
The level of success has not come about overnight and has been a long hard path with many poor performances at World Cups a key reminders of those historic shortcomings.
But as every armchair expert knows the foundation of that rugby success came more from those lost Heineken Cup finals rather than the tax breaks and Sky TV. They formed the roots of the Grand Slam victory and were the reward for the finals that Munster failed to win. It all built belief and a professional approach that now transcends the sport of rugby in Ireland and recouped in part with replica jersey sales.
Munster Rugby is now a brand so recognisable it pays for itself with income year on year as success bred success. In a similar way the Magners League more recently has taken its rightful place capturing the imagination against the odds.
One has to marvel how the sport of rugby – a minority sport - has brought three great sporting competitions offering significant access to the market and has caught the imagination of old and young children. To be fair the pay per view broadcasters deliver matches with full camera crews, top class commentators throughout the whole season and not only the one off big matches that happen to have Irish teams involved.
As in golf Sky Sports covers the Ryder Cup wall-to-wall for more than the three days of matches and have created a competition that languished with the BBC. But as part of those glamour matches they are also required to deliver coverage of the Open De España, Ballantine's Championship in Jeju Island Korea, Open de Mallorca and so on. In fact most of the European Tour events are broadcast as part of a commitment to the sport by the rights owners, The European Tour, who ensure that the sport gets the widest coverage possible.
If this were all left to the free to air market they might only deliver what was commercially viable and loss making niche services offloaded to specialist providers – at best. A bit like bus services where private carriers offer services where they are viable and skip the need to deliver a route network where they would lose money.
The fact that rugby has achieved the current market strength in Ireland is surely down to good management at the Irish Rugby Footfall Union [IRFU] it seems and it would be hard to argue against those currently running the game given the current success. Indeed managing their smaller resources against the bigger players in their negotiations - with France and England for example – have delivered more than satisfactory results so far.
In rugby the Heineken Cup was considered a flop by the purists when it first started and only became cultural phenomenon we know when Munster - and then Leinster - became realistic finalists. Similarly, the Magners League was an altered competition which eventually offered the lesser provinces a chance for European competition. As secondary tournament, Celtic League it had struggled in its original format.
In terms of the money, whether the projected income to be lost by the IRFU is €12M, or not, is a moot point. Having seized the opportunity and supported it with marketing and promotion the satellite broadcasters and IRFU have made the sport successful. The additional argument that Sky Sport’s contribution or payback for the box sales is inadequate is a totally different argument – with little to do with free to air rights.
If you compare rugby with the other sports in Ireland, some of which are not professional, then the argument is more about cultural significance than a need for money. Given the GAA is amateur then the funding needed is of a more modest scale and so a bid from the national broadcaster for the Championship maybe sufficient to fund its needs on a free to air basis. As it is a National Sport with the cultural importance in every town land in Ireland then it clearly has “Cultural Significance” and should remain free to air.
In terms of soccer, Minister Eamon Ryan should look no further than the Airtricty League to learn free to air broadcasting blue print and building the mass audience has failed in this sport. Certainly soccer in Ireland has not proved a successful model despite the same tax incentives, sports grants and the redevelopment of the former Lansdowne Road to the new AVIVA Stadium. Today the sport is still very far from capturing the imagination of the masses and the youth of today still struggle to associate with the Airticity League on the same level as the Premier League. As kids relate to winners they want to be Wayne Rooney or Brian O'Driscoll in any kick around in their back garden rather than Glen Crowe.
The Champions League at European level is “free to air” but there are significant costs to these rights and they are also controlled between broadcasters so that Tuesday night matches maybe with one broadcaster and the Wednesday fixtures with another - in order to offset the costs. In some countries, indeed where soccer is mass sport, such as Spain, Champions League matches are only available live on pay per view. In Ireland Champions League is not of concern as the local teams rarely get close to qualifying for the event proper.
The point being that over ten years of Champions League a funding model has been developed by UEFA in line with EU legislation to allow them get on with their business. Now should the 2010 Champions League final have been between Barcelona and Real Madrid been in the Santiago Bernabeu last weekend then it might have been of such cultural significance that it would have been made free to air on a once off basis - and when a broadcaster paid the market rate to do so.
The other argument that children should not go to pubs to watch matches may be the most bizarre of the excuses, given that as a tourist destination Ireland prides itself in the "pub culture”. Indeed, children are often in pubs for less cultural reasons than rugby but that is matter also outside the free to air issue. In fact the healthiest days in any of the local pubs are the match days when men, woman and children show up in numbers to enjoy the big games.
In returning to rugby for a moment, the IRFU have guaranteed that the Six Nations will remain free to air for the next three years. So the only concern at the moment are Heineken Cup matches and Magners League perhaps - and only if two Irish teams are involved. In terms of the Six Nations we have to take the IRFU’s bona fides that it will remain free to air.
Should the rights be offered on the free to air market in Ireland - if deemed so at the end of the consultation process - the pool of prospective buyers looks limited - especially in these recessed times - and the list goes little further that the national broadcaster, RTE, whom fund most of their activities from the obligatory licence fee.
Where would that leave TV3’s bid should they deem it worth an offer?
Then again, the issue of the TV licence is another argument.
Rossa McDermott ©
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