GAA reports losses of €34m for 2020 as pandemic takes its toll

In one way there was no avoiding the most downbeat of bottom lines. The GAA central revenues crashed by just under 60 per cent after the hit from Covid, leaving losses of €34 million for 2020 plus an acceptance from association financial director Ger Mulryan that this year won't be any great improvement.

The statistical shrapnel was all around. Central Council took in just €31.4 million, the least revenue it has registered since 2003 (€30 million), and counties – the half of them that ran deficits – and the provinces combined for a further loss of €8 million.

Croke Park, the perennial cash cow that delivered €10.5 million in dividend last year, lost almost that much after 12 months in which its core business had disappeared.

Gate receipts had been confined to the 2020 All-Ireland club finals in January and a couple of league matches before lockdown was imposed by the GAA at the beginning of March. Conference business similarly withered.

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When stadium director Peter McKenna described it as “a black swan year” he was being euphemistic.

Mulryan though struck a positive note when asked about sustainability with the pandemic still very much part of the landscape.

“To pick up on how sustainable the losses would be, if I’m sitting here looking at a similar loss next year, which realistically I probably will be, we have lines of credit in place. We’ve had to – as Peter alluded to – review our going concern as a collective unit and as an association and we have presented our cash-flow projections and business models.

“We are comfortable that we will be able to proceed for the foreseeable future, up to 12 months and beyond so I’m confident that won’t be a problem.”

In his online presentation the financial director said the GAA would be “knocking on the Government’s door” to help to fund the 2021 season.

The biggest fall came in gate receipts, which were almost literally decimated. The year 2019’s record €36.1 million tumbled to €3.67 million in 2020. Commercial revenues, from media rights agreements and sponsorship, were down from €21 million to less than half that amount, €8.7 million.

Mulryan said that although the association didn’t like to be “dependent on anyone,” they had needed Government subvention of €18.5 million and “were very grateful to get it”.

Live streaming

With his commercial director’s hat on, McKenna was asked about any lessons from the year that might inform policy on media rights when the current deal, which expires in 2022 and is currently worth just under €15 million per annum, is renegotiated. DG Tom Ryan had made specific reference to the success of live streaming of club matches last summer.

“There are some positives in the media rights landscape,” said McKenna.

“We certainly got huge support from TG4 and RTÉ in allowing streaming to occur even though it was contrary to the contracts we had with them. Streaming and digitisation are going to be a bigger part of the contracts. The importance of sport in a national broadcast sense is far more important now when you see what other content is available and where it is available.”

Having concluded the controversial Sky deal, seven years ago, he also hinted that there might be competition for subscription partners.

“We have a very good product for media rights negotiation and I think there is a lot of players in the market now and new ones coming into it so I would be very confident that we’ll have a very healthy discussion with the existing partners but there are newcomers coming into that frame too like Amazon for example.”