Business of Sport: The times they are a-changing, and for Irish sports organisations there is the slow realisation that there's money to be had. While most focus remains on the TV broadcast rights - and the entry of Setanta Sports and TG4 into the market has done enough to ensure there's some competitiveness in the bidding - there's still one area that has yet to be fully exploited: radio broadcast rights.

The wireless. Who would have thought in an age of digital TV, internet, new media, satellite dishes and interactivity that the radio would be as important in our lives?

Many predicted its demise when TV sets first became popular but now, far from dying out, the medium of radio is thriving - especially in sports broadcasting.

Such was the unimportance attached to radio rights in this country that any deals signed between RTÉ and sports organisations were first and foremost for TV rights while radio rights were then lumped in with the package as an after-thought.

After all, the thinking went, if you were going to be paying millions for TV rights surely then you'd be thrown in the radio rights as well. Buying two items and getting the cheaper one free if you will.

But now sports organisations in this country are getting their act together and realising there is in fact a separate market out there for radio broadcast rights.

The rise and rise of the independent, commercial radio sector has meant RTÉ now has a serious challenger when it comes to access and bidding battles.

Dermot Power, GAA marketing manager, reckons if the independent commercial radio sector got together that it could be a very strong player in the broadcast rights area.

"There is a sizeable value put on radio rights now," says Power, "and that has come from the emergence of a strong commercial sector. It is a changed radio environment now and we all have to recognise that and adapt accordingly."

The International Rules series in October was a case in point for the GAA as to how future deals could be done. The series marked the first time the GAA had sold broadcast rights to a media organisation outside of RTÉ, and in this case it was Dublin station Newstalk 106 that bought the local Dublin rights for the games.

"This was the first time we had separated radio rights from TV rights," said Power, "and it gave us an opportunity to see what the market was like. We have already announced that we will be selling the TV broadcast rights separately from the radio rights when our agreement with RTÉ comes to an end."

Indeed, at the moment the GAA are in negotiations for the TV rights for the coming season and beyond in the championship and it will be when that side of things is concluded attention will then be turned to the radio rights.

Power hopes for things to be wrapped up early in the new year and while reluctant to place a value on radio coverage he would say it is a six-figure sum.

While the GAA are looking at the commercial potential of their broadcast rights there is no fear of them doing what the FAI did by announcing an exclusive deal with Sky out of the blue.

"We have to recognise that the GAA is not purely commercial," says Power, "and that what is important is also access to the games for our membership."

Tapping into the Irishness of the product has been a boon for the GAA in attracting sponsorship from the likes of Vodafone and Guinness who wanted to be identified with a product that clearly stands alone and has definitive brand association.

However, that could hamper the GAA in getting the best broadcast deal with RTÉ.

The presence of new independent radio and TV companies has added an edge to proceedings and helped the GAA in pushing for a better price for its product but the truth is that the GAA and RTÉ have always been associated with each other.

How hard that bond will be to break remains to be seen. But, in one way, the International Rules deal signed with Newstalk has shown the direction Power wants the GAA to go: an urban, middle-class market that has not been a traditional county supporter but one that will be attracted to their product if it comes through alternative media organisations. Just as Sky introduced itself as - and is now inherently wedded to - the Premiership in England, so too any new operator could change old habits and create a new, younger and more consumer-conscious audience.

Whether that will be independent radio remains to be seen but it is apparent RTÉ's GAA audience is in danger of slipping - much as its daily listening audience has slipped because of the presence of more independent, local radio.

The State broadcaster may not be seriously rivalled in the national market stakes but locally the emergence of the likes of Newstalk could take a significant slice of their local market. And if the local stations were to group together then it truly could provide a credible alternative without, at the same time, having to fork out for national rights.

The dichotomy of having national and local rights is not posing problems just yet as the radio rights for the championship are only being sold separately for the first time but whereas Sky was the unacceptable alternative to Irish soccer fans, it could just be that commercial radio becomes an acceptable alternative to RTÉ.

But, since most independent radio stations across Ireland are owned by either British-based companies such as Scottish Radio Holdings and UTV or are looking to sell on to the highest bidder for a couple of million, would there be much vocal opposition from GAA fans at the selling out of the games then, or would they be happy to go along under the guise of their local station's name?

That's for the future, however, and at the moment the interested parties are just approaching the negotiating tables with their own interests to hand.

Power believes the GAA has undersold itself in previous rights discussions but this time it's a new commercially-savvy organisation that is holding the rights cards and is looking to the independent sector to come in and shake things up. Watch this space as soccer and rugby follow the GAA's suit and sports radio rights suddenly becomes big business where before it was an afterthought to TV.

Mea Culpa: Last week's column named the Milton Keynes Dons as the club that fans helped set up when it was of course AFC Wimbledon.

Also this week

Sepp Blatter has attacked top European clubs for their business of the buying and selling of players and for not using enough local talent.

In his editorial in the November issue of the FIFA magazine, Blatter says that the process of globalisation "is exerting a malign influence on football".

As part of this globalisation, Blatter believes, clubs are becoming too internationalist in their outlook,

"A select few European clubs are increasingly desperate to appeal to international audiences in ever more distant parts of the globe to tap into new income streams that will allow them to continue to recruit what they regard as the 'best' players.

Since many such players hail from Africa, South America, Oceania and increasingly Asia, a high-stakes trade in humans is the end result."