Irish Rugby Would Pay the Price for Free TV
Written by playerpress.com, Thursday May 20 2010
Most of us wouldn’t argue about getting our sports on TV for free. For the most part, those of us in the USA have the majority of our sports telecasts included in our cable or satellite bill. We might pay an upgrade fee to secure certain networks, but the cost is monthly. Boxing, MMA and other events may be on a pay per view basis, but most games are included in our package.
In Ireland rugby is a pay per view event. Eamon Ryan TD, Ireland’s Minister of Communications, wants to change that arrangement. He has proposed making Six Nations and the Heineken Cup tournament available for free on television. The Irish Rugby Football Union is battling to keep the matches on a pay per view basis and they have brought out some heavy hitters to plead their cause. Perhaps the greatest Irish rugby player ever, Brian O’Driscoll, has been joined by national team mates Luke Fitzgerald, Denis Leamy, Stephen Ferris and Connacht flyer Fionn Carr in issuing statements urging the free TV move to be rejected.
The IRFU is a nonprofit organization that relies on pay per view broadcasts to cover between 16-20% of the annual budget to fund domestic and club rugby. They fear that the loss in budget would lose their leverage with Six Nations and the Heineken Cup in terms of staging matches on home soil. On the club side they worry that the loss in revenue would cause players to go to other countries for larger pay checks. In short they see it as a move that may deteriorate the sport and affect its popularity.
Minister Ryan may have viewers’ interests at heart, but in the long run, he could damage the sport for the fans he is trying to help.
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