Originally Posted by
JC_GUFC
The reality is it's advertising revenue and not viewing figures that dictate the amount of coverage the league gets. Obviously consistently higher viewing figures would allow a broadcaster to charge more. Unfortunately the whole of Irish football is not really attractive to companies at the moment - look at the senior team struggling to bring in a sponsor.
Look at the companies that sponsor rugby - Bank of Ireland, Aviva (Insurance), Vodafone - big corporate brands who have big advertising purses. This is why RTE are happy to show the rubbish URC stuff because the advertisers will still pay and why Against the Head hasn't been knocked on the head.
Similarly GAA is sponsored by Bank of Ireland, Allianz (Insurance) and eir amongst others.
I don't think TV coverage really is that big a deal anyway - to be fair to Declan McBennett he's right when he calls out the stadiums looking sh** doesn't help. A packed Turner's Cross looked good when I watched the game back and that does look appealing to audiences but then when you see Oriel Park or some of the other less appealing grounds you could play the World Cup final there and it would look bad.
In saying that I'm surprised that TG4 don't make a move, or as someone has said Sky, to show something during the summer.