The Dublin GAA County Board has announced a new 5-year sponsorship deal with American insurance big dogs, AIG.
The deal is worth around €2 million to the Dublin GAA set-up and will see all participating teams in the capital fall under the AIG umbrella. The deal comes into effect from November 1st and will aid Dublin with their under-age coaching development plans and their general strategy for years to come.
Andy Kettle chairman of the Dublin GAA County Board spoke about the AIG sponsorship deal: “This sponsorship deal is a really significant boost to everyone associated with Dublin GAA. The strength of the Dublin brand is illustrated by our ability to negotiate this outstanding sponsorship in a depressed economic market. AIG is a blue chip organisation with a proven track record in sponsorship and they are going to be an exceptional partner and they fully understand what we are trying to achieve in Dublin.”
With Ireland experiencing a sour economic climate, a sponsorship this big for an amateur sporting county is huge and will certainly send shock waves across the various county boards. This deal is sure to spark some criticism due to the size of the deal. This will be down to sour grapes, as Dublin provide one sixth of the total GAA playing population and have a very high expense bill per year. This will also rekindle the debate of turning the game professional.
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The GAA has turned itself into a viable business turning over profits year after year and boasts one of the highest regarded sporting grounds in Europe, it’s only a matter of time that counties will start to seek lucrative sponsorship deals.
This move by Dublin will strengthen the county in such a way that it will see them become champions off the field. This is very intimidating business to any of the other county boards in Leinster, where the majority of them find themselves looking at a negative balance figure.
With the Dublin senior footballers winning the National League, Leinster title and All-Ireland Football Championship this year, they will defend their titles in the new kit that is set to be released with the coming month.
