THE NEW DEAL

GPA eye move for percentage of ticket sales

THE Gaelic Players Association could lobby to link their funding to gate receipts in any future partnership deal with the GAA.

The two bodies signed a framework agreement in 2016 which saw the GPA receive 15 per cent of the GAA’s commercial revenue, just over €2.94million in 2018.

However, that deal is up for renegotiation this year and gate receipts could form part of a new package.

A 15 per cent slice of ticket sales in 2018 would have been worth just over €4m, but that could be higher again this year after the GAA’s recent controversial price hike.

‘We are open to all aspects of it,’ GPA chief executive Paul Flynn said. ‘I suppose [gate receipts] is something that could come down the line in regard to negotiations. Again, with other players’ associations, that is something that has been linked.’

Flynn also confirmed that the GPA motion before Congress to have one of its members on the Central Competitions Controls Committee (CCCC) only

relates to that body’s work on fixture planning and scheduling and not on disciplinary matters. ‘We represent the inter-county players and we want our voice heard with regard to fixtures,’ Flynn explained. The Dublin footballer was at pains to emphasise that they did not want to have any further role on the committee. ‘We were in there in November, presenting our survey of players and review of the season. We have no vote. All we do is give that information and leave the room.’ He said the GPA would be happy to limit its contributions once the committee wished to discuss other issues. Meanwhile, former Cork goalkeeper Dónal Óg Cusack has been appointed president of the GPA while Mayo midfielder Tom Parsons has been made secretary. They can both sit for three years but are up for re-election every year. Cusack had stepped away from the association after his appointment as Clare senior hurling coach in 2016, when Limerick’s Seamus Hickey took his place. The threetime All-Ireland winner was also a former secretary of the players’ association, and a close adviser to former GPA boss Dessie Farrell.