TV executives need to show imagination

THERE are three things you can be certain of in this life, death, taxes and the Dubs on television.

In every single round of the league so far the Dubs have been on the box. It’s been that way for a good couple of years now and we can understand the rationale behind it. The Dubs are box-office. The Dubs have the biggest fan base in the GAA and draw from the single biggest population centre.

The TV executives who choose which games to cover on a particular weekend are out to maximise the return on their investment. If the Dubs bring the most sets of eye balls then that’s who they’re going to show.

It’s just that from our point of view it’s getting a little boring. We’ve seen this movie before. Most of the Dubs’ games even follow the same pattern. Tight enough up to half-time before the sky blues pull away in the second half.

True enough the quality of football is of the highest order, true enough this weekend’s game with Tyrone is a repeat of last year’s All Ireland final, but it still doesn’t exactly get the pulse racing does it?

The over-saturation of the Dubs on television risks a diminishing return. More generally there’s a real fixation on Division 1 – in both codes – to the exclusion of everything else. We’d hope these executives would show a little more imagination.

For example, the more interesting games this weekend are in Division 2. Cork and Donegal in Páirc Uí Rinn, title chasers and relegation battlers going head-to-head. Clare and Meath is equally compelling.

Down the divisions there are interesting games too – Louth and Westmeath, a Leinster derby, a promotion four-pointer in Division 3. Do they not have televisions in the Division 2, 3 and 4 counties? Do Eir Sports really need to show two Division 1 fixtures on Saturday evening?

If there’s no economic incentive for the TV companies to change, perhaps the Croke Park brass need to stipulate the necessity for a broader and more equitable spread of games in their next broadcast rights deal.