Updated 17.15
KINGSPAN BREFFNI PARK. Netwatch Cullen Park. Elvery’s MacHale Park.
For GAA fans up and down the country, with county boards struggling to balance the books, the new reality is that more and more stadia are likely to attract the attention of sponsors looking to get their name on the ground.
But what about the most famous of them all, could the GAA ever sell the naming rights for Croke Park?
It’s not something that GAA director general Paraic Duffy will rule out, but it’s also unlikely to happen in the near future.
Speaking at the announcement of a €2.7 million government investment through the Irish Sports Council yesterday, Duffy said his organisation have accepted naming rights are part and parcel of the game now.
“There’s nothing against stadium rights. We’ve accepted the principle of it. If Cork come to us with a proposal (for Paric Ui Chaoimh), we’d certainly look at it. It would be up tp them to come up with a proposal.”
As for headquarters, Duffy explained: ”We have never had any offers on Croke Park, nor have we sought it. It has never been discussed, really.
“That’s for the GAA to decide. But I don’t see it as likely. I can’t talk for 50 or 100 years down the line. But in the near future I would say, no.”
The GAA released a further statement on Thursday to clarify a report in the Irish Times.
It read:
GAA Director General Páraic Duffy has refuted a claim in today’s Irish Times that ‘he had admitted that GAA would be open to selling naming rights to Croke Park’.In response to a question from an Irish Times journalist, he had stated that the GAA had never received or sought offers for naming rights in Croke Park, nor had the matter been discussed by the GAA.
He had said that he could not talk for 50 or 100 years down the line but in terms of the near future he could not see the GAA selling naming rights to Croke Park.
