CORK GAA CHAIRMAN Bob Ryan insists that they won’t sign a new sponsorship agreement ‘for the sake of it’.
Telecommunications giants O2 revealed last November that they were set to end their 15-year sponsorship deal with the county.
The relationship was amongst the top sponsorship arrangements in inter-county GAA.
A clause in the contract has allowed Cork teams to wear the O2 jerseys during their pre-season games this month.
But they will have to wear unbranded jerseys in their league campaign if a sponsor is not found.
It had been thought that car manufacturers Hyundai were in the frame as a potential replacement but Ryan, speaking to Cork’s Red FM (Twitter -@BigRedBench), revealed that they have spoken to a number of companies and that negotiations are ongoing.
“We’re negotiating and have been for a number of months to try and tie down a contract for that. That’s ongoing. It’s taking a bit of time. Business is different out there now. It’s not a very pleasant time to be negotiating for contracts.
“We’ve spoken to a quite a number of companies. The deadline is really as soon as possible. But we’re still hopeful that we can produce the best deal for Cork.
“We won’t sign a deal just for the sake of it. We’d be signing a deal for three years and we’d be mindful of that.
Cork are the last county to be on the lookout for a sponsor for the 2013 season after it was confirmed this week that Kildare GAA will be sponsored by local company Brady Family Ham for the next three years.
Several counties have struck new sponsorship deals for this year with examples including Meath (Tayto Park), Tyrone (Hunky Dory’s), Louth (Morgan Fuels) and Armagh (Rainbow Communications).
In addition Galway are currently attempting to draw in a sponsor that cover both their hurling and football teams. Supermacs are the long-time sponsors of the county’s hurling team.
While since Aer Arann’s agreement ended in 2011, the Galway football have been involved in a partnership arrangement with Cancer Care West.
