A motion from Kerry "will go before next year’s GAA Annual Convention aimed at returning all live broadcast Championship matches to free-to-air television," according to RTE. Croke Park "took the decision two years ago to sell rights for live hurling and football games to Sky Sports, opening up the market to satellite broadcasters for the first time." Sky has broadcast games from the past two Championships, including All-Ireland quarterfinals, but many GAA fans "have hit out at the move." On Monday night the Kerry County Board "passed a motion calling on all games to be kept on free-to-air, non-subscription stations." The motion, put forward by the Beale club and presented by Maurice Mannix, reads, "At the conclusion of the current TV broadcast rights contract, that all televised games be available on free to air TV." That contract comes to an end following the conclusion of the '16 season and the GAA "will be under pressure from some quarters to freeze out Sky" (RTE, 12/8). In Dublin, Ian O'Riordan reported a similar motion "passed by the Clare County Board last year failed to make it onto the Congress Clár, after the GAA’s rules advisory committee deemed it did not amend a rule nor enact one." It "remains to be seen whether or not the Kerry motion actually makes it all the way to Congress, which is set for Carlow next February." Last year’s decision to withdraw it from Congress in Cavan "was greeted with considerable surprise, with Croke Park instead deciding it was a matter for central council." Kerry also reported an overall profit of €907,417 ($1M) in '15, a rise of some 112% on last year’s figure and largely attributed to the €722,051 ($796,000) pocketed through int'l funding. Total expenditure stood at €4.4M ($4.8M), marginally up from the '14 figure of €4.1M, while team expense ran to €998,495 ($1.1M), a 3% rise on the '14 total (IRISH TIMES, 12/8).
