GAA director general Tom Ryan has said that the association must "grapple" with the increasing costs associated with inter-county preparations.
In 2023, the 33 teams that played inter-county championship, excluding New York, accumulated a combined expenditure of €83million with approximately €40m going towards county teams.
"I don't want to characterise it as the cost of any particular cohort or group of people," Ryan said.
"It’s endemic everywhere and you see it just in the size of backroom teams associated with county teams."
Expanding in his annual report to be presented to Congress, released alongside the GAA’s 2023 financial report on Thursday, Ryan said that one of the key reasons for the steady increase in recent years is the extra attention given to the perceived weaker sports in certain counties.
"Counties fielding teams in the lower tier competitions of football and hurling can be pressurised into incurring additional costs to emulate the higher division/more successful teams," he wrote.
"Voluntary officers can be put in a difficult position if they are not seen to support the county manager for every request.
"While the current GPA agreement is primarily designed to treat all players equally, there is now an increased cost from their perceived second code (hurling/football) where traditionally there was a much lesser cost to run this code within a county. (The very real challenge of equality).
"Success starved counties will struggle to attract sponsorship, fundraising and general support because the lesser code does not have the same exposure locally or nationally."
"The trend of having backroom teams armed with numerous specialists has become the norm for all county teams - senior, U20 and minor. This is a main driver of the increased inter-county team costs as it is paid professionals carrying out these services," he added.
"The team doctor is now one of the few remaining professionals to typically offer their services voluntarily - ironically the most important care we can offer a player in extreme need."
Speaking to the media after the publishing of the report, Ryan also spoke of the ongoing Casement Park project and warned that the GAA's £15m (€17.5m) financial commitment to the stadium rebuild is unlikely to alter much - if at all - despite the rising costs.
The Belfast ground has been chosen as a host venue for EURO 2028 and Ryan remains confident that the project can be completed by the summer of 2027, but he warned that additional funding would more likely have to be sourced through Irish and UK government support.
"Where’s it is at the moment, the business case has to be recast so a new cost is going to emerge," he said.
"At the time we made that commitment that was a significant burden and I think it was only last year that we finally reached full provision [in our finances] and that was 10 years later.
"There’s not a whole lot of scope for something in excess of what has been committed to Casement.
"Even leaving Casement aside, there are almost 20 counties that have significant ambition to do other stuff."
Ryan also said that there was a certain irony that it may take a non-GAA influence to get the project over the line with the last game played at the home of Antrim GAA 11 years ago.
"The one thing that hasn’t wavered all along with this thing was our part of it; we're still there, we’re still backing it, we’ve still made a financial commitment to it.
"The other thing that can’t change really is that we can’t control all the factors and variables in that. We’ll absolutely play our part to make sure that it happens.
"I think it was a positive that it was designated as a venue for Euro 2028, undoubtedly. There’s a small bit of irony that that might be the catalyst that delivers it but so be it if that’s the way it’s going to be.
"Things have changed significantly in our favour since we sat here last year and I think the fact that the executive [of Northern Ireland] has been restored as well is a positive there."
Ryan also stated that the association would be open to changing restrictions on other sports using inter-county grounds.
Last October, Kingspan Breffni hosted a rugby challenge clash between Ulster and Glasgow Warriors with Ravenhill undergoing maintenance.
"Treoir Oifigiúl and Central Council policy currently prescribe that GAA grounds may only be used by other sports in the case of events of national significance," Ryan said in his report.
"Recent months have seen permission granted for a small number of games which possibly stretch that definition and have given me pause for thought. It’s not a question of finance, or at least not a short term income stream."
Ryan, however, said that extending such freedoms to club grounds was unpractical given how busy they are up and down the country.
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