The GAA faces a choice between broadcasting some games on GAAGO or not broadcasting them at all, according to the association's director of communications Alan Milton.
A total of 38 exclusive GAA championship games will be streamed by GAAGO in 2024, with nine hurling championship (five Leinster and four Munster), 22 football championship and seven Tailteann Cup games included in their package.
Dónal Óg Cusack told RTÉ Sport yesterday that putting certain games on the platform, including three of his native Cork's Munster hurling fixtures, did nothing for the promotion of the sport.
Elsewhere, former Mayo footballer, and current Fine Gael TD for Mayo, Alan Dillon said that unreliable broadband in certain parts of the country means matches on GAAGO would be out of reach for certain followers of our national games.
But Milton, speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, said that the choice wasn't between showing the games on a subscription service or free to air. Rather it was a choice between broadcasting the games, and not broadcasting the games.
"When we have a condensed season, and one free-to-air partner, the choice is pretty stark," Milton said.
"Either these games go on to GAAGO or they're not available whatsoever. In fairness to RTÉ, on the weekends in question when the Cork games are on GAAGO, they're showing Clare v Limerick.
"For game number two they're showing Limerick versus Tipperary, followed by Galway v Kilkenny. And for the third weekend they're showing two provincial finals on the Sunday.
"So it simply comes down to a matter of slots. When we went to the marketplace there was one free-to-air broadcast partner to emerge. In that scenario the only other alternative for the GAA was to put its energies into GAAGO, which we think has been a massive success and brought a degree of flexibility to how and when we show our games that we previously didn't have."
On the idea that more games would be made available free to air Milton contended that the organisation has bills to pay.
"The GAA has a couple of revenue streams that help to fuel the organisation and expansion. It wouldn't make any sense to give our media rights away for free.
"If you're building stadiums in Belfast, Newbridge, Waterford, Dundalk and Meath, you simply have to pay your bills and plan for the future. It's not realistic to think that you would give your media rights away for free.
"There'll be 31 games on RTÉ. There'll be 300 games shown this year. If you watched the football and hurling last weekend there was a virtual feast. We had two games on Saturday and three on Sunday.
"It seems to be [that] the focus lies in early April when our championship season is at its most condensed period.
"It's not our raison d'etre," Milton added in response to the idea that GAAGO is a money-making exercise for the association.
"If we want to do the things we want to do, and we want to grow and put coaches into schools and clubs, the GAA has to be commercially savvy. It's not the reason we exist but it absolutely makes sense that we get value for money.
"I think we'd have a case to answer to our members if we didn't have that approach."
Further, Milton acknowledged that the association still wants people to attend games, as well as watching them or listening to them on radio.
"We're very keen that our GAA clubs would become hubs for people to go and watch the games.
"We never will show every game, that's not where we're coming from. We want people to go to the games, where possible. Needless to say that will not always be possible; people won't be in a position to travel.
"85% of our games [in 2024] will be free to air. But for certain parts of our season, and we're still in the early stages of getting used to what is a new season, there are going to be pinch points.
"This is one such pinch point, in relation to the Cork games."
