GAELIC GAMES:THE GAA have no plans to reconsider the multi-sponsor model currently in operation in both the football and hurling championships. It was announced yesterday Vodafone would not be renewing their role as official sponsors of the football championship.

Vodafone are the third of the original six multi-sponsors to depart. RTÉ dropped out as a hurling partner after two years, as did football partner Toyota. They have been replaced by Musgrave’s retail grocery outlets Centra and SuperValu.

Some industry sources remain sceptical about the future of the multi-sponsorship, which they believe lacks the strength of association delivered by the title sponsorship model, previously used by the GAA in respect of the two big championships.

But equally the association is seen as having done very well out of the new arrangement and despite at times sharp frustrations with some of the partners it is accepted companies will still be interested in filling vacancies, such as that created by Vodafone’s withdrawal, that arise even if the loss of such major brands can undermine the overall sponsorship.

Matters haven’t been helped by the depth of the recession and the GAA have been doing well to keep six sponsors engaged despite speculation at an early stage that hurling might have only two were three not available. According to GAA commercial and marketing manager Dermot Power the current arrangement works better for the association’s partners.

“We did an exercise to monitor the branding in newspapers and discovered recognition of title sponsors was surprisingly low. It was better at certain times of the week than others but overall no more than something like one in 10.”

Acknowledging there were teething problems with the new model, Power counters that any sponsor is now told exactly what will be delivered in terms of exposure and the partnership and that thanks to terms in the broadcasting rights agreements, there is guaranteed visibility in commercial break “stings” and plenty of branding on post-match interviews. “We meet sponsors and say, ‘here’s the package and what we delivered – this has worked and this hasn’t’. We don’t review all of this until after the All-Ireland. We had work done by external consultants and got a positive report on how it was working and recommendations on how to deliver better and improve the exposure for the sponsors.

“Richard Gillis in The Irish Times referred to a ‘blizzard of boards in Croke Park’ and we looked at that with a view to tidying up the advertising inside grounds. The multi-sponsors get exclusive access to pitch-side hoardings and television branding, which is tied into our TV deals. It’s ambush-free or at least very hard to break into it. We meet companies on an ongoing basis to talk about what sponsorships might be available. Some have indicated interest and we’ll be talking to them. We don’t expect to finalise things until the new year.”

Of the current sponsorships Guinness are signed up with the hurling until 2011, Centra until 2012 and airline Etihad is at the end of its three-year deal (two originally plus a one-year renewal). There are mixed views as to whether the company will renew.

In football Ulster Bank are also at the end of their current agreement whereas SuperValu has another two years to run.

The news of Vodafone’s departure didn’t come as surprise. Already the title sponsors of the All Stars awards, which are up for renewal at the end of this year, the company concluded a six-year deal (with an option after three) as jersey sponsors with Dublin. “They advised when taking up the Dublin sponsorship,” says Power, “and it was obvious in that maintaining two access points to the same audience didn’t make sense in the long term.”

There was a further complication with the departures from Vodafone Ireland this year of all three senior management figures, CEO Charles Butterworth, Carolann Lennon and Brian Sheridan, who were the chief contacts with Croke Park on sponsorship matters. The company is believed to remain interested in the All Stars partnership. “We’re quite pleased to be at the level of delivery we’ve reached,” says Power. “It’s improved in the past two years and I think we’ll be able to enhance it further.”