Dr. Una May:

Many thanks to the committee for giving us the opportunity to contribute to this discussion. I welcome the work that has been carried out to date on the development of the Report of the Future of Media Commission. We are very grateful to see that our submissions have been reflected within those recommendations. That is very important for us.

We have a positive news story from our point of view. We are the statutory agency for the development of sport in Ireland. We are what we consider to be a natural partner to the national broadcaster and share common public service values. We and our predecessor, the Irish Sports Council, enjoyed a long collaborative working relationship over many years with RTÉ and TG4. We are in a very positive position that live sporting events consistently rank among the most watched events in Ireland. In fact, we were only bumped out of the top ten by the "Late Late Toy Show" last year. Nine of the top ten most watched events were sporting events last year.

We recognise the relationship between sporting bodies and media organisations, which are key to revenue generation, the development of local talent and the cultural significance of sport in Ireland. In our submission to the Future of Media Commission, we highlighted the need to explore innovative solutions between media and rights holders, which are the sporting bodies generally, protect events of cultural significance through the free-to-air broadcast list, diversify the coverage of sporting events and increase visibility for women’s sports.

We feel the Covid-19 pandemic and the evolution of the sports sector has further highlighted these areas. The pandemic had a significant impact on live sporting events in Ireland. Many events were postponed, rescheduled or cancelled due to health and safety concerns and many others were held without fans or with limited capacity to comply with social distancing guidelines. This had a significant financial impact on the sports industry as well as on the media companies that broadcast sporting events.

The pandemic also changed the way many people consumed sport as live events were often not available. This led to an increased demand for alternative forms of sport content such as recorded games, highlights and feature analysis. Online streaming and social media became increasingly important as sources of sport content as people sought out alternative ways to stay connected to their teams and athletes. The pandemic has driven a change in consumer behaviour with the popularity of online streaming increasing and sporting organisations moving to online broadcasts to stay connected with fans.

The rise of online platforms and social media as sources of sport content has provided sporting organisations with new opportunities. This needs to be approached in a strategic manner with media organisations. The move towards digital broadcasting by a greater number of sporting bodies can help to promote diversity in the range of events available to the media sector.

There is also further evolution happening in the sports sector in Ireland, particularly around the growth of women in sport. According to the recent Teneo sport and sponsorship index 2022, the most admired athlete was Katie Taylor. In fact, the top three most admired athletes were female. The team of the year was the women’s national football team and the FIFA women’s world cup is now one of the most anticipated live sporting events this year among Irish people. The move to digital and the evolution of sport can provide new opportunities to frame the recommendations in the report. Sport Ireland welcomes these recommendations and looks forward to facilitating further discussions on this important subject.