To the hierarchy, the games are now 'a product'. It is striking how often our leaders have used this description over the last decade. This is music to corporate ears since, if the GAA is nothing more than a product, then it has a price and it can be bought. Brand experts refer to what is happening with the GAA as 'cultural expansionism'. The idea is not for the corporation to simply sponsor some event or other, but for the corporation to become so entwined with the culture that it eventually becomes the culture.

The above is an extract from a piece written by Joe Brolly in yesterday’s Sunday Independent. In the piece, Brolly talks about the GAA’s partnerships with Sky and AIB, and he worries about the possibility that those corporate organisations will, in time, take over the culture of the GAA by way of starting from the bottom up, much like how Nike has practically taken over the NBA in the States.