‘We Can’t Make Promises’ – RTÉ Head of Sport on Future of Irish Boxing Coverage
Katie Taylor’s Croke Park farewell could potentially mark the beginning of a new relationship between RTÉ and Irish professional boxing, but Head of Sport Dean McBennett has warned that no guarantees can be made.
RTÉ will broadcast Taylor’s final professional fight free-to-air on Staurday night, bringing the all Irish great’s career to a conclusion on the national broadcaster.
The decision has already generated huge excitement among Irish boxing supporters, particularly given RTÉ’s historic association with the sport.
From Bernard Dunne’s world title triumphs to coverage of Ireland’s Olympic boxing success, RTÉ has played a major role in bringing boxing to mainstream Irish audiences.
The question now is whether Taylor’s farewell could reopen the door for regular professional boxing coverage.
McBennett refused to rule it out.
“We have to look at it in the longer term,” he said.
“Right now, we’re dealing with Katie as a one-off.
“There are financial commitments that RTÉ have already entered into with regard to sporting organisations and contracts,” he continued.
“There are multiple sports there competing and we have a limited pool which we can draw from.”
That financial reality has previously played a major role in RTÉ’s relationship with professional boxing.
Although McBennett explained that the disappearance of regular boxing coverage was not down to one particular issue.
“There’s never one single factor,” he said.
“There are multiple factors at play. There was also a period where boxing had its own troubles.
“And some of the people who were involved in boxing were not the people that we wanted to be associated with.”
There is an element that the national broadcaster are attracted more by the event nature of Saturday than by the fight as a sporting occassion.
“If this were a normal fight, as with Katie’s previous fights, I don’t think RTÉ would be involved and I don’t think DAZN would have been interested in joining us,” he said.
“This is something uniquely special.”
But what if Taylor’s farewell produces the huge audience many expect?
Could that convince RTÉ to look more seriously at Irish boxing again?
McBennett admitted that the door remains open.
“As I say, it has to be at a certain level and in terms of its international success, and it also has to work financially both for the people who are involved in the boxing side and for RTÉ.
“We can’t make promises.”
However, he added:
“We’re open to engagement on an ongoing basis.”
