Dublin may soon be without a big time employer.
Setanta Sports is struggling to make a £3m installment to the SPL for TV rights. The deadline is tomorrow. The following week an even bigger sum of £35m is needed to payoff the Barclays Premier League.
It looks increasingly likely that Setanta will declare bankruptcy unless negotiations for an ESPN buyout succeed or some sort of overall contract restructuring takes place with the leagues.
Setanta gained folklore status as a David vs Goliath story in the sports broadcasting world as it took on Rupert Murdoch’s empire. However, the recession came and even worse, it was outbid by BSkyB for one of its 23-game Barclays League packages. The subscriber base dried up.
However as this article indicates the problems might have started long before.