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Quote from: johnnycool on January 29, 2024, 05:18:49 PMQuote from: imtommygunn on January 29, 2024, 05:10:19 PMAbbey winning 16-3 in the mclarnon. They're supposed to be backboned by four masters players so are probably very strong.
Are the schools in the 26, kids a year older?
Quote from: seafoid on January 16, 2024, 04:58:57 PMDoes anyone know why PUC's financial projections didn't work out ?
Quote from: Hoof Hearted on January 13, 2024, 05:33:18 PMBigger gap in junior hurling than football going by the first half here
QuoteFogarty Forum: Páirc Uí Chaoimh strife haunts Cork
Cork GAA do a decent job of acting like a highly functional organisation but so many of their waking hours are occupied with this huge debt.
Fogarty Forum: Páirc Uí Chaoimh strife haunts Cork
TUE, 12 DEC, 2023 - 07:20
JOHN FOGARTY
It is only when you catalogue the inconveniences the redevelopment of Páirc Uí Chaoimh and servicing its debt has caused Cork teams that the full picture forms.
We'll get to the €30 million-plus albatross that is going to hang around the neck of the sport in the county for the next quarter of a century in a minute. For now, let's list how it has otherwise discommoded players and supporters.
In February 2019, less than two years after the stadium's reopening, the venue's playing surface cut up so badly during a league double-header that it was closed for the remainder of the league. Urgent work on it meant Cork's Super 8 game against Roscommon that July, which they lost, was moved to Páirc Uí Rinn.
Last year, Cork's hurlers were forced to play their Munster SHC round-robin game against Clare in Thurles, a game they lost, because of Ed Sheeran concerts in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Following weeks of brinksmanship between the Cork players, board and Munster GAA who announced the game would be staged in Killarney, the provincial SFC semi-final against Kerry, which was also pushed out of the Ballintemple stadium because of the gigs, was played in Páirc Uí Rinn.
Next year, Cork's senior footballers will have to play their Sam Maguire/Tailteann Cup round-robin game in Páirc Uí Rinn as the playing surface will not be ready following the Bruce Springsteen concert.
Cork also requested their Munster SHC game against Limerick be arranged for a Saturday evening to allow for the preparations ahead of that May 16 gig, which may have been a contributory factor to the game being shown on GAAGO.
Cork GAA do a decent job of acting like a highly functional organisation and in arranging the 14,000-plus games a year they certainly are. Nevertheless, so many of their waking hours are occupied with this debt, a burden that boots down the road any hope of establishing a long overdue centre of excellence.
They, at least former county board leaders, can't say they weren't warned. Information obtained by the "Irish Examiner" reveals the business plan and Cost Benefit Analysis commissioned by the county board for the stadium to obtain its €30m grant from the Government were dismissed by the then Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport on two occasions.
In March 2015, the department wrote to the Cork County Board stating the CBA "unfortunately falls a good deal short of what of what is required of a CBA as per the Public Spending Code (PSC)".
Three months later, updated versions of the two documents were submitted but again rejected "as "it is not a recognisable cost benefit analysis" and "in conjunction with the lack of other elements that comprise a Business Case, cannot be considered to be in compliance with the Public Spending Code".
The department stated they were concerned about the board's optimism regarding demand projections for match attendances, concert attendances, conference usage and tourism benefits attached to the new stadium.
In August, accompanied by a letter from then GAA director general Páraic Duffy, a new business plan and CBA was issued and approved later that year. Cork stated they were "strictly managing costs" and claimed they could earn €500,000 per annum in naming rights.
Over six years after reopening and that hasn't been realised and there is no question Páirc Ui Chaoimh has been underutilised. It should be hosting more Munster SHC finals. The most modern of all 20,000-plus capacity stadiums in the country never mind the province, there is stark contrast between it and the fading allure of FBD Semple Stadium and TUS Gaelic Grounds.
Cork canvassed intensely but failed to bring the event to the venue this past year. Convincing the GAA to bring All-Ireland quarter-finals there has also proven a challenge, the last without crowd restrictions being the 2018 Clare-Wexford game.
Páirc Uí Chaoimh has become a bogeyman story in the GAA, a constant reminder to national GAA officials of what can happen when counties produce financial projections that are "overly ambitious", as GAA director general Tom Ryan said of Páirc Uí Chaoimh in 2019.
Two years earlier, Cork were saying otherwise about themselves when they sought the €30m Government funding. "CCB has a track record of prudent financial management of their affairs and is confident of being able to adequately manage both the funding and expenditure aspects of the project, as well as its ongoing operation."
As Cork GAA chief executive Kevin O'Donovan, who was appointed in December 2018, said in September, the county hopes to be free of its stadium debt by 2048, 31 years after it reopened following the redevelopment.
Ahead of convention this evening, he returned from the One Cork Worldwide roadshow in the US last week as efforts to fundraise among the diaspora are stepped up. The monies will go towards teams but you can't help feeling it wouldn't be so necessary if Cork weren't mortgaged to their necks.
QuoteCork GAA facing €5 million cashflow crisis unless Páirc operations 'massively' improve
Cork secretary Kevin O'Donovan described the county's cash flow problem as 'stark'.
TUE, 12 DEC, 2023 - 22:15
EOGHAN CORMICAN
Unless there is a "massive improvement" in the operation of Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Cork GAA is facing a €5 million cashflow crisis over the next five years.
At the Cork convention on Tuesday evening, Freemount delegate John O'Flynn drew attention to the "hidden liability" of advance income totalling €4.8m.
O'Flynn explained that the figure relates primarily to Páirc Uí Chaoimh premium level seat sales over the past five years, money which has already been received and spent.
"That well is going to run dry very shortly because there aren't that many premium seats left (for sale). Our cashflow is going to dry up over the next five years," O'Flynn warned.
The Freemount delegate said the cashflow outlook is very worrying given the redeveloped Páirc Uí Chaoimh has turned a profit in only one year, 2022, and that owed to five concerts being staged at the venue.
"We have a stadium that is losing money," O'Flynn said of Páirc Uí Chaoimh's €2.688m loss in 2023.
"For all the years we have got stadium accounts, the stadium has lost money every single year except in 2022 when we had five concerts. I hope we have five concerts in the future, but that is unlikely.
"So we are really challenged for the stadium to even break even. The reality is that if we break even over the next five years, we are going to have a cash shortfall of about €4.8 million because we have already got that cash and it has already been spent.
"Until we sell Kilbarry, we are not going to reduce stadium debt (€31m) and we understand that. But there is a bigger issue coming down the track, it's the cashflow for the next four or five years.
"I would be really concerned that unless there is a massive improvement in the operation of the stadium or huge income from GAA activity, then we are going to struggle to meet that cash requirement over the next five years." There was no disputing of O'Flynn's worrying forecast from the executive top table.
Cork county board treasurer Diarmuid Gowan said that with only one concert in the pipeline for next year, it will make 2024 "very challenging".
Cork secretary Kevin O'Donovan described the county's cash flow problem as "stark".
He said concerts are "windfall" events and that the stadium needs to reach a "steady-state position" where it is not reliant on concerts to turn a profit.
O'Donovan remarked that soccer games at Páirc Uí Chaoimh are not off the table going forward.
"It is a very dangerous model for us to base a business plan on three concerts a year, which was done previously. They are windfalls. They come, they go.
"In terms of GAA activity, you know the challenges we face in getting major games to this stadium. All we hear is negativity. That is why we have to continue to explore other sports. Expect a debate on soccer coming too in the future. We have to consider those in the context of the stark financial picture we are in.
"Our discussion every day is cashflow, rather than profit and loss. Commercial partnerships could bring in €500,000 a year to this stadium in the very near future. We have two deals signed, we have another almost signed."
In his parting speech, outgoing county board chairman Marc Sheehan said the reticence of counties to travel to Páirc Uí Chaoimh needs to dissipate in 2024 and beyond.
"Let us not understate the significance of Páirc Uí Chaoimh. It remains the most modern GAA venue in Ireland despite seemingly incessant sniping from some quarters.
"Perhaps if some of the energy dispensed by others outside of the county with criticism of our stadium was channeled more meaningfully within their own units, it might result in better infrastructural outcomes for other units," said Sheehan.
QuoteCork's Páirc Uí Chaoimh debt remains stubbornly north of €30m
CEO report: 'Crippling energy costs, along with fixed charges such as rates present major obstacles. Current stadium debt levels, now resting at over €30m, continue to present a major challenge'
Cork's Páirc Uí Chaoimh debt remains stubbornly north of €30m
FRI, 08 DEC, 2023 - 12:43
JOHN FOGARTY
Cork GAA's Páirc Uí Chaoimh debt remains over €30 million primarily due to no concerts being staged at the venue this year.
As the county reported inter-county team expenditure rising to close to €2m in 2023, the inability to cut the stadium burden from last year remains a pressing and concerning matter.
In his annual report, Cork GAA chief executive Kevin O'Donovan confirmed a new 25-year loan agreement with Croke Park will assist in repaying its debt, which they hope will be fully clear by 2048. However, with only Bruce Springsteen confirmed to play at the Ballintemple venue in 2024, there remains difficulty.
The stadium this year made a comprehensive loss of €2.688m compared to a loss of €3.266m in 2022. Their bank loans as of September 30 were €20.181m, the terms of which are to be revisited in 2028. As of a result of the restructuring with Croke Park, Cork GAA must pay Central Council €636,000 per annum. At the end of September, the loan total was €7,926,438.
"The lack of concerts during 2023 had a major effect on income and with one concert on the books for 2024, returning to profitability will be a major goal," writes O'Donovan. "Crippling energy costs, along with fixed charges such as rates present major obstacles. Current stadium debt levels, now resting at over €30m, continue to present a major challenge.
"In this regard a major positive from 2023 was the signing of a 25-year loan agreement with CLG which will allow a more long-term sustainable approach to repaying debt.
"Also, the sale of Kilbarry will have a significant effect on current debt levels and it is hopeful that the delays in An Bord Pleanala can be overcome to allow a sale in early 2024.
"Finally, with a range of new and exciting commercial partnerships about to be announced at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, naming rights remains on the agenda and there are positive signs here also."
Excluding the stadium accounts, Cork County Board reported a surplus of €467,500. Income-wise, gate receipts from October 2022 to September 2023 were recorded at €1.461m compared to €1.584m in the previous 12-month period. There was a jump of almost €300,000 in gross commercial income to €1.231m, while gross draw income rose by €50,000 to €991,629.
Inter-county expenses came in at €1.995m, over €381,000 more than in 2022. Catering (€413,537), team travel (€421,863) and medical/strength and conditioning and facilities (€634,334) all increased from '22 while there was also a big rise in overnight costs, €143,580 from €38,633.
O'Donovan comments: "A significant jump in commercial income, along with increased returns from Rebels' Bounty contributed to increased revenues. The recent signing of a new 5-year deal with Sports Direct is a major positive in this regard, as is a long-term extension of our partnership with O'Neills.
"Meanwhile, the return from club gates remained high at close to €1.5m despite a slight drop due a seasonal adjustment in relation to final dates and costs associated with the new streaming model.
"Costs associated with inter-county teams increased from €1.614m to €1.995m which reflects the national trend. However, it is worth pointing out that this number includes all six county teams and unlike most counties, reflects an equal investment across both codes."
Quote from: thewobbler on December 04, 2023, 08:43:43 PM7 people in the publicity shot.
Wha you reckon the spread would be for how many of them has a Dodgybox? 4?
