Casement Park in line for major overhaul - 40,000 all seater Stadium.

[ONeill]

I'd never take my family to a game unless one of our counties were playing but I know what you're saying. If I was that way inclined, yes I would. Always parked well, had plenty of time for a bottle of Rose and corned beef ciabatta and an enjoyable experience.

[Maguire01]

Given the "issues" with its location

10 minutes walk from the M1, 20 from the train halt, 20 on bus or taxi from city centre. What's the issue with location?

You could make similar arguments for accessibility to the Lower Newtownards Road, or the Shore Road. Doesn't mean there's not an issue with location.

[Maguire01]

Croker only needs 25k or 35k to break even so I'd guess this would only need about 7-10k so big events subsidise the smaller.

The only problem is, Croker has plenty of the bigger events. It has a number of guaranteed sell-outs or 80% capacity events every year. Two All-Irelands, Leinster Final, a few Dublin games, AI Semi-Finals and a few big concerts. Casement won't. It is quite possible that, like the Gaelic Grounds, it will go for years at a time without being full.

[Maguire01]

All ery ptimistic. Bar the Ulster Finals that were in Croke Park, there has never been a problem getting tickets. For plenty of years, Clones was a few thousand under capacity - around 30-33,000. Last year was well under capacity, was it not?

Not too many neutrals would consider battling their way to Clones to watch an Ulster final. Shit roads to a ground in the middle of nowhere which takes a whole day to get to and return wouldn't be a problem with Casement, particularly for families.

Where are these neutrals coming from?

[Ulick]

You could make similar arguments for accessibility to the Lower Newtownards Road, or the Shore Road. Doesn't mean there's not an issue with location.

I didn't say there wasn't an issue with location, I asked what they were.

[Ulick]

The only problem is, Croker has plenty of the bigger events. It has a number of guaranteed sell-outs or 80% capacity events every year. Two All-Irelands, Leinster Final, a few Dublin games, AI Semi-Finals and a few big concerts. Casement won't. It is quite possible that, like the Gaelic Grounds, it will go for years at a time without being full.

Bigger events i.e. > 10k subsides the smaller, there doesn't have to be a guaranteed sell-out to make it potentially viable.

[Ulick]

Where are these neutrals coming from?

There are approximately one million people within an hours drive of Casement Park, so take you pick: Newry, Dungannon, Ballymena, Newcastle, Craigavon and I dunno, Belfast maybe...

[Minder]

Regardless of the other issues, it is gonna be weird sitting in a 40,000 stadium with barely 1,000 people at an Antrim National League game.

[ziggysego]

Regardless of the other issues, it is gonna be weird sitting in a 40,000 stadium with barely 1,000 people at an Antrim National League game.

I didn't find it strange sitting in an 82,500 stadia, with approx. 500 people in it.

[Maguire01]

You could make similar arguments for accessibility to the Lower Newtownards Road, or the Shore Road. Doesn't mean there's not an issue with location.

I didn't say there wasn't an issue with location, I asked what they were.

The location was mentioned in the context of attracting other events. It's fine for GAA events. The question is whether major concert promoters, for example, would be willing to book major artists at a venue that might be off-putting to a proportion of their potential audience. For the same reason, a redeveloped Windsor Park - just as accessible as Casement - is also unlikely to be attractive as a concert venue.

[ONeill]

I didn't find it strange sitting in an 82,500 stadia, with approx. 500 people in it.

Bilocation?

[Maguire01]

The only problem is, Croker has plenty of the bigger events. It has a number of guaranteed sell-outs or 80% capacity events every year. Two All-Irelands, Leinster Final, a few Dublin games, AI Semi-Finals and a few big concerts. Casement won't. It is quite possible that, like the Gaelic Grounds, it will go for years at a time without being full.

Bigger events i.e. > 10k subsides the smaller, there doesn't have to be a guaranteed sell-out to make it potentially viable.

I'd expect there to be a clear rationale behind the planned capacity. Why 40,000? What is this based on?
It doesn't have to be a sell-out every time. But what's the point in building something that will rarely reach capacity? And how many bigger events is there likely to be to subsidise the smaller ones (i.e. just about every Antrim game)?

[Maguire01]

Where are these neutrals coming from?

There are approximately one million people within an hours drive of Casement Park, so take you pick: Newry, Dungannon, Ballymena, Newcastle, Craigavon and I dunno, Belfast maybe...

What proportion of those million people are even remotely likely to attend a game at Casement?
You mention Belfast - how many Belfast neutrals pop into games at Casement at the minute? People in Belfast don't even go to Antrim games.

[Ulick]

The location was mentioned in the context of attracting other events. It's fine for GAA events. The question is whether major concert promoters, for example, would be willing to book major artists at a venue that might be off-putting to a proportion of their potential audience. For the same reason, a redeveloped Windsor Park - just as accessible as Casement - is also unlikely to be attractive as a concert venue.

Well Windsor wouldn't put me off as a concert venue and if some of the OWC posters are to be believed, I'm the ultimate Fenian bigot, so I don't see why a venue a few hundred meters from the M1 would deter even the most hardened unionist.

[Minder]

The location was mentioned in the context of attracting other events. It's fine for GAA events. The question is whether major concert promoters, for example, would be willing to book major artists at a venue that might be off-putting to a proportion of their potential audience. For the same reason, a redeveloped Windsor Park - just as accessible as Casement - is also unlikely to be attractive as a concert venue.

Well Windsor wouldn't put me off as a concert venue and if some of the OWC posters are to be believed, I'm the ultimate Fenian bigot, so I don't see why a venue a few hundred meters from the M1 would deter even the most hardened unionist.

But it will so why pretend otherwise?