GAA & Tourism - A Joke.

[Bud Wiser]

The GAA marketing manager was on the Committee Room one night Hardy and to say he would not fill you with confidence is an understatement.
He spent most of his time moaning about how he never gets credit for anything.

   

[Zulu]

Bud, it's nonsense to suggest the train situation has anything to do with preferential treatment for football. If the train departure times were adjusted for every game then many non-gaa supporters would be seriously put out and I see little justification got adjusting train time tables to suit games with small crowds. There'll be over 35k at the munster final and those trains will be sold out in double quick time, to compare that game with the dublin game is just silly.

[snoopdog]

The fact that a last train out of a major Town is 8pm is a joke.  but the GAA are struggling to attract their own people nwever mind tourists.
Entry costs are unrealistic. Why should anyone have to pay the same amount into Pairc esler for example as they do into Croke Park.
all county grounds should have considerably cheaper access than the modern stadium at HQ.
How can the GAA justify charging 25 euro for example into a bog standard stand which wouldnt be out of place in 1940's english soccer grounds where you can barely get a cup of tea or have a clear view with posts everywhere. Compared to Croker. The GAA is run by people who are so out of tiuch its unreal.
Thankfully they have reduced prices. 10 euro terrace and 15 covered seating is more than enough for provincial grounds.
dont worry about attracting tourists until the GAA stop shafting their own.
i will travel a long journey on saturday to Ennis and wont know what price is into game until i get there due to the non existant info from GAA.
Pay someone 100,000 a year to market the games FFS.

[Hardy]

The fact that a last train out of a major Town is 8pm is a joke.  but the GAA are struggling to attract their own people nwever mind tourists.
Entry costs are unrealistic. Why should anyone have to pay the same amount into Pairc esler for example as they do into Croke Park.
all county grounds should have considerably cheaper access than the modern stadium at HQ.
How can the GAA justify charging 25 euro for example into a bog standard stand which wouldnt be out of place in 1940's english soccer grounds where you can barely get a cup of tea or have a clear view with posts everywhere. Compared to Croker. The GAA is run by people who are so out of tiuch its unreal.
Thankfully they have reduced prices. 10 euro terrace and 15 covered seating is more than enough for provincial grounds.
dont worry about attracting tourists until the GAA stop shafting their own.
i will travel a long journey on saturday to Ennis and wont know what price is into game until i get there due to the non existant info from GAA.
Pay someone 100,000 a year to market the games FFS.

Yes, the pricing is wrong. Yes, it's ludicrous that I don't know how much I'll be paying to get in until I get to the stadium or how much the programme will be, or whether it'll be an A4 sheet or a full glossy, or whether and where I'll be able to get a coffee. But why do we have to do things serially? We can't promote to tourists until we fix everything else first?

[Bingo]

The approach of the higher levels of the GAA is that of blind loyalty and that everything should be served on that principle. Everyone should be volunteers and go to games cause of the love of the games.

This approach is as old as some of the codgers sitting at provincial level and needs changing. They are blinded to everyone elses view on it.

It will be gone too far before its addressed, its very hard to get people back to it when they go. This years attendences have been terrible.

[Jinxy]

The fact that a last train out of a major Town is 8pm is a joke.  but the GAA are struggling to attract their own people nwever mind tourists.
Entry costs are unrealistic. Why should anyone have to pay the same amount into Pairc esler for example as they do into Croke Park.
all county grounds should have considerably cheaper access than the modern stadium at HQ.
How can the GAA justify charging 25 euro for example into a bog standard stand which wouldnt be out of place in 1940's english soccer grounds where you can barely get a cup of tea or have a clear view with posts everywhere. Compared to Croker. The GAA is run by people who are so out of tiuch its unreal.
Thankfully they have reduced prices. 10 euro terrace and 15 covered seating is more than enough for provincial grounds.
dont worry about attracting tourists until the GAA stop shafting their own.
i will travel a long journey on saturday to Ennis and wont know what price is into game until i get there due to the non existant info from GAA.
Pay someone 100,000 a year to market the games FFS.

Pretty sure they're already doing that.

[AZOffaly]

I'm with Hardy on this, and I'm not even talking about going as far as fixing the train times etc. It wouldn't take a lot of effort or cost to just raise awareness and pique curiousity of those visitors to our country. At this time of year there are games taking place all over the country and they are almost under cover as far as tourists are concerned.

As a for instance, I just flew back into Kerry Airport there last week. There's 3 or 4 empty Advertising Billboards there in the arrivals hall. How much effort would it be to have a nice glitzy poster up advertising our games, with a 'Welcome to the Kingdom' type slant.

In Shannon, there is nothing to let you know, as a tourist, that such a game as hurling exists, never mind that you are flying into a region with one of the best championships currently in progress.

Same I'm sure for Cork, Dublin, Rosslare, Knock, Galway, Waterford, Belfast etc.

I'm not talking about multi million euro marketing campaigns, but a couple of advertising billboard that advertise the games, and how to get tickets, would be ideal. Wobbler, you are a sports fan, and AMerican Sports are very well marketed throughout the world. They don't need to advertise specific games to you because they've sold you the product via TV, Internet etc for years. You are aware of it, know the season is on, know the local teams and have a fair idea how to find tickets.

If Gunther Wonderkind lands in Shannon from Dusseldorf, and has never heard of hurling, but likes his bit of sport, and if he were aware of it would be keen to see a game - how would he get the info?

Scour the 'local' papers on the offchance a game is on? Does he know what he's looking for? Does he understand Minor - Intermediate - Senior etc? The GAA is not as pervasive around the world as soccer or American Sports, and Hardy's example about Bullfighting is more appropriate.

It wouldn't take a lot of money to market the games at point of entry, and to have informational posters (not necessarily one per game, one per year would do) around the towns and cities?

Hurling - the game of generations!!! Come See the fastest field game in the world, played by the best athletes in Ireland right here!! For information please see GAA.IE/Fixtures, tickets from Tiocketmaster.ie

A collage of images on a big colourful posters with high catching, striking, blocks etc etc would round it off. It's cheap, it's effective and most importantly - it lets people know the games exist are are on NOW!

[redandblack4ever]

Those are great suggestions AZ Offaly, but will the grand poobahs in Croke Park take any heed of them? You would think so, but I doubt it very much.

Mrs redandblack4ever

[Donnellys Hollow]

The fact that a last train out of a major Town is 8pm is a joke.  but the GAA are struggling to attract their own people nwever mind tourists.
Entry costs are unrealistic. Why should anyone have to pay the same amount into Pairc esler for example as they do into Croke Park.
all county grounds should have considerably cheaper access than the modern stadium at HQ.
How can the GAA justify charging 25 euro for example into a bog standard stand which wouldnt be out of place in 1940's english soccer grounds where you can barely get a cup of tea or have a clear view with posts everywhere. Compared to Croker. The GAA is run by people who are so out of tiuch its unreal.
Thankfully they have reduced prices. 10 euro terrace and 15 covered seating is more than enough for provincial grounds.
dont worry about attracting tourists until the GAA stop shafting their own.
i will travel a long journey on saturday to Ennis and wont know what price is into game until i get there due to the non existant info from GAA.
Pay someone 100,000 a year to market the games FFS.

Ah here, why should us good folk of the Pale have to fork out more than the rest of the country to attend matches? Your suggestion is both discriminatory and ludicrous. I know the Kildare fanbase is relatively well off considering the county is effectively subsidised by Aga Khan and the Al Maktoum family but even we have fallen on hard times. I mean I'm probably going to have to hang on to my 2010 Range Rover for another year rather than invest in a new 2011 model. It's bad enough that they expect us to play the Dubs on the same day as the Derby at the Curragh. If they hiked up the price nare a Flourbag would darken the turnstiles of Croke Park come Sunday.

[Bingo]

I'm heading up to Dublin for weekend and done a search on the Discover Ireland website for events on in Dublin this weekend, apart from the Irish Open in Killarney been heavily advertised on the site as it rightly should been as its largely driven by the tourism crowd, the main sporting attraction in Dublin this weekend is the Super Cup in the Avivia. Actually its the only sporting event on, no details at all of the two days action at Croke Park.

Shamefull that the GAA can't ensure that this is heavily promoted on a tourists main point of reference prior to their trip to Ireland.

Yesterday Vinny O'Connor the Sky Sports news reporting was tweeting about been in Dublin for the Super cup this weekend but his thoughts were of his last trip to Dublin and his visit to Croke park not for rugby or a soccer international but Dublin V Mayo in the NFL, he described it as a unforgetable experience. Sad that the GAA aren't tapping into this market.

[neilthemac]

why can't the GAA get Iarnroid Eireann to build a very basic station undeneath the Railway End (it was in the original plans for Croker afaik) so that trains can unload supporters on special trains right beside the stadium

in order to market the games properly, you have to do the basics

internet (search related ads, make sure events are listed prominantly on tourist sites)
radio (see how the rugby crowd get any tiny bit of news onto the sports news)
tv (shirts ads detailing what games are on, where they are on and how to get tickets)
newspapers (adverts on front page, in the events/entertainment section and back page)
billboards (prominently displayed pictures of football/hurling with how to get tickets)
noticeboards (in tourist offices up and down the country)
transport hubs (most airports, train stations have TVs with adverts on them - think of the bag carousals at Dublin airport, GAA should be prominantly advertised here)
airplane magazines (everyone reads them, put adverts/articles about attending Croke Park and how to get tickets)
hotels (brochures, leaflets in all rooms and lobbies about GAA games - give the hotel a commission for selling tickets to the games)
taxis (advertise in the back of taxis)
buses (adverts on the buses that serve the airport and railways stations)
Luas (its heavily used by tourists)

There should be a GAA Superstore on O'Connell Street or nearby selling all the merchandie and with a ticket counter at the front promoting games and the museum.

[thewobbler]

Neilthemac, that's basically a seven-figure advertising spend you're asking for.

In reverse, that means 50,000 extra tickets at €20 would need to be sold. To break even. Good luck with that.

[AZOffaly]

Neilthemac, that's basically a seven-figure advertising spend you're asking for.

In reverse, that means 50,000 extra tickets at €20 would need to be sold. To break even. Good luck with that.

This one alone wouldn't, and would be a good start.

transport hubs (most airports, train stations have TVs with adverts on them - think of the bag carousals at Dublin airport, GAA should be prominantly advertised here)

[neilthemac]

Neilthemac, that's basically a seven-figure advertising spend you're asking for.

In reverse, that means 50,000 extra tickets at €20 would need to be sold. To break even. Good luck with that.

over the course of a year

the league finals, Leinster football and hurling championships?
other provincial finals
All Ireland football qualifiers, quarters and semis?
hurling quarters and semis

would be feasible imho. I didn't say everything avenue had to be targetted, just identify what tourists notice and how they make their decisions

[thewobbler]

Neil, see this makes it even more difficult to advertise.

Rugby has two serious bouts of advertising each year; the run up the 6N and the run up to the November series. Which is a fixed number of games, at set venues, with set competitors playing at set times. Even then, most of the advertising during these periods is by their major sponsors, and not directly related to the individual games.

If the GAA wanted to use focused, game-specific advertising, they'd end up handing an absolute sackful of money to production houses each week, for the updates to creative, and their rollout across all the media required. I'd think this is a non-starter financially.

There is a market available for generic advertising of the games. But that doesn't solve the problem of how to inform tourists when these games happen and how to get to them. It's a completely different thing.

This, I guess, is where greater emphasis should be placed in contracts with broadcasters and the newspaper industry.