Farrell: Keep Croke Park open to foreign games

[Zulu]

There'll be a recreational GAA game rolled out this year as far as I know, it is definately part of the recent development document the GAA released.

[RMDrive]

There'll be a recreational GAA game rolled out this year as far as I know, it is definately part of the recent development document the GAA released.

Thanks. It'll be interesting to see how it goes.

[Tankie]

I think the only time you will get tens of thousands of people attending club soccer in this country is if you have a team based in Dublin competing in the English Premier league.

Shamrock Rovers got 20,000 at league games as late as the mid 90's. The potential is certainly there, espcially if facilities improve. 

Can you post the link with this?

I've been look for a web pages with has the information about the league games that had 20k at them, no joy so far but i'm sure dublinfella will have the info to hand...

I take it we wont get some hard facts from Dublinfella on this one either 

[Rossfan]

I heard on the News tonight that the "new" Lansdowne Road will be called the Aviva Stadium - as the Insurance company will pay €40 m to have it named after them for the next 10 years.
Presumably another reason why the Buggers and the Eejits won't be looking for Croke Park.

[Rossfan]

They'd want thier name in the public eye as much as possible and would not appreciate "their" stadium being empty while the people they are  giving €40m to play elsewhere.
I see the media campaign to get a possible inter Provincial Rugby game now played in our National Stadium.
Hopefully Central Council tells them where to go.

[Rossfan]

Spotted this gem on Hoganstand -
"Currently the amendment to Rule 42 of the GAA's code only allows for international games to be held in Croke Park while Lansdowne Road is being redeveloped, but given the huge rental income the GAA could generate from a game of this magnitude, the association would be likely to consider such a request."

If the rules dont allow it how can they consider such a request other than to take 2 seconds to say "Rules dont allow it"?
I suspect this belongs to the same  media stable as the " Champions League Final for Croker" fables.

[GalwayBayBoy]

Spotted this gem on Hoganstand -
"Currently the amendment to Rule 42 of the GAA's code only allows for international games to be held in Croke Park while Lansdowne Road is being redeveloped, but given the huge rental income the GAA could generate from a game of this magnitude, the association would be likely to consider such a request."

If the rules dont allow it how can they consider such a request other than to take 2 seconds to say "Rules dont allow it"?
I suspect this belongs to the same  media stable as the " Champions League Final for Croker" fables.

I believe congress gave central council the power to open the doors of CP and central council decided to open it for international games only but they could change that. Not sure if that neccesitates another vote at congress though.

Actually just found this in the general section courtesy of Declan.

Peter McKenna confirmed on Newstalk tonight that it's up to Central Council if they receive a request from IRFU/ERC. Mentioned without prejudicing any future requests that he imagined they would be looking at a similar financial arrangement as exists for internationals

[Louth Exile]

They would be able to sell it out twice over, even in the current climate!! Such is the munster bandwagon and the fact that the Leinster rugby crowd now know where croker is and that its not that scary over on the north side!!

IF the fixture comes about and IF the IRFU approached Central Council they should give it full consideration. Can any organisation turn up their nose at €1.5M in the current economic climate?

[winsamsoon]

If the politics issue was removed from this whole Croke park issue, then it would still be a silly idea from a business perspective to allow Rugby or soccer into croke park. The GAA is a business, i see figures of 10 million floating about but for that ten million Rugby and soccer are getting top facilities and the most important thing Advertising that is IMO at our expense. So it would be 10 million well spent. In todays society we are directly competing against other sports so i think it is pretty stupid giving up your gold card to them. Kind of like Mc Donalds selling Burger kings Burgers. The political side is another issue but that has already been debated.

[Tankie]

If the politics issue was removed from this whole Croke park issue, then it would still be a silly idea from a business perspective to allow Rugby or soccer into croke park. The GAA is a business, i see figures of 10 million floating about but for that ten million Rugby and soccer are getting top facilities and the most important thing Advertising that is IMO at our expense. So it would be 10 million well spent. In todays society we are directly competing against other sports so i think it is pretty stupid giving up your gold card to them. Kind of like Mc Donalds selling Burger kings Burgers. The political side is another issue but that has already been debated.

All these games are always gonna take place regardless where they are played, if only 20k get to watch it in the RDS it will still have the same promotion etc as it is a European Cup S/F between two Irish teams. Occasions like this dont come around all that often!

[Tyrone Dreamer]

I often think those looking croke park opened are talking as soccer/rugby fans. Would there be a possibility that if Croke Park wasnt used for soccer/rugby that a few extra concerts a year could take place in it? If equal money or close to it could be made from these would people still want it used for other sports? Is it purely a financial thing? Rugby got promotion that you couldnt afford to buy ahead of the 1st England game in Croke Park.

[Hardy]

Yes and the GAA

I often think those looking croke park opened are talking as soccer/rugby fans. Would there be a possibility that if Croke Park wasnt used for soccer/rugby that a few extra concerts a year could take place in it?

They're not mutually exclusive. As far as I'm concerned the asset is still vastly under-utilised and the operating company is doing a very poor marketing job. They should have a full time events promotion division similar to an Aiken promotions or such, out there looking for opportunities and events to stage. 

Rugby got promotion that you couldnt afford to buy ahead of the 1st England game in Croke Park.

Yes - look how it's devastated the GAA!

[Hardy]

How may I ask has it been under utilised in the last number of years may I ask?

Of course you may ask. May I ask - how many times in the last year was the 82,500 capacity, or even half of it, used? Conferences don't really cut it - what would they bring in - maybe a few tens of thousands at the very most? We know that a full Croke Park can deliver €1.5M. Why aren't we looking to fill it more often? Every weekend, if possible - probably not possible, but you get the point. What marketing campaigns are the operating company running?

[Tyrone Dreamer]

How may I ask has it been under utilised in the last number of years may I ask?

Of course you may ask. May I ask - how many times in the last year was the 82,500 capacity, or even half of it, used? Conferences don't really cut it - what would they bring in - maybe a few tens of thousands at the very most? We know that a full Croke Park can deliver €1.5M. Why aren't we looking to fill it more often? Every weekend, if possible - probably not possible, but you get the point. What marketing campaigns are the operating company running?

The gaa is not about money. Its about promoting Irish sports. Croke Park was built for gaelic games, not as a money making exercise. Yes we should be looking at ways of filling it as often as possbible but with our own games. The problem with the celtic tiger is a lot of people only seem to looks at things now from a money point of view. Croke Park doesnt have to be full for it to be used. It was used for plenty of championship games last year with a 40,000+ attendances. The gaa should be looking into ways of selling our own games better, look at the amounts of tickets sold for tomorrow night on the back of good marketing. Effort should be put into capturing the publics imagination with big events based around our own sports rather than seeing what big soccer/rugby match we can attract.

[Main Street]

I think the only time you will get tens of thousands of people attending club soccer in this country is if you have a team based in Dublin competing in the English Premier league.

Shamrock Rovers got 20,000 at league games as late as the mid 90's. The potential is certainly there, espcially if facilities improve. 

Can you post the link with this?

I've been look for a web pages with has the information about the league games that had 20k at them, no joy so far but i'm sure dublinfella will have the info to hand...

I take it we wont get some hard facts from Dublinfella on this one either 

Probably it is more true to say that Rovers, on one occasion when they moved to the RDS, attracted a big crowd by LOI standards of 17,000k.