Money Well Spent ?

[Maguire01]

Ahh ok then I accept I had a different understanding of what the evening was all about, my understanding was based on the original press release about all the 125th celebrations which were as follows.

The 125th Anniversary of the GAA in 2009 provides an opportunity to reflect on what the GAA has been all about – the promotion of Gaelic games, Irish culture and a sense of place and identity in each community

For me last night (post game) did a lot to promote Irish culture but little to promote all gaelic games nor did it reflect on the history of the association.

In relation to the music there has been plenty of music associated with the GAA, Snow Patrol U2 and Thin Lizzy to name just a few would not imo fall into this category and consequently placed too much emphasis on the promotion of the irish culture to the detriment of the other aspects of the gaa

Yes, and i'm sure all that will be covered over the course of 2009, the anniversary. TG4's series is a good place to start for the kind of thing you seem to be looking for, but i'm sure there'll be plenty of others.
It's just not the kind of thing 80,000 people would be interested in on a cold Saturday night i'd guess.

[David McKeown]

Fair enough as entertainment goes it was grand if for me a little overpriced, as a celebration of the GAA again for me it was inadequate.  For me the match prior to the show was better on both counts and Ill leave it there. 

Also on a related note having checked gaa.ie my nephew should have been charged €5 but as long as it went into the association ill not complain too much

[orangeman]

Fair enough as entertainment goes it was grand if for me a little overpriced, as a celebration of the GAA again for me it was inadequate.  For me the match prior to the show was better on both counts and Ill leave it there. 

Also on a related note having checked gaa.ie my nephew should have been charged €5 but as long as it went into the association ill not complain too much

Serious

[David McKeown]

I meant as a cost to the association generally not to me personally

[orangeman]

I meant as a cost to the association generally not to me personally

Ok.But Nicky said it was cost neutral whatever that means.

[David McKeown]

Yeah which I suppose would be impossible to prove either way as there are too many variables.

[saffron sam2]

I preferred the IFA's 125th celebrations.

Hard to beat a glamour friendly against Germany and Gerry Armstrong proposing pitch side to some lady a fraction of his age.

Oh and for the cost of the fireworks, you could have paid David Bowen's contract for the next 20 years.

[Maguire01]

I meant as a cost to the association generally not to me personally

Ok.But Nicky said it was cost neutral whatever that means.

That the revenue generated on Saturday night covered all associated costs.

Yeah which I suppose would be impossible to prove either way as there are too many variables.

What variables? As above, revenue less costs - it's very basic surely.

[David McKeown]

Well no as to know whether the entertainment part of the evening was cost neutral you would need to look at the additional money it brought in (i.e. how many more people went to the game over what would have gone had it just been the game with the lower ticket prices) minus the additional expenditure for these people in terms of extra stewarding, advertising etc, then from that the cost of the entertainment itself would have to be subtracted.  Consequently it easy to claim the event was cost neutral but harder to prove as we have no way of know how many would have gone to just the game.  For example were it to have been a sell out either way then the additional cost per ticket would have brought in less than €400,000 excess of the original income which if figures are to be believed would not have covered the cost of the entertainment.  If however the entire evening, match and all was cost neutral, that is to say it broke even then the entertainment did have a large cost to the association as the game itself would have been expected to have made a surplus for the GAA

[Maguire01]

Well no as to know whether the entertainment part of the evening was cost neutral you would need to look at the additional money it brought in (i.e. how many more people went to the game over what would have gone had it just been the game with the lower ticket prices) minus the additional expenditure for these people in terms of extra stewarding, advertising etc, then from that the cost of the entertainment itself would have to be subtracted.  Consequently it easy to claim the event was cost neutral but harder to prove as we have no way of know how many would have gone to just the game.  For example were it to have been a sell out either way then the additional cost per ticket would have brought in less than €400,000 excess of the original income which if figures are to be believed would not have covered the cost of the entertainment.  If however the entire evening, match and all was cost neutral, that is to say it broke even then the entertainment did have a large cost to the association as the game itself would have been expected to have made a surplus for the GAA

That's largely irrelevant though. The ticket prices were higher to cover the additional costs. It doesn't matter whether the GAA would have made a surplus had they just had the match, nor does it matter whether or not the entertainment element in itself was cost neutral. The whole event was cost neutral, so the component parts are irrelevant.

[David McKeown]

Most definitely not irrelevant as there was still a significant cost to the association.  Big league games need to pay for more than just themselves, there are fundamental elements within the association that will always be loss making and consequently have to be covered by games like last night.  Had the cost of last nights entertainment not had to be paid we may although I admit its not certain have had a greater surplus for transferring to other parts of the association.  Likewise last nights entertainment may have actually increased the surplus but theres too many variables for us to know what effect from a completely cash point of view the decision to put on entertainment has had on the coffers.  Basing my opinion on the figures be bandied about though i.e. cost to association of €500,000 though, I think that Saturday's entertainment was not good value for money.

[Zulu]

It was tremendous value for money and it is already benefiting the association in ways that you can't put a price on. You only have to check out the papers and the various GAA discussion boards to see the lift that the night has given to all GAA folk and I'm sure many besides. Last Saturday night will last long in the memory and is worth a 30 or 40 ordinary league games to the health of the association. It is unfortunate that even after a great game and a great 'show' there are still people questioning the value of spending €500K on it but I suppose it just proves if proof were needed that you can't please all of the people all of the time.

[orangeman]

It was tremendous value for money and it is already benefiting the association in ways that you can't put a price on. You only have to check out the papers and the various GAA discussion boards to see the lift that the night has given to all GAA folk and I'm sure many besides. Last Saturday night will last long in the memory and is worth a 30 or 40 ordinary league games to the health of the association. It is unfortunate that even after a great game and a great 'show' there are still people questioning the value of spending €500K on it but I suppose it just proves if proof were needed that you can't please all of the people all of the time.

Couldn't agree more with you there Zulu - definitely a great bit of PR and as you say it will ive long in the memory -


Almost 80,000 for a National League match - if someone 10 years ago had told you that in 2006 and 2009 you could have have got
almost two sell outs for a national league matches on a Saturday night, people would have said you were not wise.   

[David McKeown]

Zulu people have every right to question the evening and its not simply a matter of them being impossible to please.  As an entertainment spectacle the show was in my opinion, grand if a little overpriced, as a celebration of the association it was inadequate focussing solely on the more successful elements of the association.  If Saturday proves in the long term to bring more people into the association then I will admit the money was well spent (although I may still believe it could have been better spent) however if the money does not bring about this influx and could have been put to better use within the association, which at the minute I would still suggest it could, then for me Saturday was not money well spent.

[Maguire01]

Most definitely not irrelevant as there was still a significant cost to the association.  Big league games need to pay for more than just themselves, there are fundamental elements within the association that will always be loss making and consequently have to be covered by games like last night.  Had the cost of last nights entertainment not had to be paid we may although I admit its not certain have had a greater surplus for transferring to other parts of the association.  Likewise last nights entertainment may have actually increased the surplus but theres too many variables for us to know what effect from a completely cash point of view the decision to put on entertainment has had on the coffers. 

There is no way there would have been 80,000 people on Saturday night if it had just been another league game! The only other game that Saturday was comparable to was the fixture a few years ago - again an 'event' being the first game under lights in Croke Park (and marketed big time at a cost as well). The average Dublin/Tyrone league game would be played in Healy Park or Parnell and would generate only a fraction of the revenue.
And just look at the people on this board who went to the game from various counties - they wouldn't have travelled to a standard league game where it wasn't even their own county.
It might be an assumption, but i reckon it's a safe assumption that the game on its own would not have generated anywhere near the same amount of revenue.

Basing my opinion on the figures be bandied about though i.e. cost to association of €500,000 though, I think that Saturday's entertainment was not good value for money.

But it wasn't really a cost to the Association - it was a cost to the punters who all paid an extra €5 or whatever on their tickets! That's the point. If it was just a game, the tickets would have been cheaper - the price was increased so that the event would be cost neutral.