Croker Mark 2 in Cork?

[Louth Exile]

And just a thought, but could this be titled building for the future, our population will surely increases over the next 30 - 50 years could capacities of that size be needed in the future and cheaper to build today?

the original stadium was only built 30 years ago and is already in need of major modernisation. I know where you are coming from but a whole new stadium is not the answer

[darbyo]

In fairness I'd imagine a modern proerly built & layed out stadium would last longer than a 60/70's one. While I agree that there are too many stadiums in Munster already, Cork is a big, growing city and if we build a truely moder stadium with all the 'buttons and bows' could it not generate income outside of sporting occasions. That's the one problem with Thurles, it's in Thurles, so as a GAA ground it's fine but as a modern stadium with the conference attractions etc. it's a non runner, I'd have thought.

[Gnevin]

This is madness , I've always pointed to Parnell Park as a perfectly sized stadium , Hold the league crowd , sells out time to time but not so often to be a major issue . Even not counting  CP are plenty of other stadiums in Leinster for a Large gate. Has a good atmosphere with 5k in it and a good atmosphere with 15 k in it

[GalwayBayBoy]

In fairness I'd imagine a modern proerly built & layed out stadium would last longer than a 60/70's one. While I agree that there are too many stadiums in Munster already, Cork is a big, growing city and if we build a truely moder stadium with all the 'buttons and bows' could it not generate income outside of sporting occasions. That's the one problem with Thurles, it's in Thurles, so as a GAA ground it's fine but as a modern stadium with the conference attractions etc. it's a non runner, I'd have thought.

Why not just build a conference centre?

Seems a bit odd to build a 60,000 capacity stadium that will be used for games very rarely.

Thi stadium mania seems to be getting out of hand with every county board intent on building their own big stadium. And not just settling for sensible 30, 35, 40,000 capacity venues but 60,000 ones.

[deiseach]

This is madness , I've always pointed to Parnell Park as a perfectly sized stadium , Hold the league crowd , sells out time to time but not so often to be a major issue . Even not counting  CP are plenty of other stadiums in Leinster for a Large gate. Has a good atmosphere with 5k in it and a good atmosphere with 15 k in it

Agreed. Nowlan Park is pretty decent too.

[Gnevin]

I think counties should think how the club championship games will look in a ground less than 10% full in most case's

[mannix]

Have any of you seen cork airport recently?very nice.The docks down there will have more high buildiings than dublin and I reckon cork will pilfer a lot of the financial jobs from the ifsc to the new dock development they are working on, a knowledgeable  cork lad told me this.He has no big head or big ideas, he just tells it how it is so i believe him.
Ireland population is reckoned to reach prefamine numbers in about 2040 so the numbers will be there sooner or later.

Mayo had a prefamine population of 388,000 though it was probably over the 400,000 mark.Today its around 125,000.
Leitrim had a big crowd on board too, sadly hunger drove them await or killed the majority.
Plan for the future, look at what has happened to dublin with no plannning.The one thing I think is stupid is the 400 car spaces for a big stadium, are they going to arrive in helicopters or what?

[cavanmaniac]

Plan for the future is all very well but it's hard to envisage many GAA matches outside of AI semis and finals, at any time, at which there is/will be call for a 60,000 capacity. The current structure of the championship and fan base etc. means that there are already too many shiny edifices lying idle for the majority of the time after millions of euro being spent on them.

Cavan's ground holds up on 30,000 depending on which source you believe and it's never come close to reaching that, and hasn't held many big games anyway.

Clones is supposed to be getting another face lift soon to increase its capacity as well and in fairness one big stadium in the province makes sense to stop moving Ulster finals to Dublin, but then there's this Maze prison one as well.

Mad stuff. The most compelling argument for opening Croker was its idleness and then we have one of the biggest opponents of its opening building yet another stick for rugby and soccer to beat them with down south. Whatever your view on other sports at GAA grounds, it's hard to see the logic in it.

[ziggysego]

Mad stuff. The most compelling argument for opening Croker was its idleness

I'd agree with most of the stuff you said there, but that's bit isn't true. It was about offering the hand of friendship to the two other main sports in Ireland and helping them out whilst they were getting Lansdowne Road redeveloped.

Also if the GAA didn't open the doors to soccer and rugby, it would have been a PR disaster for the GAA*, as these games would have had to be played in the UK.

* PR disaster in the lights of the media and would have been reported that way, instead of how the IFA and IFRU let Lansdowne Road get into the state it did.

[ludermor]

the city is the second largest in the southern part of Ireland,

has waterford or limerick grown that much lately?

[Maguire01]

Is there no central strategy for the development of GAA grounds? Does Croke Park (and by that i mean HQ, not the venue), not have an overall plan for facilities throughout the country?

Surely if most of the money is handed out through HQ, they have some say in development plans? It doesn't make sense that county boards can work away with massive amounts of money without 1) the green light from the top and 2) a sound business case.

Let's not forget, half empty stadia ain't the only issue - think of the maintenance costs as well.

Forget capacity!

Every province could probably justify having one stadium with a 45-50,000 capacity.

Every county should then worry about having one venue for championship games with a capacity of 15-25,000 and a well developed club ground with a 5-10,000 capacity for league games.

The emphasis should then be bringing these venues up to the standard of other eurpoean venues of a similar capacity.

There's no logic for every county in a province competing against each other with a 'mine's bigger than your's' mentality.

[Gnevin]

Any price given for the cost of this white elephant?

[magickingdom]

i've said this before, the only new stadium that should be built would be one with a roof that holds around 30k. dublin or athlone would be good locations

[Tankie]

i've said this before, the only new stadium that should be built would be one with a roof that holds around 30k. dublin or athlone would be good locations

Sure what do you need a roof for? sure GAA is a summer game - i just wish somebody will tell the GAA that the games are played in Ireland!

[Croí na hÉireann]

i've said this before, the only new stadium that should be built would be one with a roof that holds around 30k. dublin or athlone would be good locations

Westmeath Co. Board are proposing to build a new 28,000 all seater out near the Mullingar bypass, don't know if it's gonna be roofed or not (and neither do they I'd say)...