Kerry reveal €131,000 surplus despite All-Ireland successes

Getting to All-Ireland senior and minor finals in the one year needn’t spell disaster for end of year accounts, Kerry accounts suggest.

Treasurer, Weeshie Lynch will reveal a €131,000 surplus in his end of year accounts at Monday night’s County Convention.

The surplus is before development fundraising schemes are added, which will boost retained profits to over €400,000.

The key was a reversal in the trend of falling gate receipts — even allowing for replays in both football and hurling finals, total gate receipts increased from €301,099 last year to €434,891 in 2014. In the SFC, the gate receipts were up by nearly €95,000. The main reason for this was the introduction of the ticket vans outside the gates, which initially caused long queues and delays in throw-in times, but ultimately led to an increase in revenue.

There was also a very healthy increase of €26,000 in gate receipts at other league and championship games.

The success of various fundraising initiatives offset the cost of funding All-Ireland minor and senior football successes. The figure increased from €158,651 in 2013 to €520, 678 in 2014, including €300,000 raised for the Team Holiday Fund.

One other small but significant boost to income was in the area of Kerry branded sports gear, which increased from €13,000 in 2013, to €33,000 in 2014. This was as a direct result of the board designing a new logo and thus reaping the rewards of controlling the sales of their own merchandise.

There was a sharp increase in the cost of training the Kerry senior football team, reaching €972,613, in 2014, as opposed to €755,000 in 2013.