Cork GAA posts €1.5m surplus but debt only falls marginally

Cork's team expenses bill for 2025 came in at €2.208m, a slight fall on 2024’s €2.386m.

Cork GAA CEO Kevin O'Donovan: 'The fog is now clearing, hopefully allowing us to put the pursuit of a Centre of Excellence firmly on the agenda'. Pic: Michael P Ryan/Sportsfile

While the Cork County Board accounts show a €1.5m surplus for the 2025 financial year, less than €300,000 was shaved off their almost €31m debt bill in the same period.

The 2025 Cork GAA accounts across county board and stadium show the debt picture improved only marginally over the past 12 months, with total debt falling from €31.157m in 2024 to €30.868m at the end of 2025.

Bank debt currently stands at €12.1m. Monies owed to Croke Park, meanwhile, totals €18.7m.

There has been a significant restructuring of that debt breakdown over the past 12 months, and the amount owed to both Bank of Ireland and Croke Park respectively.

The 2024 Cork GAA accounts showed the outstanding BOI loan sitting at €19.191m, with the Croke Park bill totaling €11.9m. An agreement struck with Croke Park to assist in repaying the county’s bank loan has seen the figure owed to Bank of Ireland shrink considerably, with the debt payable to Croke Park rising by almost €7m. As part of the agreement, Cork are now making annual repayments of €720,000 to Croke Park.

The stadium accounts, meanwhile, which are separate to the county board finances showing the aforementioned €1.5m profit, recorded a total comprehensive loss of €1.9m.

Stadium revenue, despite no concerts visiting Páirc Uí Chaoimh in 2025, improved slightly on the corresponding 2024 figure to €5.6m.

The welcome €1.5m county board surplus is largely attributable to overall income increasing by 32% to €9,141,000. This significantly swelled income total more than swallowed the €783,000 year-on-year jump in expenditure.

Cork's team expenses bill for the year came in at €2.208m, a slight fall on last year’s €2.386m.

The unmatched support enjoyed by the Cork hurlers this year saw the county’s National Hurling League share reach €426,000, almost three times greater than last year’s €146,000.

Club gate receipts totalled €1.72m, a 25% increase on 2024. That improvement was split between club hurling gate receipts climbing over the €1m mark and the football equivalent jumping from €554k to €712k.

“As the financial statements are covered elsewhere in this report, we will simply note here that a County Board surplus for 2025 in the region of €1.5m, is a tribute to all involved in steadying the financial landscape,” Cork GAA CEO Kevin O’Donovan said in his annual report.

“A stadium EBITDA in the region of €0.37m in a non-concert year showed a healthy break-even position. Of course, this is all in the context of significant stadium debt in the region of €30m in relation to which we are grateful to CLG for their continued support.

“All scheduled repayments are being met to both bank and CLG, as are all interest payments.

“With a strong budget in place for 2026 and with guaranteed income from concerts also on the books, the fog is now clearing, hopefully allowing us to put the pursuit of a Centre of Excellence firmly on the agenda.”