Losses at Aviva Stadium fall by almost €5m

Pre-tax losses at the Aviva Stadium, owned by the IRFU and the FAI, fell to €2.43m in its first full year of trading, having shipped losses of €7.16m in the prior year when it was open for six months but incurred costs on a full-year basis.

Accounts for New Stadium Ltd, which operates the Aviva, filed with the Companies Office show the stadium which plays host to the Irish rugby team and the Republic of Ireland soccer team reported an operating profit of €4.48m for 2011 its first full year of trading.

The accounts show New Stadium owes the IRFU €30.5m (2010: €28.2m) and €22.6m (€21.3m) to the FAI. The company has fixed tangible assets of €391m.

The accounts reveal that the annual payments from Aviva for the naming rights to the stadium were transferred to a third party in return for an upfront payment of which the company received €8.3m.

In 2011 the stadium hosted 28 major sporting and non-sporting events which attracted almost 850,000 customers.

Stadium director Martin Murphy said it had been a satisfactory year given the economic conditions which he said resulted in challenging conditions for ticket sales for all but the biggest games. In that context he felt the stadium had outperformed the market.

“The IRFU carried out research on the Ireland v England 6 Nations game which showed the economic impact was in the region of €60m. The FAI and Uefa also carried out a similar exercise for the Europa League Final which resulted in both direct and indirect benefits for the Irish economy of almost €50m,” Mr Murphy said.

“As we have demonstrated international sporting fixtures have the capacity to be major drivers of tourism revenue and in that context the recent American football game between Navy and Notre Dame was a prime example.”

Mr Murphy said more than 33,000 Americans travelled to this game — the single biggest group of Americans ever to travel to a sporting event outside the US — including for the Olympic Games.

“With many of the fans taking extended holidays in Ireland early estimates show that the final economic benefit to Ireland could be of the order of €100m — a staggering figure.

“We also have the Heineken Cup final to look forward to in 2013 and research by the ERC shows the benefits could be in excess of €40m. In between the two events there is next month’s World Cup qualifier against Germany which again has huge economic potential,” he added.