GAA scores big with €25m season bonanza

GATE receipts from this year’s hurling and football championships are set to top the €25 million mark following another bumper year for the GAA.

Attendances at the 2004 hurling championship are set to surpass last year's figure of more than €740,000, aided by the provincial victories of Waterford and Wexford. In Munster alone, more than 167,000 supporters attended the five provincial championship games.

Numbers attending the football championship are even more impressive, with over 1.25 million people already through the turnstiles even before the final between Kerry and Mayo on September 26.

In Connacht, attendances were up a massive 74% this year, largely due to two draws, while Munster crowds have also increased by 44%, although the Leinster championship had a slight drop of 3%.

The games administration body is expected to score a record 4m payday from ticket sales for Sunday's All-Ireland final alone.

A 20% increase on last year's stand and terrace prices for the hurling decider should see the GAA break the previous record for gate receipts of €3,344,490, set at last year's football final between Tyrone and Armagh.

Profits should also increase as tickets for the seating areas for this weekend's hurling final have gone up from €50 to €60, while prices for Hill 16 which will be partially re-opened on Sunday for the first time since its refurbishment have been increased from €25 to €30.

However, the inflated prices have done little to stop the mad scramble for tickets among Cork and Kilkenny fans anxious to see which team can inch ahead of their joint record of 27 All-Ireland titles.

Clubs on Leeside and Noreside have reported huge interest from supporters as pairs of tickets are being offered on sale on several internet sites for a minimum of €240.

"We got an allocation of 22,000 tickets for the semi-final against Wexford but there were at least 35,000 Cork fans at the game and we'd expect that at least 40,000 will travel to Sunday's match regardless of whether they have tickets or not," said Cork GAA press officer John Motherway.

Mr Motherway said he would welcome an increase in the official allocation for teams who made it to an All-Ireland final. He claimed Cork's official allocation for Sunday's game of just under 11,000 tickets did not reflect the huge demand in the county.

Kilkenny county board chairman Ned Quinn was disappointed the county's allocation was down around 1,000 tickets on last year.

"It's very hard to tell genuine fans that we don't have any spare tickets," he said. "We really need to review the situation regarding allocations for competing counties as the current drip-feeding of tickets is very unfair."