GAA: sales of new ticket scheme ‘slow but steady’

GAA chiefs have described sales of their new ticket scheme as ‘slow but steady’ but expect a surge of interest in the coming weeks.

The county and code specific ticket, which costs €75, entitles the supporter entry to all Allianz GAA National League round games and the first round of the GAA Senior championship involving their county in their chosen code and a discounted price for all subsequent games, excluding provincial and All-Ireland finals.

There is an in-built loyalty programme involved in the ticket in that, should the supporter’s county in the chosen code, qualify for the All-Ireland final then based on a minimum attendance of 60% the supporter is guaranteed an All-Ireland final ticket.

Each county has received 250 tickets per code for the scheme.

Dublin and Tyrone are the only two counties to have sold out their football allocations for the GAA’s new ticket scheme but Croke Park ticket chief Ronan Murphy last night claimed that a number of other teams are close to doing likewise.

Said Murphy: “We were not surprised that Dublin and Tyrone sold out so quickly. Dublin would have a large following while Tyrone are the All-Ireland champions.

“The sales have been slow but steady since we launched in December but I’ve been surprised by the interest since after the Christmas break.”

He revealed: “Tipperary are going to go by the end of the week while the other Munster hurling counties are selling well.

“Armagh are also selling very well while there has been a big surge in the last few days for Kerry and Mayo.”

Murphy added: “We launched this as a pilot project back in December and there was certainly interest in the lead up to Christmas. But without games it was a case of out of sight and out of mind for a lot of people.

“But now that the provincial tournaments are back, I think it has brought GAA back into focus and that explains the interest we have had seen over the last couple of days.’’

The GAA Season Ticket is available through www.gaa.ie and www.ticketmaster.ie.

Meanwhile Setanta yesterday announced its provisional list of televised games from the National Leagues.

Setanta Ireland will broadcast five (live) games and four (deferred) floodlit games on Saturday nights. Four more games will be broadcast on Sundays, details of which will be announced in the coming weeks.

Coverage begins with the eagerly-awaited NFL opener between Dublin and All-Ireland champions Tyrone from Croke Park on January 31. Setanta Ireland TV schedule: Sat, January 31, NFL: Dublin v Tyrone (live); Sat, February 14, NHL: Tipperary v Cork (live); Sun, February 15, NFL: Game TBC (deferred); Sat, March 7, NFL: Tyrone v Galway (live); Sat, March 7, NFL: Meath v Laois (deferred); Sat, March 14, NFL: Dublin v Derry (live); Sat, March 14, NFL: Laois v Cork (deferred); Sat, March 28, NFL: Tyrone v Derry (live); Sat, March 28, NFL: Laois v Offaly (deferred).