League revenue for 2008 suffers decline

GAA county boards can expect reduced revenues from the 2008 Allianz National Hurling and Football League competitions when the accounts are released in advance of the annual Congress in April.

The overall picture will be rather gloomy when contrasted with the 2007 returns, which saw total attendances up by 133,000, which in real terms translated into a e1.6million increase in football and e600,000 in hurling.

While no official figures have been released, it’s known that the gates last year suffered a downward trend, with the Cork player dispute a significant contributory factor in the loss of revenue from both competitions.

In hurling, two of the most attractive games were lost — against Kilkenny and Waterford — when Cork footballers did not fulfil their opening two rounds against Meath and Dublin.

On a conservative estimate, the total loss would have been well in excess of e100,000.

However, there were other mitigating factors, not least the fact that there was no high-profile type game in Croke Park. such as the Dublin/Tyrone opener at the beginning of February 2007, which marked the official turning-on of the new floodlighting system in Croke Park (symbolically before the first ever rugby international against France in the stadium, which was played a week later).

Just as happened on January 31, when the same teams met again (for the opening round of the NFL and the celebrations marking the formal beginning of the Association’s 125th year celebrations), Croke Park was filled to capacity on that occasion. That game generated gate receipts of e880,236 — a figure which represented close to one third of the total revenue of e2.96m.

Another reason why gates suffered last year was that the finals, specifically the Division One deciders in both codes, did not attract big attendances.

The crowd at the Kerry/Derry football game, which was played in Parnell Park along with the Division Two final between Wexford and Fermanagh, was as low as 9,372. However, the fact of getting to the final boosted the Kerry County Board’s revenue to e76,000, up over e11,000 from the previous year.

The attendance at the National Hurling League final between Tipperary and Galway was even more disappointing, considering that it was played at the Gaelic Grounds. That amounted to just 16,315, down from 22,235 for the Kilkenny/Waterford clash in Thurles the previous year.

Interestingly, the biggest attendance at a league final in the current decade was 46,445 for the meeting of Wexford and Armagh in 2005.

l The times for the All-Ireland club finals on St Patrick’s Day were finalised by GAA chiefs yesterday.

AIB Hurling All-Ireland Senior Club Championship Final: De la Salle (Waterford) v Portumna (Galway), Croke Park, 2.30pm.

AIB Football All-Ireland Senior Club Championship Final: Crossmaglen Rangers (Armagh) v Kilmacud Crokes (Dublin), Croke Park, 4.30pm.