McKenna rejects Hearn's 'three times the price of Wembley' Croke Park claim 

The Croke Park commercial director McKenna intimated Hearn may have been worried about not attracting enough people for the event at Croke Park.

CLAIMS DENIED: In attendance during the GAA Annual Report Launch is Croke Park stadium director Peter McKenna. Pic: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

As the GAA reported record-breaking figures – revenue of €96.1 million and Croke Park’s €17m distribution to the organisation – the context wasn’t perfect for stadium and commercial director Peter McKenna to counter Eddie Hearn’s claim that GAA HQ was too costly to host a Katie Taylor fight.

The Matchroom promoter had argued to organise the Wicklow fighter’s rematch against Amanda Serrano at the Jones Road venue was three times the price it would be at Wembley Stadium. The fight now appears bound for the 3 Arena on May 20.

McKenna refuted Hearn’s suggestion, insisting that the problem the GAA and Hearn had was primarily down to who should foot the extensive security costs. What’s more, he intimated Hearn may have been worried about not attracting enough people for the event at Croke Park.

“The last time we talked to them properly was before Christmas. We would love to have the fight here. We set our stall out on that basis. So our rent was coming in around €400,000. I think the rent for Wembley is about £250,000/300,000.

“The real issue here is about security costs that which we felt the promoter should carry and having gone through this with statutory services and our own team, we looked at the risk analysis on the event and we felt that the amount of security that you’d need would be at the top level and that is not inexpensive.

“So, I think maybe there’s a worry there they wouldn’t quite get the attendance and also the costs associated with hosting an event at a certain standard that we would be very proud that we would hold to has caused a little bit of jitters.” 

After two difficult years, yesterday’s financial report was a good day for the GAA. Gate receipts were €33.369m, down approximately €3m from the last normal year of 2019 when there was a Dublin-Kerry All-Ireland SFC final replay.

The senior football championship gate receipts were €15.897m and the hurling equivalent brought in €9.920m.

The football league was worth €3.604m, a slight increase from 2019, and the €2m hurling league gate receipts were almost identical to four years ago.

Excluding state funding of €21.376m much of which was Covid-related, the GAA accrued almost €74.75m in the financial year ending September 30 2022, an increase of €1.5m from the last normal year in 2019. Minus that government assistance, the operating surplus was almost €15m.

Garth Brooks’ five concerts in Croke Park last September contributed significantly to the stadium’s €8.388 million rent revenue in 2022, up from €816,500 in 2021.

Use of corporate facilities also increased significantly from €2.631m in ‘21 to €13.822m last year. Seven concerts were staged at GAA HQ last year and were worth €7.6m. However, none are planned for this year and rising utility costs will also mean a modest return in 2023.

In total, Croke Park, which reported €46.3m revenue in 2022, were able to distribute a record €17m to the GAA in contrast to 2021 when it was unable to issue any.

While ticket prices for this year’s league have increased from 2022, they are expected to remain the same for the championships.