Cork GAA facing €5m cashflow crisis unless Páirc operations 'massively' improve

PÁIRC PROBLEMS: A general view of the north stand before the Munster GAA Hurling Senior Championship Round 2 match between Cork and Waterford at Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Unless there is a “massive improvement” in the operation of Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Cork GAA is facing a €5m cashflow crisis over the next five years.

At the Cork convention on Tuesday evening, Freemount delegate John O’Flynn drew attention to the “hidden liability” of advance income totalling €4.8m.

O’Flynn explained that the figure relates primarily to Páirc Uí Chaoimh premium level seat sales over the past five years, money which has already been received and spent.

“That well is going to run dry very shortly because there aren't that many premium seats left (for sale). Our cashflow is going to dry up over the next five years,” O’Flynn warned.

The Freemount delegate said the cashflow outlook is very worrying given the redeveloped Páirc Uí Chaoimh has turned a profit in only one year, 2022, and that owed to five concerts being staged at the venue.

“We have a stadium that is losing money,” O’Flynn said of Páirc Uí Chaoimh’s €2.688m loss in 2023.

“For all the years we have got stadium accounts, the stadium has lost money every single year except in 2022 when we had five concerts. I hope we have five concerts in the future, but that is unlikely.

“So we are really challenged for the stadium to even break even. The reality is that if we break even over the next five years, we are going to have a cash shortfall of about €4.8m because we have already got that cash and it has already been spent.

“Until we sell Kilbarry, we are not going to reduce stadium debt (€31m) and we understand that. But there is a bigger issue coming down the track, it’s the cashflow for the next four or five years.

“I would be really concerned that unless there is a massive improvement in the operation of the stadium or huge income from GAA activity, then we are going to struggle to meet that cash requirement over the next five years.” There was no disputing of O’Flynn’s worrying forecast from the executive top table.

Cork county board treasurer Diarmuid Gowan said that with only one concert in the pipeline for next year, it will make 2024 “very challenging”.

Cork secretary Kevin O’Donovan described the county’s cash flow problem as “stark”.

He said concerts are “windfall” events and that the stadium needs to reach a “steady-state position” where it is not reliant on concerts to turn a profit.

O’Donovan remarked that soccer games at Páirc Uí Chaoimh are not off the table going forward.

“It is a very dangerous model for us to base a business plan on three concerts a year, which was done previously. They are windfalls. They come, they go.

“In terms of GAA activity, you know the challenges we face in getting major games to this stadium. All we hear is negativity. That is why we have to continue to explore other sports. Expect a debate on soccer coming too in the future. We have to consider those in the context of the stark financial picture we are in.

“Our discussion every day is cashflow, rather than profit and loss. Commercial partnerships could bring in €500,000 a year to this stadium in the very near future. We have two deals signed, we have another almost signed.” 

In his parting speech, outgoing county board chairman Marc Sheehan said the reticence of counties to travel to Páirc Uí Chaoimh needs to dissipate in 2024 and beyond.

“Let us not understate the significance of Páirc Uí Chaoimh. It remains the most modern GAA venue in Ireland despite seemingly incessant sniping from some quarters.

“Perhaps if some of the energy dispensed by others outside of the county with criticism of our stadium was channeled more meaningfully within their own units, it might result in better infrastructural outcomes for other units,” said Sheehan.

The outgoing chairman believes Cork are on the verge of a “golden age” given the underage success over the past few years.

Elsewhere, O’Donovan condemned the practice of clubs canvassing members of the county hearings committee in an attempt to secure a favourable outcome for their suspended player.

The secretary said there is no evidence of a hearings committee outcome being influenced by canvassing, but that approaches and phone calls are being made.

“I do believe some clubs think the right approach to a hearing is to contact people (on the committee). Long may it continue that the hearings committee resist those approaches.”