Team spending by Munster counties breaks €10m mark
In Tipperary, spending rose by €385k to €1.797m. Pic: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile.
As team spending by the six Munster counties soars past the €10m mark for the first time, Cork’s money minders have emphasised to senior managers Pat Ryan and John Cleary the need to stem costs in 2024.
Four of the six counties in the province - Cork, Clare, Tipperary, and Waterford - saw year-on-year team spending increase by a minimum of 24%, contributing to the overall Munster bill jumping from €8.77m last year to €10.4m in 2023.
All-Ireland hurling champions Limerick were once again Munster’s biggest spenders, team expenses for the Treaty County totaling €2,363,731.
That figure, mind, was just €66k up on their 2022 total, meaning Limerick’s year-on-year increase of 3% was the smallest of the six counties.
Beaten All-Ireland football finalists Kerry recorded a 16% jump, with overall expenditure on their inter-county teams increasing by almost a quarter of a million euro to €1.679m.
It is in the remaining four counties where the most noticeable team spending spikes occurred. Tipperary’s books show a 27% increase on last year, the totals in Clare and Waterford both grew by 25%, while there was a 24% surge in Cork team costs.
With inter-county spending on Leeside for the 2023 season falling just shy of the €2m mark, county board treasurer Diarmuid Gowan has said that discussions are ongoing with the various management teams to rein in escalating costs.
“The total to €1.995m is up from 1.614m in 2022, but it is reflecting the national trend, and we are at present in discussion with the various teams and backroom staff in efforts to stem the escalation of costs going into 2024,” Gowan revealed.
“The cost of running teams is constantly increasing and the expectations are ever increasing. Every county in the country is seeing these increases.
“We have committed to continue to take an in-depth review of inter-county preparation in regard to, specifically, costs, and identifying possible areas of saving without necessarily impacting on the inter-county performance.”
The chief factors in Cork’s additional €381k team spend this year were travel and overnight costs rising by €185k to €565k and medical/S&C/facilities ballooning by €480k to €634k.
In Tipperary, where year-on-year spending rose by €385k to €1.797m, county board CEO Murtagh Brennan said “the ever-rising costs associated with all inter-county teams is placing a significant strain on the County Board to meet its operational commitments”.
In Waterford, inter-county team costs are now 38% higher than they were pre-pandemic. From an €870,000 total in 2019, Waterford’s bill reached €1.2m this year. And it must be remembered that Waterford was one of the first hurling counties to exit the championship both this year and last.
The county saw team spending surge by 25% compared to last year despite their season once again not extending into June or July.
Portlaw chairman Paudie Coffey expressed alarm at these rising costs during last week’s Waterford Convention.
“We want to prepare our inter-county teams as best as we can but I do question the sustainability of the inter-county championship and the demands it puts on counties,” Coffey said.
“GAA at headquarters and GAA at Munster Council level are running a Champions League-type championship. It's putting huge demands on players. The alarm bells are ringing. How are we going to sustain this in terms of finances and in terms of players?”
Waterford chairman Sean Michael O'Regan described expenditure on inter-county teams as unsustainable.
“I think we've met the edge of the cliff and we can't go any further. It has to be looked at. €1.2 million on inter-county teams is a huge figure for a county like ours. Our income has to go up and our expenditure has to go down. At no stage can we take our eye off the ball.”
Kerry’s outgoing treasurer Tom Keane said team spending figures will always grab headlines, but stressed that essential supports for players cannot be skimped on.
“It is important for people to realise that this is what it takes in today’s world to put in place the best systems available so that our players across all the training groups receive the best, not only in training but in all the additional supports such as nutrition and medical supports which are now needed in bringing players onto the highest performance level.”
Despite across-the-board increases in the amount of money being poured into the preparation of flagship teams, five of the six Munster counties achieved an overall profit for the year. Tipperary was the sole county to operate a deficit for 2023, their books recording a loss of €78,203.
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