GAA admit gate receipts are behind target for 2024

NEEDED BOOST: Cork supporters react to a decision during the Munster GAA Hurling Senior Championship Round 3 match between Cork and Limerick. Pic: Daire Brennan, Sportsfile

Sunday’s expected bumper crowd for the Cork-Limerick All-Ireland SHC semi-final will come as a much-needed boost as the GAA report their gate receipts for 2024 are below targets.

Cork Central Council delegate and former chairman Marc Sheehan informed this week’s county board meeting that gate income is “behind target” at this stage of the year.

Last Saturday’s Ard Chomhairle gathering took place before a combined 97,302 attended last weekend’s two All-Ireland SFC quarter-final double-headers. That was down over 40,000 from the 139,870 figure for the corresponding games last year when Dublin and Mayo topped the Sunday bill.

In 2022, when the championship was played on a limited backdoor basis, the quarter-final weekend drew a total crowd of 122,227 over the two days.

The GAA will be hoping the increase in price tickets for All-Ireland quarter-finals, semi-finals and final will assist in offsetting the drop in attendances but there is genuine concern in Croke Park about the development.

In 2023, gate receipts improved by 15% to €38.5 million as attendance figures for the championship jumped by 22%. 

The Central Council meeting in May heard gate receipts for non-provincial games in both codes organised by Croke Park were estimated to be down €500,000 from last year at €7.2m.

The Munster senior hurling championship has been the exception, gate receipts pushing to over €5m for the second year in a row and set to exceed the previous record set last year. Attendances for the 11 games amounted to 315,898, exceeding the 2022 total of 310,440.

As reported by the Irish Examiner earlier this week, Sunday’s Cork-Limerick clash is heading towards a sell-out with the 3pm throw-in time on Saturday for the meeting of Clare and Kilkenny providing a difficulty for supporters. A crowd of between 35,000 and 40,000 is expected for that match, the counties’ third consecutive semi-final.

The All-Ireland SHC last year accrued €10.949m for the GAA.