Zach Bryan double-header a major boost to Cork GAA debt battle

The June 20 and 21 dates will not affect the home provincial championship fixtures of the Cork hurlers in 2026, but it remains to be seen if the Rebel footballers will be discommoded.

Bruce Springsteen, in 2024, was the last headline performer to play at Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Pic: Michael P Ryan/Sportsfile

Cork GAA is set for a significant payday with confirmation that country star Zach Bryan will play two nights at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh next June - the first concert confirmed for the venue since May 2024.

With Cork GAA servicing a debt of €31.1m, as per last year’s county board accounts, the announcement of Bryan’s two upcoming appearances on Leeside, on June 20 and 21 of next year, will deliver a significant boost to stadium revenues.

The dates will not affect the home provincial championship fixtures of the Cork hurlers in 2026, but it remains to be seen if the Cork footballers will be discommoded by the two concerts that fall on a Saturday and Sunday.

In light of the American artist attracting 180,000 fans to Phoenix Park across three nights in June, securing Bryan for two nights at the “mid-size” 40,000-capacity Páirc Uí Chaoimh venue is a major coup for Cork GAA.

Cork GAA CEO Kevin O’Donovan stated earlier this year that attracting concerts to Páirc Uí Chaoimh has been challenging because the venue is “too big for Live at the Marquee, too small for Coldplay”.

He also noted that “concerts are the only thing that will move the dial on debt here. Everything else really is to keep the lights on.” Bruce Springsteen was the last headline performer to play at the home of Cork GAA, his 2024 sell-out concert providing an indicator of the lift that Zach Bryan’s two gigs will deliver to stadium revenue.

The 2024 Páirc Uí Chaoimh CTR accounts showed a revenue surge of 55% to €5.5m, owing to the Springsteen concert and two Munster SHC fixtures that brought almost 80,000 supporters through the turnstiles.

Pre-tax losses, as a consequence, were reduced to €1.9m last year.

The same accounts for 2022 - the year of five Páirc Uí Chaoimh concerts between Westlife, Elton John, and Ed Sheeran - recorded stadium revenue of €6.08m.

With no concert taking place at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in the intervening 2023, the corresponding stadium revenue figure plummeted to €3.6m and saw a stadium loss for the year of €2.688m.

Such was the bleak state of the 2023 stadium finances, at that year’s county convention there was warning of a cashflow crisis facing the local organisation.

“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,” said Freemount delegate John O’Flynn.

“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.” 

In contrast to his remarks from earlier this year, Kevin O’Donovan told delegates at the 2023 Cork convention that it was dangerous practice to be reliant on concerts for much-needed revenue injections.

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

“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,” said O'Donovan.

Cork GAA plans to turn their Kilbarry landbank into a strategic housing development of 319 units and, in the process, eat significantly into the mountain of debt it is struggling to move, has been stalled by a judicial review.

The redevelopment of Páirc Uí Chaoimh was completed at a cost of €96m in 2017. The debt arising from that rebuild fell by just €141k across the 2024 financial year.

Bank debt, as of September 2024, stood at €19.181m. Monies owed to Croke Park, meanwhile, totalled €11.9m. The two figures combined left total debt reaching €31,157,000.