Big Three sports set for €72m ticket revenue after reopening

The teams parade behind the Artane School of Music Band before the All-Ireland SHC final between Cork and Limerick in Croke Park, which was restricted to 50% capacity for the game. Picture: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

The restoration of full capacity crowds to live sports will save the IRFU, GAA, and FAI an estimated €72m in lost ticketing revenues for the year ahead.

Croke Park, Páirc Uí Chaoimh, and Aviva Stadium will also be boosted by an additional €20m in revenue from 18 concerts across the three venues in the coming months, which will now go ahead.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin announced the news that “restrictions on capacity for all indoor and outdoor events will no longer apply”. Munster Rugby immediately released an additional 11,000 tickets for Sunday’s Champions Cup game against Wasps — which had been limited to 5,000.

It said in a statement: “The capacity will be capped at this figure [16,000] due to the short turnaround and the limited operations in place for Sunday’s game.”

The news also came just in time for Basketball Ireland, which hosts its National Cup Finals this weekend, and which were due to take place in front of 1,000 fans — a 50% reduction in capacity at the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght.

On Saturday, Garvey’s Warriors Tralee and C&S Neptune meet in the men’s showpiece, and Basketball Ireland announced: “In light of new Government guidelines, we will be releasing further tickets for the Pat Duffy Cup final.”

CEO of Basketball Ireland John Feehan said the opening-up of sports venues “meant freedom to get back playing the game we all love, particularly for indoors, which has been very, very difficult over the past number of years”.

IRFU spokesman Stephen McNamara said that as far as Ireland’s opening match of the Six Nations, against Wales in two weeks, is concerned, “it’s not necessarily business as usual, but it’s business as usual for anyone who was here for the November Internationals”.

“We’ll still be asking people to wear face masks, but we’ll be encouraging people to come along and enjoy being together,” he said.

While the Taoiseach’s comments did not clarify if extra measures might be required in stadiums, all sports bodies are awaiting further details from the Department of Sport on hospitality, corporate, and other stadium operations.

The Stadium Working Group, which lobbied Government for a raising of the 5,000-person limits at a meeting last Friday, was in a buoyant mood as it celebrated “the best possible news”.

The statement by the Taoiseach comes as the GAA prepares for the beginning of the National Leagues next week and as the IRFU gets ready for the start of the Six Nations.

“We’re just delighted with this, and very pleased that we were able to make a strong case for a full reopening,” said Aviva Stadium director Martin Murphy, the chairman of the cross-sport Stadium Working Group.

“Certainly there has been very good communications with the Department of Sport throughout this, and we had a very good group pulling together.”

The backbone of that working group included Croke Park stadium director Peter McKenna, and IRFU CEO Kevin Potts, with additional support from the FAI.

Mr McKenna described the go-ahead as “fantastic news”, saying: “It’s like a huge cloud has lifted, and we now have the ability to actually walk around without fear — it’s such great news.”

A number of sources within the sporting sector believe that by lifting restrictions across Irish society, there will be an increased appetite to attend sporting events after a two-year interruption.

Dublin’s opening Division 1 fixture against Armagh under the lights at Croke Park next Saturday night is already expected to welcome a crowd of 25,000 fans for the game.

The GAA was worst-hit by the Covid restrictions on capacity limits over the past two years, resulting in a deficit of €67m for the association across 2020 and 2021 — a figure which was directly hit by ticketing sales.

The IRFU stood to lose out on up to €20m in matchday ticketing revenues for the Six Nations alone, if its home matches against Wales, Scotland, and Italy were affected in the coming weeks, not to mention the knock-on consequences for the provinces.

The news will also be a boost for the racing industry, especially for the Dublin Racing Festival meeting in February and for Punchestown and Fairyhouse in the spring.

While the Taoiseach warned “the pandemic isn’t over”, there are many across sports who today will not dare think otherwise.