Leinster chief hopes to buck attendance trend and fill Aviva

LEINSTER chief executive Mick Dawson is confident the province can buck the trend of falling attendances at sporting events when Joe Schmidt’s side take to the Aviva Stadium.

It was announced yesterday that the 2009 Heineken Cup champions will face Munster at the new venue in a Magners League game on October 2 and they will return to the Lansdowne Road site on December 18 for a European tie against Clermont Auvergne. The venue has failed to attract capacity attendances for ties involving Man United and Argentina while empty seats have been even more conspicuous across the city at Croke Park.

It remains to be seen if those trends transfer to rugby this season but it would be a surprise if the ground was not sold out for the Munster game as capacities at the RDS and Thomond Park stretched to the limit in recent years. Over 27,000 saw the rivals meet in the Magners League in the old Lansdowne Road in the 2006/07 season and 47,000 took in their Heineken Cup clash there the season before.

Dawson said: “I’m aware of what you are saying about the [economic] climate but we are optimistic that, with the market research we have done, if we fill it for the Munster match, people who come here will have enjoyed a good atmosphere (and return).

“Hopefully, the team will be going well and that is important, but we have a plan. Clermont obviously won’t bring too many people with them whereas Munster will probably take their quota which is about 8-9,000 tickets. We are hopeful we will fill it.”

The signs are good for Leinster despite the dual disappointment of defeats in the Magners League final and Heineken Cup semi-final last spring as season ticket sales have already jumped from 11,000 to 13,000. The reintroduction of the Aviva Stadium will also open the possibility of larger revenue streams for the province, though the branch will have to pay a rental fee for the use of the premises.

“There is a stadium company who you deal with and the IRFU and FAI are stakeholders in that company,” Dawson explained. They have a rate they charge and we are like anyone coming along. There is a rate involved. There is a rent for the stadium, you pay for all the security and hopefully it will attract 50,000 people and it will be a commercial success. You want to be able to go into the market and attract top-quality overseas players so you need a strong balance sheet.”

As a stakeholder in Irish rugby, Leinster will be able to avail of a discount rate when hiring the venue but there are as of yet no plans to add to their list of appointments in the Aviva Stadium after the Christmas period.

“We think two is about right and the reason for that is that we want to fill it out on both occasions. The RDS is still our home and we are committed to them long-term. We have a 20-year arrangement with the RDS with a break clause after ten years. We have an arrangement to play 13 matches a season there so, with the two extra Magners League games and the schools cup match, that takes us up to our quota.