IRFU rethink ticket scheme

THE Irish Rugby Football Union is considering abandoning plans to offer a renewal of its first tranche of 10-year tickets next year.

Around 2,000 of the 10,600 10-year ticket holders guaranteed premium-level seats at all of Ireland’s home Six Nations and Autumn Internationals at the Aviva Stadium are due for renewal in the spring of 2013, with another section up in 2015.

The national economic crisis has led the IRFU to believe, however, there would be a low take-up of renewals among those who initially committed to the 10-year scheme during better times in 2003.

When asked how confident the game’s governing body was that there would be a significant take-up or renewal of this next tranche of 10-year tickets, IRFU Commercial and Marketing manager Pádraig Power admitted the renewal was not the only avenue being explored.

“We would be hopeful that whatever amount is made available, and decisions have not been made yet, we’re still looking at how we might construct a package, which is not to say that we wouldn’t just offer those incumbents to renew but we might reconstruct the offering in a different way,” Power said.

“We might not even go out to renew. We might look at using the tickets in a different way, on a match-by-match basis perhaps or a season-by-season basis. All of these things are things that we’re looking at and all being very cognisant of the economic realities.

“So there’s a fair bit of planning and a fair bit of strategic thinking being undertaken to make sure that what we do go out with is something that our customers would be very happy to receive.”

Asked to clarify that there might not even be a 10-year ticket renewal, Power replied: “There might not be a 10-year ticket renewal in the sense that we might look to package it in a different way.”

As for the suggestion of how an alternative package might be configured, he added: “To be honest I’d only be speculating and I’d prefer not to speculate. Suffice to say, that in terms of next year, we have a tranche of a couple of thousand up and we’re looking at how best to maximise that for two things: one — for the future of Irish rugby and two, more importantly, to serve the needs of our customers.”

Power denied that the current discussions within the IRFU pointed to a major concern, worry or even panic.

“Not at all. We don’t do panic. We’re an organisation that fundamentally is very prudent in terms of financial planning. We have a risk register that is consulted on a weekly basis in terms of the risks to our game across a wide variety of areas from the rugby side to the commercial side and so we are constantly benchmarking ourselves against the risks out there and potential risks that may pertain going forward.

“So we’re not at all panicked by it. We will approach it as we do with most things, in a very rational and logical fashion to those central tenets, one: to deliver to our customers value and a product that they want and will respond to, and two: that it works for us in terms for keeping the show on the road financially.”

In the short term, Power reported a sell-out for the opening fixture of this year’s RBS 6 Nations championship, the February 5 clash with Wales at the Aviva on Sunday, February 5 and that the IRFU had not needed to offer tickets to the general public.

The Wales match is the first to sold under a new ticketing policy and system formulated in the wake of the 2010 Autumn International ticket debacle, when swathes of empty seats marked the return of international rugby to the redeveloped Lansdowne Road as Ireland played four back-to-back Tests with seats sold only in bundles and at prices perceived as too costly.

“We’re very much looking forward to the Six Nations, we’re very excited about it,” Power said. “We are sold out for the Welsh game already, which is great, and while it’s too early to tell for Italy and Scotland, we would hope to be sold out. We’re expecting full houses for all three games. From a ticketing point of view we put in a new ticketing system this year and for the Welsh game it has worked very well. And what it has meant for us as an organisation is, along with the clubs, we’ve been able to bring a lot more certainty to things.

“Clubs have up to a three-week window before kick-off to either take their allocation or send it back to us, which allows us then to sell to our supporters club in the first instance and the general public thereafter if any remain.

“Following November 2010 when we had those issues, we brought in Deloitte Sport to advise us on pricing and distribution and payment. So this is the first Six Nations Championship that we’ve faced under those new guidelines. So far it’s working extremely well and we think the feedback from clubs has been great in terms of ticket pricing. We’re not immune to the economic realities but we’ve sold out the Wales game in a couple of weeks and we’re looking forward to getting off to a great start.”