Test matches at Croke Park financially unviable, say IRFU

Munster's Jack Crowley celebrates whilst Josh van der Flier and James Lowe of Leinster look on at Croke Park. Pic: Tom Maher/Inpho

On Saturday, just over 50,000 lucky souls will get to see Andy Farrell’s Ireland take on the world champion Springboks at the Aviva Stadium. 

We have all but come to accept that a stadium with a capacity for 30,000 more will lay idle across the River Liffey. Supply isn’t near meeting demand.

It was announced earlier this month that Aviva had extended their naming rights agreement for the ground on Lansdowne Road. 

A key part of a five-year deal worth a reported €26m is that the senior Irish men’s rugby and soccer teams will continue to play all games there.

The IRFU on Wednesday gave a briefing on the state of their annual accounts. They’re pretty healthy.

A reduced operating deficit of €4.2m was returned with an ambition to break even in the near future. 

Total income was up €18.8m due to the absence of a financially draining World Cup and the return of more home money-spinning international match revenues.

There was €16.4m pumped into the domestic game and €9.4m bracketed off for the women’s game. 

Both of those figures are increases on previous years. There is cash and cash investments worth €62.6m, net assets of €81.6m.

Not everything is rosy.

The men’s sevens programme was sacrificed for a saving of €1.2m and CEO Kevin Potts warned that the need to cut €5m off the annual cost base going forward will mean that the rugby side of the house will have to make some of the savings.

All of which brings us back to Croke Park.

Rental for the GAA’s headquarters is reported in the region of €400,000. 

Charge the additional 30,000 punters that Croker could hold an average of an extra €100 a pop – cheap compared to the current ask - and that would add €3m to the gate.

If Aviva or another potential sponsor of their own stadium wished to pay less to have their name above the door given the loss of exclusivity, well, wouldn’t the loss be covered by the extra gate income? And wouldn’t it allow 30,000 more to see some of the biggest games?

“We examine all of those options all the time,” said Potts. “We have a really good relationship with the GAA. Ultimately, this [the Aviva] is the home of Irish rugby. It is where we intend to play our men's national team fixtures.

“But of course, we look at all these options all the time. But for now, it's the Aviva and certainly in the medium term, Irish rugby games will be played here.” 

So, could Croke Park be an option financially?

“No.” 

Leinster Rugby have utilised the ground on Jones’ Road to good affect and Potts did say that there could be scope to host the final of the newly-created Nations Championship at the venue at some point down the line.

Just as long as Ireland were not playing.

It’s not that the IRFU doesn’t want to extend its footprint. Ireland played in Soldier Field for the third time earlier this month when the disappointing team performance on the field was matched by some embarrassing failures off it.

Organised by an independent promoter, the production values were dreadfully poor, there were basic logistical issues in the stadium in Chicago itself, and the bottom line was a ‘product’ that left so much to be desired.

The IRFU did send a head of operations to the city to ensure that everything would be in place for Farrell and his squad on the day, but a wider debrief is still ongoing that is feeding into a more general discussion on the game all unions are delivering to their fans.

“But in terms of the event itself, the production of it, there were definitely failings there,” said Potts. “And debriefs have been had by both New Zealand and Ireland with the promoter. I would expect, at future games in the USA, you'll see a significant improvement.” There were numerous other nuggets of interest in Wednesday’s briefing.

The IRFU is still actively considering the construction of a hotel adjacent to the Aviva Stadium on a collection of sites they own and call ‘The Triangle’. That one is still some years away from materialising.

Potts opted not to give any details to anecdotal evidence that the value of player contracts at provincial level is coming down, but the financial return from the British and Irish Lions tour has been confirmed as double of that received in 2017.

And there was other good news besides.

"The values of broadcast [revenues] have stagnated and fallen back for rugby over the last five or six years. However, there are green shoots emerging. The interest in the Nations Championship… I'm happy to sit here in front of you today and say I'm more optimistic.

“The broadcast values going forward are showing signs of increase, which is badly required. So I'm more optimistic about broadcast in the medium term than I have been over the last four years.”