Munster Rugby confident over financial future despite €1million cashflow deficit

The accounts were reported to Munster Branch delegates at their Annual General Meeting in Cashel RFC, home club of incoming president Peter Silke, on Tuesday.

IN THE RED: Head of Rugby Operations and Interim Head Coach Ian Costello. Pic: ©INPHO/Laszlo Geczo.

Munster Rugby’s €1million cashflow deficit for 2024-25, announced on Tuesday night, looks set to be repeated in accounts for 25-26 but there appears to be confidence that ongoing efficiencies and robust commercial revenues will return the province to an annual surplus in the seasons which follow.

The accounts reported to Munster Branch delegates at their Annual General Meeting in Cashel RFC, home club of incoming president Peter Silke, were for the season before last, when Graham Rowntree departed as head coach at the end of October 2024.

The team closed the season under the stewardship of now general manager Ian Costello, losing both Champions Cup and URC quarter-finals away from home to Union Bordeaux Bègles and Sharks respectively. 

That helped increase the deficit from around €600,000 for 2023-24, when Munster hosted home URC quarter- and semi-finals.

Munster brought in revenue of just more than €18m for the period but gate income decreased from €7.5m to €5.7m with the team failing to secure home knockout games in the two competitions, though the costs of staging such games offset to gate income drop by savings of €0.8m.

There was also lower gate income accrued in 2024-25 from the previous year when Munster switched their international tour challenge match from Cork’s SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh back to Thomond Park. 

Munster welcomed Crusaders to Leeside in February 2024 for a game watched by 40,885, while their match against the All Blacks XV the following November was a sell-out but drew a crowd of 26,267 to Thomond Park, reducing income, albeit with cost reductions.

The financial report, delivered by Honorary Treasurer Tom Kinirons, revealed a 10 per cent increase in sponsorship for 24-25 but also costs before depreciation of €19m. While match costs were down €1.2m due to the lack of knockout matches & the higher Páirc Uí Chaiomh costs associated with the Crusaders match, player costs were reduced by €0.5m despite the province absorbing much of the cost of the lost IRFU central contracts for Conor Murray and Peter O’Mahony.

Yet rugby development costs rose by €0.25m as Munster committed investment into its player pathways while staff costs increase across all departments following an August 2024 pay rise for all staff and professional game costs for the period increased for a period when New Zealander Chris Boyd was brought in as a consultant to the interim coaching team following Rowntree’s departure by mutual consent.

Munster declared a “strong” balance sheet with €13.4m of Capital & Reserves but its outlook for 2025-26 – the season just gone - predicts a similar, €1m cashflow deficit, although the decision to play a first Champions Cup game at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, against Gloucester last December, was a financial success, doubling net profit after all staging costs compared to the previous season’s equivalent pre-Christmas home pool match at Thomond Park against Stade Francais, the game attracting 36,208 to the home of Cork GAA, compared to the 17,247 attendees at the Limerick venue.

Munster Rugby, in association with concert promoters MCD have also increased the number of concerts staged at their two stadiums, Thomond Park and Cork’s Virgin Media Park while the Centre of Excellence at the latter is already generating a profit for the province having opened last October.

Against the backdrop of what Munster described as “very limited redundancy programme,” as part of an ongoing cost reduction programme, AGM delegates heard that commercial revenues were continuing to perform well despite inflationary pressures on costs.

The emphasis was on getting back to annual surplus with continued revenue growth and reducing costs efficiently as Munster looked to reshape its business “so that we can thrive going forward”.

Securing naming right sales for both Thomond Park and the Cork Centre of Excellence remain priorities, as does the ambition to stage a pre-season friendly against Leinster in the United States of America but Munster insiders also point to their published accounts standing up favourably to other clubs, with annual losses in the English PREM ranging from £0.4m (€460,000) to more than £7m (€8.12m) while on taking over as Ulster Rugby CEO in August 2024, Hugh Mccaughey said he expected a cashflow deficit of between £2.5-3m (€2.9-3.4m) for the same period Munster reported on Wednesday evening.