Delaney defends ticket scheme against media ‘agenda’

JOHN DELANEY has dismissed criticism of the FAI’s sales of premium tickets for the Aviva Stadium and insisted that the association is “doing really well in a difficult environment.”

The FAI chief executive has reiterated that only 3,700 of the 10,000 Vantage Club tickets are still available for sale and that the scheme has therefore achieved its 60% break even point. Recent media reports painted a different picture, however, suggesting that a more accurate figure for sales was closer to 4,000, including an unspecified number sold at discount as well as existing deals carried over from the old Lansdowne Road 10-year scheme. It has also been claimed that some 2,000 of the 6,000-plus premium seats allocated are tied into sponsorship agreements.

Asked by journalists yesterday if he could say how many tickets had been sold, Delaney replied: “I’m not going to go into that with you. I’ve been through this a hundred times and I’m not going to go into that anymore. No business would be forensically examined to the extent of saying that these are the ones that we’ve sold, this is the cash we’ve collected. I keep saying to you that our banks are happy and our grassroots members are happy. There are 3,700 tickets available for the association to sell and that’s what matters to the association.”