Business still thriving at headquarters

Croke Park attendances: In what was a good 2004 for Croke Park, attendances were up for the third successive year since the redeveloped stadium was opened in 2002.

The increase may have been only 89,896 and the average attendance at the venue down 9,000, but over an extended season and in extenuating circumstances, stadium director Peter McKenna is more than pleased with the figures.

There were 27 match programmes in Croke Park last year - the highest figure to date, and that helped push up the aggregate attendance.

"We try to base our schedule in terms of fixed costs on a 20-match season so that we'll always be on the right side in terms of costs," he told The Irish Times. "On that basis you could say that we're very, very happy.

"We only had the Hill terrace open for the end-of-season matches and that impacts on attendance. More people go to matches when cheaper tickets are available."

Increased revenue came in tandem with the Government decision to pay all the remaining €40 million of the grant promised in 2001, money that has gone straight towards dropping the debt on Croke Park to around €60 million.

This means that a relatively austere business plan introduced last year to clear the stadium debt by 2013 can be reviewed, according to McKenna.

"The Government money has gone into the overall account. We're meeting Central Council to decide what way to amend the business plan in the light of that."

Despite the disappointment of the falling average attendance at championship matches - and even these lower figures have been artificially boosted by the two International Rules Tests, played in Australia the previous year, and the Ulster final between Armagh and Donegal, which was staged at Croke Park - the summer programme still brought in nearly 50,000 per match day.

In fact, the GAA can be quite relieved in that the 2004 season saw the emergence of a number of new counties with smaller populations, principally Westmeath and Fermanagh, as well as the eclipse of the big Leinster counties.

Dublin, Meath and Kildare were all missing from the semi-finals, which had a big impact on attendances at the closing stages of the provincial championship.

Furthermore, the Derry-Kerry semi-final was the poorest attendance at an All-Ireland semi-final in two decades.

Whereas such pairings will inevitably occur from time to time, it is a relief to the GAA that aggregate attendances have remained relatively untouched by the fluctuating fortunes of different counties. The Northern End terrace will be fully available for this year's championships.

Now that the stadium debt is down to manageable proportions, there is more good news for the year ahead with McKenna confirming that the re-sale of 10-year corporate tickets in the Cusack Stand is proving very successful.

"There's been an 80 per cent take-up on the corporate boxes and seats. At the end of last year they were offered to the existing holders and there's been a strong renewal response. The remaining 20 per cent will sell out before long because there's a sizeable waiting list, which will be now be offered the balance of the accommodation."

According to McKenna this will bring in "€16 million or €17 million", most of which will be profit. As the facilities were finished in 1995 there has been a certain amount of refitting and renovation on the premium level.

"Before they were re-sold they were stripped out and re--equipped with new kitchen facilities, and furniture has been re-covered," says McKenna. "That's across 40 boxes so there is a significant cost factor, but we budget for that on an annual basis. We would expect to make about €14 million profit on the re-sale."

Among the new initiatives being planned for the stadium are the installation of a permanent big screen and a new campaign to maximise sales of tickets on the Internet in order to eliminate the waste of resources involved in ferrying tickets around the country and the potential for them to lie around unsold until it's nearly too late.

"There's huge potential in the whole Internet ticketing area. Daniel Nelligan (son of Kerry All-Ireland winning goalkeeper Charlie) is in charge of ticketing and is currently drawing up a long-term set of proposals.

"Tickets are cash but lose all value the day after the match. There's a need to be able to send tickets in electronic format so that we know what's available for sale at all stages in the run-up to matches."

Revenue from the pitch-side advertising scroller has increased significantly.

Four years ago Croke Park was taking in about €400,000 in ground advertising. Now it's up to €1,500,000 and has been expanded to cover the three televised sides of the ground.

McKenna said he didn't see the GAA going down the road of digital pitch-side advertising, as seen in some soccer grounds.

"It can be very intrusive, particularly for television viewers who have no control over their field of vision."