Three-time Grammy-winner Dua Lipa boosted ticket sales at the Aviva Stadium last year even as its operator still slipped to a loss of €891,000 in the first six months of 2025.
The singer’s performance was the final date of the European leg of the English and Albanian star’s tour, and came three years after her most recent performance on Irish soil. The gig was one of many which helped to turn around the Aviva’s year.
The previous year, the company behind the stadium’s operations had recorded a €2.34 million pretax loss but it improved its fortunes in the first half of 2025. In the six months ending at the 30th of June 2025, New Stadium DAC trimmed its losses, according to new accounts filed with the Companies Registration Office (CRO).
The company is co-owned by Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) and the Football Association of Ireland (FAI).
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The company received net payments in respect of fees from to its owners, the IRFU and FAI, of €4.3 million in the first half of the year in 2025. This was a decrease from €9.2 million fee income for the prior 12 month period. A sum of €1.1 million is due to the company from its shareholders, a decrease from €1.3 million in 2024.
The company currently has 16 staff, down from 18 the previous year. Staff costs for the first six months of the year stood at €791,000. They were €1.6 million for the full 12 month period in 2024.
This comes shortly after insurance company Aviva has renewed its naming rights deal for stadium in Ballsbridge, Dublin for another five years, in an agreement with sporting bodies IRFU and FAI.
The value of the deal was not disclosed but it is believed that the cost is about €26 million across the five years, according to sponsorship industry sources. This is likely to make it the most valuable sports-related sponsorship in the Irish market.
Aviva has held the naming rights for the 51,000-capacity Lansdowne Road stadium since its reopening in May 2010 following a €410 million refurbishment of the arena, which included a €191 million grant from the State.
The accounts for New Stadium Dac show that the IRFU pays a sum of €750,000 in rent for the use of the grounds each year.
