Aviva Stadium firm expecting operating profit of €2m in 2011

THE COMPANY that runs the Aviva Stadium in Dublin is budgeting for an operating profit of €2 million in 2011 – its first full year of operation.

Accounts released yesterday for for New Stadium Ltd, the entity jointly owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union and the Football Association of Ireland to manage the €411 million Aviva, show it made an operating loss of €2.7 million in 2010.

The company also incurred a depreciation charge of €6.3 million, which was offset by a “grant amortisation” of €2.6 million.

This left New Stadium with a total loss for the year of €7.2 million. The company had net assets of €125 million at the year end.

While the company operated for the whole of 2010, the stadium itself only opened for business in July of that year.

“The losses were budgeted for,” said stadium director Martin Murphy. “We had recruited our staff and set up our operation at the start of the year so we had the overhead from January [2010].”

About one million people have attended matches and concerts at the Aviva since it opened. Another 500,000 have attended conferences and other functions.

“That’s our bread and butter . . . it’s important we use the stadium every day of the week,” Mr Murphy said.

The Aviva hosted 15 sports events in the first eight months of this year, including the Uefa Europa League Final between FC Porto and Sporting Braga, and Ireland’s rugby match against England.

The Aviva is likely to get its first full house for a soccer match when Ireland plays Estonia for the Euro 2012 play-off match on November 15th. It will also host the FAI Cup Final and two Leinster rugby matches before the year end.

In 2012, Aviva will host an American football match between Navy and Notre Dame, which is expected to bring more than 20,000 fans from overseas.