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FAI's €16m deficit for 2008 is the main topic of discussion

FAI AGM: THE FAI’s €16 million deficit for the financial year of 2008 was the main topic of discussion following Saturday’s …

CIAN O'CONNELL
Mon Jul 06 2009 - 01:00

FAI AGM:THE FAI's €16 million deficit for the financial year of 2008 was the main topic of discussion following Saturday's AGM in Monaghan.

That figure is distorted somewhat by a €5 million one-off payment to do with the Aviva Stadium, but FAI officials were adamant that the loss was expected.

Chief executive John Delaney stressed that the lack of competitive fixtures in Dublin was a contributing factor to the decline.

“It is a deficit of €10 or €11 million, the extra €5 million is a once-off cost. Had we played our 2008 calendar, one competitive game at home and three friendlies, if we had played them in the Aviva Stadium the net benefit to the association would have been €5 million,” Delaney said.

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“We’ve been delighted with the availability of Croke Park but there’s no doubt that owning half of your own stadium brings really significant financial earnings.

“By the time you take the reduction from sale proceeds for any game above 50,000 and you put in the cost of hosting a game in the Aviva Stadium, €5 million, if you work that out that’s €1.25 million per match of a difference from 2008 in Croke Park to games played in the Aviva Stadium.”

In the press briefing following the AGM the issue of Vantage Club tickets was raised, but no exact details were made available by Delaney, who remains adamant that the FAI will realise its sales target. “The broad spectrum of the members support us,” said Delaney.

“I’ve made that point before but sometimes it isn’t reported in such a way. We’ve huge support from within the game in terms of ticket sales – a lot of the members who were down there have bought tickets.

“The two grassroots schemes are going really, really well. I’m not going to comment on the figures, you know that. I don’t talk about managers’ contracts and I don’t talk about the sales to date because we have a confidentiality agreement in place with ISG and IMG.

“But we’ll be okay, we’ll be fine. As I said in my address, people said we wouldn’t build it, people said we wouldn’t get planning, people said we wouldn’t get the money to pay for it – we’re doing all those things.”