Croke Park profitability falls for 2015

Croke Park’s profitability fell in 2015 by €1.8 million, a fall attributed by stadium director Peter McKenna to the absence of 2014’s American football match as well as there being no All-Ireland hurling replay.

Revenues were down €4 million - the match between Penn State and the University of Central Florida brought in €3 million for the stadium 18 months ago although the event ultimately just broke even.

There was an improved performance from the food and beverages and meetings income, which helped to offset the decline in other revenues.

Asked were there plans for concerts this year, McKenna said: “Yeah, we’re very hopeful for a number of concerts. Hopefully we’ll get to three.”

He declined however to comment on recent speculation that Bruce Springsteen would be playing the stadium.

Match day revenues fell by €600,000, as average attendances in Croke Park declined from 37,027 to 35,725, a drop McKenna partly attributed to Dublin’s domination of the province’s football championship.

He said that the next big project in the stadium would be the development of a “state of the art handball centre”.

A special grant of €1 million was made to the Croke Park Museum, which attracted 137,000 visitors last year and was again listed as one of website TripAvisor’s top 10 attractions in Dublin.