Priority to ensure Croke Park ties sell out

 Emmet Malone on the FAI's need to maximise profits from the four Euro qualifiers at GAA headquarters

The FAI expects to announce next month how it will market tickets for the four Euro 2008 qualification games which, it is now confirmed, the association will stage at the 70,000-capacity Croke Park during 2007.

The number of games is in line with projections made in the aftermath of the preliminary-round draw in Montreux two weeks ago that the association stood to make €30 million during the campaign from a combination of gate receipts, television income and other revenues.

Just over €13 million of that figure is accounted for by the projected profit from four full houses at Croke Park and the priority now will be to ensure the four games do sell out, something that will involve roughly doubling the average attendances in recent years at competitive games at Lansdowne Road.

There, capacity crowds of 35,000 are common, thanks in no small part to block bookings and other advance sales.

Wales are set to be the first foreign football team to play at the home of Gaelic games when they visit Dublin on March 24th of next year, with Slovakia following four days later.

A second "double header" is scheduled to take place at the stadium in October, with three times (perhaps four by then) world champions Germany coming to town on the 13th and Cyprus concluding Ireland's programme of home games four days later, on Wednesday the 17th.

Both the match against Slovakia and the one against Cyprus will be scheduled for an evening kick-off and will, therefore, require floodlighting.

The GAA is seeking planning permission for lights but it has already given the FAI assurances that in the event the permanent structures are not in place it will be able to provide the necessary facilities temporarily.

It is far from certain quite how tickets for the four games will be packaged, but the association did make it clear as soon as the deal to use Croke Park was agreed last month it would be bundling tickets, and sales now look certain to be based either on two groups of two games or on one single "season ticket" covering all competitive games at the temporary venue.

In commercial terms, then, the options thrown up by yesterday's fixtures meeting are certainly rather neat - even if building to the required extent on the 32,000 seats the association claims are accounted for in advance sales continues to appear a rather daunting challenge.

As he prepared to leave Frankfurt, the new Ireland manager, Steve Staunton, was adamant, however, financial considerations had not entered into the thinking of the Irish delegation as they pursued their wish list both in yesterday's meeting and during the informal contacts that preceded it.

"Not in the slightest," he said. "We weren't thinking that way at all. It was about giving us the best chance possible to qualify, and in any case, they'll be some occasions too when we play San Marino and the Czechs at Lansdowne Road."

The one downside of the schedule as it has emerged, however, would appear to be that it has limited Staunton's scope to get in a friendly game at Croke Park prior to playing there competitively for the first time.

He had previously made it clear that he saw this as a priority if the GAA were agreeable, but having decided to use two friendly dates in order to play San Marino, he appears to have little scope for doing so now.

The match against Cyprus will be Ireland's second last, with only a trip to Cardiff due to follow in November.

On the final date set aside for a game the Irish will rest as the Czech Republic travel to Nicosia, Germany host Wales and Slovakia seek to overcome San Marino.

2007: Croke Park's festival of foreign games

Rugby

February 11th

Six Nations Championship - Ireland v France

February 24th

Six Nations Championship - Ireland v England

Soccer

March 24th

Euro 2008 qualifier - Rep of Ireland v Wales

March 28th

Euro 2008 qualifier - Rep of Ireland v Slovakia

October 13th

Euro 2008 qualifier - Rep of Ireland v Germany

October 17th

Euro 2008 qualifier - Rep of Ireland v Cyprus