By David Butler
We saw a good example of the financial costs of not qualifying for major international tournaments on our tv screens in Ireland last week. A standout feature of the Ireland vs Hungary friendly (exhibition) match was the partly full stadium and almost completely empty stand behind the goa l- admittedly where away fans often occupy.
The FAI claimed to have sold 37,000 tickets. The official attendance figure was 29,424. At about €30 a ticket the entry revenue was likely somewhere between ~€880k and €1.1m, depending on the truth of the claim and whether the circa 7,500 no-shows were charged or how they were charged (may have been corporate tickets etc.).
If the Irish were travelling to Germany, I would expect attendances to be higher in the last Friendly match. As a child I was one of the 42,652 that watched Ireland lose to Nigeria in a friendly before World Cup 2002. There were similar sell-outs in the old Lansdowne road for the Russia, Denmark and USA friendlies. Moving forward to 2012, there was 37,100 in the Aviva Stadium for a Friendly against Bosnia before Euro 2012. Pre Euro 2016, 42,000 turned up to see the Netherlands.
Based on reported attendances figures (not ticket sales), I would ballpark that not qualifying for the Euros resulted in lost revenue to the tune of about €300k for the Hungary match. At a senior international level it’s a results business, maybe with more scrappy 2-1 wins, the FAI would likely see better financial results.
We saw a good example of the financial costs of not qualifying for major international tournaments on our tv screens in Ireland last week. A standout feature of the Ireland vs Hungary friendly (exhibition) match was the partly full stadium and almost completely empty stand behind the goa l- admittedly where away fans often occupy.
The FAI claimed to have sold 37,000 tickets. The official attendance figure was 29,424. At about €30 a ticket the entry revenue was likely somewhere between ~€880k and €1.1m, depending on the truth of the claim and whether the circa 7,500 no-shows were charged or how they were charged (may have been corporate tickets etc.).
If the Irish were travelling to Germany, I would expect attendances to be higher in the last Friendly match. As a child I was one of the 42,652 that watched Ireland lose to Nigeria in a friendly before World Cup 2002. There were similar sell-outs in the old Lansdowne road for the Russia, Denmark and USA friendlies. Moving forward to 2012, there was 37,100 in the Aviva Stadium for a Friendly against Bosnia before Euro 2012. Pre Euro 2016, 42,000 turned up to see the Netherlands.
Based on reported attendances figures (not ticket sales), I would ballpark that not qualifying for the Euros resulted in lost revenue to the tune of about €300k for the Hungary match. At a senior international level it’s a results business, maybe with more scrappy 2-1 wins, the FAI would likely see better financial results.
RSS Feed
