Lansdowne Road Redevelopment Thread

[EastTerracer]

It was reported at the weekend that over 6k premium seats have been sold and that the debt on the stadium (in the region of 35m) will be cleared by 2020. IF true, I think that is decent reading. How many premium seats are there in total? 10k?

It was actually a bit more subtle than that - it said that 6k premium seats have been sold or "committed to" or made available to commercial partners. I suspect the number of seats that have actually been paid for is quite a bit lower.

Originally the sale of Vantage Club tickets was supposed to eliminate the FAI's debts for the stadium but given the economic environment it isn't surprising that it will take another ten years to pay off the debt. The FAI and their advisers badly miscalculated the price for the Vantage Club tickets but they weren't the only ones to do that during the boom years.

[Dodge]

It was actually a bit more subtle than that - it said that 6k premium seats have been sold or "committed to" or made available to commercial partners. I suspect the number of seats that have actually been paid for is quite a bit lower.


Its clearly lower. Delaney wouldn’t answer question on how much the sale of these tickets brought into the FAI. There’s 900 or so former Lansdowne 10 year ticket holders who were transferred to the vantage club for the 7 years remaining on those tickets too. So that’s effectively 900 tickets that the FAI won’t receive a penny for (having received it 3 years ago and long spent it).

He was asked how many of the tickets went to “commercial partners” and wouldn’t answer. He was asked how many tickets were heavily discounted and sold to football clubs. He wouldn’t answer.

[elroy]

I know for a fact that several clubs (even at junior level) up and down the country were more or less made buy VC tickets. Many of those clubs are now trying to use the tickets in raffles etc.

The pricing of the VC tickets were crazy and showed a real error on the part of the promoters to recognise that the recession had kicked in and in general people and to a lesser extent corporates didnt have the scale of money required for this anymore. Secondly, comparing the price of VC tickets to equivalents in rugby is crazy as we all know the market for rugby is far more affluent. A more suitable comparison is the gaa and I believe they're 10 year tickets were sold for approx €7k around 10 years ago. The gaa is now asking for €12k for the renewal of the same tickets, a price in line with the VC pricing. They probably have a larger catchment than the FAI had but I think they may as well struggle to shift the tickets at that price.

[SkStu]

thats what you get when you try and treat a National football team like a club team. What a weird, weird football country we are.

[Stuttgart88]

What's the cost and how many are they looking to sell?

You'd think some kind of quirky incentive - such as a 3 year extension for free if we qualify for a tournament - might make it a bit more appealing. The FAI would presumably be prepared to pay away some of the profits that'd accrue if qualification was achieved. Money now is always better than money later.

Maybe they could be offered as Lottery prizes, with the National Lottery paying for the cost of acquiring the tickets. I think some lateral thinking could improve sales. I know successful Irishmen over here (UK) with their own businesses & I haven't heard of any that have been offered VC packages.

[osarusan]

Money now is always better than money later.
Ever thought of working for a LOI club?

[DannyInvincible]

I came across this piece today on the website of the Sunday Business Post: http://www.sbpost.ie/news/aviva-to-lose-rights-for-europa-league-final-51351.html

It's dated the 29th of August but came across as very strange to me in that I'm pretty certain that what it is purporting to be revealing is already long well-known; that the new stadium will be referred to as the Dublin Arena for the Europa League final next year and, thus, Aviva will not receive any exposure for the event.


The Aviva Stadium is to be rebranded for the hosting of the Europa League final next year – despite the insurance company spending €40 million to secure naming rights for the stadium.

...

The decision by Uefa is embarrassing for Aviva and the FAI, which received a cut of the €40 million naming rights deal.

Is there an agenda behind the article? It appears like a simple attempt to embarrass the FAI/Aviva. Especially given the fact that the piece concludes with a penultimate paragraph pretty much rendering even writing the whole thing completely pointless:


However, a spokesman for Aviva said the company was aware of all protocols when it signed its ten-year deal, and was delighted with its decision to sponsor the stadium. "It is Uefa policy to refer to the city," the spokesman said.


I just thought it was all a bit odd seeing as it's been public knowledge for quite some time - years in fact - that UEFA and FIFA have such rules in place when it comes to their events being hosted in corporate-sponsored stadia.

[DannyInvincible]

Out of interest, will all references to Aviva - for example, on the outside of the stadium and the white seating spelling out the company's name - have to be masked in some way or another for the game?

[EastTerracer]

As Aviva is not an offcial UEFA "partner" the ground is not even referred to by the insurance name on the website. The official match report from Friday mentions in the 2nd paragraph that Ireland will play Andorra in the "Dublin Arena" on Tuesday and the fixtures have all our home games under that name as well.
http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro2012/matches/season=2012/round=15171/match=2002239/postmatch/report/index.html

The same thing has happened with the Allianz Arena in Munich - during the 2006 World Cup it was called the Munich Arena for FIFA purposes.

[elroy]

Lazy lazy journalism, this has been known for quite a while, but saw the non story in the papers last wkd alright. Plenty out there willing to take a shout at the fai everytime they can.

"embarrassing for Aviva and the FAI"..........not in the slightest as it turns out, as Aviva wouldve known UEFA's well standing policy on this sort of thing well before they signed naming rights deal.

[DannyInvincible]

This is probably the most appropriate place to put this: http://www.herald.ie/national-news/city-news/fans-paying-more-to-watch-andorran-parttimers-than-for-entire-away-campaign-2327735.html

Thought it was pretty interesting that you could have gotten into all the away games during the last campaign - excluding Paris - for what is, in comparison to the lofty prices the FAI were charging last night to watch us play Andorra (between €50 and €110), a mere combined total of €78. Of course, the FAI will try and justify their extortionate ticket prices by referring to the shiny new stadium and their related debts, but I'm not so sure that is an acceptable excuse to completely rip Irish fans off. I'm not aware of this having happened anywhere else. I contemplated travelling down to Dublin for the game last night, but I was simply in no position to spare even €50 for a ticket in lowest price-bracket. The rows of empty seats had little to do with the nature of the opponent, in my mind. I feel the relatively poor attendance - especially for the first competitive game at the new stadium - was entirely down to the exorbitant ticket prices being charged by the FAI. Are they unaware that we've been going through a pretty torrid recession for the past couple of years or something? :confused:

[jbyrne]

leaving aside delaneys mad salary what do people like the herald think the money we pay goes towards? the internationals are the FAIs only source of income. if the FAI were not investing large amounts in the development of the game the Herald would be having a whinge. the biggest rip-off here is the €1.10 that the herald thinks its worth

[bennocelt]

leaving aside delaneys mad salary what do people like the herald think the money we pay goes towards? the internationals are the FAIs only source of income. if the FAI were not investing large amounts in the development of the game the Herald would be having a whinge. the biggest rip-off here is the €1.10 that the herald thinks its worth

Yeah like where. Always here this rubbish -" investing in the development of the game".................where???

[Treaty Gooner]

Yeah like where. Always here this rubbish -" investing in the development of the game".................where???

My son is a member of the emerging talent centre in Ennis which is run by the FAI RDO's, I'd imagine this is an example of where their money goes. Facilities, coaches etc all costs money.

[bennocelt]

My son is a member of the emerging talent centre in Ennis which is run by the FAI RDO's, I'd imagine this is an example of where their money goes. Facilities, coaches etc all costs money.

Good for you, in my town one of the teams got a load of money too from the FAI. Club gone backwards and no longer has a junior team even. Now playing the likes of Clara town and the like.
Throwing money at bad rubbish wont change anything. Too many little personal fiefdoms in irish junior football.
Change the structures from top to bottom.

[passinginterest]

Benno that's very much what the emerging talent centre are doing. They're not club affiliated, I think it was the under 15 emerging talent squad that recently hammered the equivalent team from the Manchester City academy. The FAI are doing plenty of things wrong, but they're certainly trying to develop the game and the coaching structures in the country.

[Treaty Gooner]

Good for you, in my town one of the teams got a load of money too from the FAI. Club gone backwards and no longer has a junior team even. Now playing the likes of Clara town and the like.
Throwing money at bad rubbish wont change anything. Too many little personal fiefdoms in irish junior football.
Change the structures from top to bottom.

Are you serious with this post? FAI backs club but club makes a balls of developing itself so it's the FAI's fault?

They make a haims of a lot of things but a lot of it is fuelled by the likes of the Indo with their 'insider sources'. They need to hire proper event managers, proper PR and get the fans back onside. As far as I can see football is developing very well from schoolboys up. Seems like the modern day eqiuvalents of Keane and Duff aren't getting onto the bigger stages because clubs just go out and buy the Brazillian or Spaniard instead but that's another day's rant...

[bennocelt]

Are you serious with this post? FAI backs club but club makes a balls of developing itself so it's the FAI's fault?

They make a haims of a lot of things but a lot of it is fuelled by the likes of the Indo with their 'insider sources'. They need to hire proper event managers, proper PR and get the fans back onside. As far as I can see football is developing very well from schoolboys up. Seems like the modern day eqiuvalents of Keane and Duff aren't getting onto the bigger stages because clubs just go out and buy the Brazillian or Spaniard instead but that's another day's rant...

As i said too may people involved in football who treat clubs as something that is their own rather what is good for the town and for the game. Throwing money at it wont be any good. Of course the FAI should be blamed. Football from top to bottom in this country is run by idiots. The FAI run the game, dont they????

[Charlie Darwin]

This is probably the most appropriate place to put this: http://www.herald.ie/national-news/city-news/fans-paying-more-to-watch-andorran-parttimers-than-for-entire-away-campaign-2327735.html

Thought it was pretty interesting that you could have gotten into all the away games during the last campaign - excluding Paris - for what is, in comparison to the lofty prices the FAI were charging last night to watch us play Andorra (between €50 and €110), a mere combined total of €78. Of course, the FAI will try and justify their extortionate ticket prices by referring to the shiny new stadium and their related debts, but I'm not so sure that is an acceptable excuse to completely rip Irish fans off. I'm not aware of this having happened anywhere else. I contemplated travelling down to Dublin for the game last night, but I was simply in no position to spare even €50 for a ticket in lowest price-bracket. The rows of empty seats had little to do with the nature of the opponent, in my mind. I feel the relatively poor attendance - especially for the first competitive game at the new stadium - was entirely down to the exorbitant ticket prices being charged by the FAI. Are they unaware that we've been going through a pretty torrid recession for the past couple of years or something? :confused:
This is slightly misleading.

Not to defend the ticket prices (I am not in a position to pay them either) but last campaign we traveled to Cyprus, Montenegro and Bulgaria - hardly economic powerhouses any of them. Not sure how the Georgia game in Mainz was priced, but even Italy ranks well below us in the purchasing power stakes. Tickets for the Armenia game last week were 4 euros, for God's sake. Recession or not, we're still one of the richest countries in the richest part of the world and comparing our ticket prices to those of the former communist bloc is never going reveal an awful lot.


Are you serious with this post? FAI backs club but club makes a balls of developing itself so it's the FAI's fault?
Well if you back the wrong horse...

[DannyInvincible]

Seems like the modern day eqiuvalents of Keane and Duff aren't getting onto the bigger stages because clubs just go out and buy the Brazillian or Spaniard instead but that's another day's rant...

It was an unfortunate state of affairs that it ever came to us having to rely on English and Scottish clubs to produce our "home-grown talent" anyway.


This is slightly misleading.

Not to defend the ticket prices (I am not in a position to pay them either) but last campaign we traveled to Cyprus, Montenegro and Bulgaria - hardly economic powerhouses any of them. Not sure how the Georgia game in Mainz was priced, but even Italy ranks well below us in the purchasing power stakes. Tickets for the Armenia game last week were 4 euros, for God's sake. Recession or not, we're still one of the richest countries in the richest part of the world and comparing our ticket prices to those of the former communist bloc is never going reveal an awful lot.

I accept your point on making comparisons with weaker economies and expecting them to truly reveal something. But I think I recall reading a piece in the Irish Independent before our game in Bari last campaign about how our ticket prices were the most expensive of anywhere in Europe. From the article:


The breakdown of the prices for away games was Georgia €31 (after the game was rescheduled to Mainz, Germany), Cyprus €25, Italy €10, Bulgaria €5, Montenegro €5.

[Predator]

FAI Statement (http://www.fai.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=101242:fai-statement&catid=76:aviva-stadium&Itemid=143)


The Football Association of Ireland today (September 9) reconfirmed, following its AGM last month, that sales of Vantage seats, including sponsor commitments have surpassed 6,300. At the recent match against Andorra the number of Vantage seats occupied on premium level was 6,900 and the overall attendance at the match against Andorra, the bottom seeds in the group, was third highest at all UEFA qualification matches taking place that day in Europe. Claims made in this morning's Irish Independent about a ticket fiasco are unfounded. The Irish Independent reported that Mr. David Blood, had stated that an offer was made by a third party to the FAI of €75m to bear all risk from the Vantage Sales Process. The Board of Management of the FAI this morning confirms categorically that the Board never rejected any such offer and David Blood acknowledged this to be the case.
This morning's Irish Independent also claimed that a number of Vantage seats have been cancelled. The Football Association of Ireland can confirm that these account for less than 100 seats in total. The Association has less than 4,000 seats available to sell on premium level and the 6,300 figure reported at the AGM took account of this small number of cancellations.
The FAI also wishes to clarify that existing ten year ticket holders who purchased in 2004 and 2006 have paid for their ten year tickets in full and it is incorrect to claim that they have not paid for their tickets in the stadium.
The FAI has met all of its contributions to the €411m Aviva stadium which it jointly owns with the IRFU. In close consultation with its banking partners, the FAI has put in place detailed business plans that will see it debt free by 2020, while continuing to fund the development and growth of the sport at grassroots. The Association's business plans, backed by record levels of turnover and a commercial portfolio which as trebled in the past five years will give the FAI a debt free status from 2020. In addition, the FAI also has a number of sponsorship announcements still to make in the short term. These business plans have been agreed in close consultation with our banking partners who are comfortable with our seat sales and revenues.

[Charlie Darwin]

I accept your point on making comparisons with weaker economies and expecting them to truly reveal something. But I think I recall reading a piece in the Irish Independent before our game in Bari last campaign about how our ticket prices were the most expensive of anywhere in Europe. From the article:
Well everything in Ireland is among the most expensive in Europe, but I still agree tickets are overpriced for the lesser games at least.

I'm not sure a tiered pricing system, such as the IRFU's for the November internationals, would be any better. I'm not sure how pricing works in those other markets, but I doubt there was voracious demand for games against Ireland in the other countries. Hell, the Italy match was played in a small isolated city.

Sure, the Andorra match could be priced cheaper, but the Russia and Slovakia matches could surely sell out at a higher price. There is some logic to charging a flat fee for every game.

[DannyInvincible]

Ever since being rattled by the controversy surrounding the shameful organisation and promotion of the Airtricity League XI-Manchester United game along with the whole Limerick-Barcelona fiasco, it appears the FAI have decided to confront the media head on by openly dealing with and denying accusations thrown their way. Usually, it is procedure for such organisations to simply not comment on media speculation and the like. Does this dignify or give credence to some of the accusations? Probably. Maybe it's a good thing that the FAI are willing to engage on some level and clear a few matters up, but it always strikes me as somewhat odd when I see reference made to specific reports in specific newspapers on the FAI's own website. Had they been open in the first place, should these be things they should be having to clarify anyway? I suppose I'm putting the FAI in a bit of a catch-22 situation, but one would also have to wonder where it might stop.

[DannyInvincible]

There is some logic to charging a flat fee for every game.

I suppose if the FAI were to introduce some arbitrary scheme whereby they charged cheaper ticket prices for games against teams they adjudged to be "minnows" and higher prices for games against those teams they perceived to be "stronger" nations, it would leave them open to accusations of condescension, taking opponents for granted, being highly disrespectful and such.

[SwanVsDalton]

I don't think the FAI had much choice but to respond. Pretty damning investigation to go uncontested. Also they haven't really addressed some of the claims the Indo has made, such as how many of the tickets were allocated to sponsors etc. It's a weird statement - both definitive and vague. Plus doesn't Delaney usually act with a bit more vehemence? He's often an 'attack is the best form of defence' guy when it comes to the media. There's more to come on this I reckon.

[jbyrne]

This is probably the most appropriate place to put this: http://www.herald.ie/national-news/city-news/fans-paying-more-to-watch-andorran-parttimers-than-for-entire-away-campaign-2327735.html

Thought it was pretty interesting that you could have gotten into all the away games during the last campaign - excluding Paris - for what is, in comparison to the lofty prices the FAI were charging last night to watch us play Andorra (between €50 and €110), a mere combined total of €78

there were tickets up to €70 available for the Italy match in Bari. i have a leaflet at home that i picked up while over there advertising the game. The €10 we were charged reflected the fact that the section we were in was behind the goal with a running track between us and the pitch (miles away). the stadium in Bari is a municiple one and as such there has to be a certain amount of dirt cheap tickets available to make the stadium accessable to all sections of the public with differant means. the comparison between the €10 tickets we were sold and lansdowne ticket costs is unfair.

ticket prices for Italy v Faroe Islands last week:

TRIBUNA D’ONORE Euro 70,00
POLTRONA Euro 60,00
POLTRONA RIDOTTA Euro 30,00
POLTRONCINA Euro 50,00
POLTRONCINA RIDOTTA Euro 25,00
TRIBUNA LATERALE Euro 40,00
TRIBUNA LATERALE RIDOTTA Euro 20,00
MARATONA Euro 30,00
MARATONA RIDOTTA Euro 10,00
PARTERRE TRIBUNA Euro 20,00
PARTERRE TRIBUNA RIDOTTA Euro 10,00
PARTERRE MARATONA Euro 10,00
CURVE Euro 10,00