Originally Posted by
EatYerGreens
Because Ballybofey would be the norm in this, not the exception.
How many places would genuinely be able to justify a council-run Tallaght-esque facility without it becoming a white elephant ? I'm really not sure even somewhere like Cork could. There are so many other places there to attract large events, conferences etc as it is. And on the very rare occasion that Real Madrid did want to fulfil a money-raising game in Cork, I'm sure the GAA could be persuaded to open their facilities again now that the hoodoo was broken by the Lia Miller saga. And even if they couldn't - you can't build a new publicly-owned multi-purpose venue on the hope that a Real Madrid might want to use it once a generation.
We can disagree about Cork if you like, but let's look at the rest of the league. Tallaght Stadium means that it's unlikely anywhere else in Greater Dublin south of the river could justify a similar facility. So that rules out UCD, Cabinteely, Pats and Bray. The redeveloped Dalymount will be the equivalent for north Dublin, covering Bohs and Shels. Beyond that there could be a weak argument made about places like Drogheda, Dundalk or Waterford, but I just don't think they have the populations to attract enough usage to make it viable. And absolutely zero chance for the likes of Longford, Harps, Sligo, Wexford, Cobh and Athlone. They just don't have the populations.
The one possible exception could be Galway. But again - it's a small city with other options also competing for the limited amount of events they could attract.
So where else realistically could we see a Tallaght-type situation where a council views a stadium with an LOI anchor tenant as a useful asset for it to attract lots of other events to the area without it being a drain on its own resources ? Even a smaller version of Tallaght still wouldn't help much IMO, as you'd still have a base level of running costs. I'm not convinced that a 25% smaller venue would knock 25% off of the annual operating costs, for example. And that would affect its commercial viability for other events too.