OUr domestic cup final is lucky to attract a crowd of 10,000 so thats a load of crap.
Croke Park is one of the top half dozen stadiums in the world, and if you take corporate facilities as a major factor it is probably in the top 3.
Ownership of the stadiums is irrelevant as long as they are available.
Fair Play died Nov 18th 2009, Stade Francais.
The Euros are much more likely to be given to England in the even that theyre taken from Ukraine and Poland. Great infrastructure and larger and more experienced security forces.
It is one of the biggest but don't kid yourself that it is anywhere near the top stadiums in the world.
In no particular order - Wembley, Millenium stadium, Stade de France, Allianz Arena (Munich) Dortmund, Schalke, Amsterdam arena
Where Croke Park falls down IMO - half the fans are out in the rain, queues for refreshments are ridiculous even at the corporate level at the Italy rugby match I was queueing for the whole of half time to get a pint. I've never even bothered trying at half time in the main seats. You are also a long way from the action in the upper tiers although it is probably better for GAA. I had one of the worst seats in Dortmund and Munich and still had a great view. The Stadiums in Japan were also on a differen tlevel.
I haven't been to the Emirates yet or the Bernabeu for many years. I believe both are top class.
IMO it is definitley ahead of Stade de France and Amsterdam, having been in both. The millenium, i don't know about their corporate facilities. I was'nt over impressed with Yokohama.
Where it does score is it has I believe, more corporate boxes, permium level seats, which is where the major revenue is generated.
Wembly was falling down last time I was in it, but trust the new Wembley is up with the best, the others I've not been to.
The emirates modelled their corpoate facilities on Croker! Not ben there either.
Fair Play died Nov 18th 2009, Stade Francais.
It probably has more corporate boxes and seats etc but it is all quantity not quality where Croke Park wins. I'm not used to enjoying corporate hospitality but I imagine you don't queue for 15 minutes in a rugby scrum to get a drink in these venues. I then took one look at the food queue and decided I wasn't that hungry.
The corporate area in Croke Park is nice behind the seats but the rest is pretty drab.
I found the Amsterdam Arena to be very plush - more like a hotel behind the seats than a football stadium. Easy to get food and drink as well, no queues for the toilets. It is a lot smaller though.
Stade de France is poor for merchandise but reasonable for food and drink. I think the seats are much better and also has a better atmosphere.
I think Croek Park needs to double or treble the amount of food/drink outlets, it needs more toilets. It needs proper roof especially with the amount of rain we get. There was clearly a decision made as well to cram in more seats rather than give more room aka the new Wembley with individual seats, cup holders etc.
I think huge revenue potential is being lost.
I haven't even mention the American stadiums where they take it to another elvel regarding merchandising and refreshments. You don't even have to leave your seat.
Now this is all relative to the best stadiums in the world. Croke Park is still a fabulous venue and we are lucky to be able to rent it while Lansdowne is being re-developed.
How is it a "load of crap" ? Are you saying we have a stadium fit to host our Cup Final ? What should be the showcase event of the domestic season. If you are, then I beg to disagree. Even for a crowd of 10,000 (and quite a few recent cup finals have drawn comfortably more than that) there's nothing there. Tolka and Dalymount have less than 10,000 seats and both are in a very bad state of repair in any event. Why not start with that as a realistic objective, say a 20,000 seater stadium fit for such an event ? Or how about improving the overall standard of grounds in the league here ? Or does your "we can do anything if we want" ethos not extend to the local game ?
But no, we want the glamour without the foundations, the glitz without the substance. Talking about the qualities of Croke Park is all very well (and the ownership might just be very relevant in this case, taking into account the track record of the owners when it comes to "foreign games") but even that and a revamped Landsdowne ( and can anyone be sure that will be finished on schedule ?) still only gives two stadia, and that's before you even look at the rest of the logistics involved.
Honestly, let's get our heads out of the clouds shall we ? We're like a spoilt child who only wants to live on ice cream, and doesn't want to be bothered with nasty vegetables. But as we all should know by now, living on ice cream alone will eventually make you very sick indeed.
Out for a spell, got neglected, lay on the bench unselected.
HAving a stadium fit to hold a match for 10K - 20K has nothing to do with a stadium holding 30K or 50K etc. They are 2 totally different things. I am fully behind any clubs ambitions to develop grounds etc or for FAi involvment in same. However there will never be a ground built to hold 50K plus just for an EL club, certainly not in the forseeable future.
You ask what should be the showpiece of the domestic season, the answer is the FAI cup final, but again nothing to do with hosting a major tournament.
As you should be aware Dalymount is due to be bulldozed and replaced with a state of the art stadium in Harristown, Drogs have just got planning permission for their new ground, the builders are back on site in Tallaght, so things are happening in the EL, but only thanks to people with the same YES WE CAN DO attitude that I have.
If you check the Lansdowne web site you'll see it is well on schedule.
Finally a successful bid for Ireland to part host would generate millions into FAI coffers which can help further develop the El and grassroots footballl etc.
Fair Play died Nov 18th 2009, Stade Francais.
Forget about stadia for a moment and consider other criteria. I read that its a UEFA requirement for a Champions League Final venue city to have 22,000 hotel rooms. I assume its the same for Euros matches with stadium capacities of 50,000+.
Dublin DOES NOT meet this criteria.
Maybe someone on here can confirm this.
"Football is a game you play with your brain".
Fair Play died Nov 18th 2009, Stade Francais.
Fair Play died Nov 18th 2009, Stade Francais.
"Football is a game you play with your brain".
Almost 17,000 in 2007 with new hotels opening since then and extensions to existing hotels it is very close to 20,000. UCD accomodation are luxury apartments fully serviced, and pricy to rent in the summer, there are also plenty of short term rental apartments that would be included.
Fair Play died Nov 18th 2009, Stade Francais.
Unfortunately this is a non runner for us, the most realistic options imo would be Thomond Park and LR. Neither of which are currently available and Thomond wouldnt meet required standards. As much as I would dearly love Ireland to get to co host the tournament, we are a long way short infrastructrually. if any of ye have travelled to any sort of major european city from dublin, ye will have noticed the gulf in public transport. Dublin and Milan (Linate) are the only european cities that i can think off the top of my head that I have been to that the only transport available out of the airport is bus or taxi. That isnt good enough for cohosting a major european tournament.
I find it very hard to believe that the gaa would give the sole use of croker to football for 3/4 weeks and realistically to meet uefa requirements it would need to be solely used for football for this period.
So in reality all we have is LR. Not enough.
And on a separate point, what is this talk of a 20k stadium for cork city?? how is this going to be viable?
I think 27k capacity was mentioned.
Secret plan
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