IRFU AGM 2013

[Dublin4]

I haven't seen any Ulster comments on this one:

IRFU hit by €26m shortfall in expected earnings from five- and 10-year tickets

Less than half the 3,700 tickets put of sale for €5,500 and €9,000 were actually sold

The IRFU last night revealed a €26 million loss in projected earnings from the sale of five- and 10-year tickets. Less than half the 3,700 tickets that recently went on sale for €9,000 and €5,500 were actually sold.

It means the union will have to borrow to fund the professional game over the next six years, in the hope of making up the deficit with the sale of 5,000 premium level tickets in 2020.


The 2,000 leftover tickets will now be available on a match-by-match basis.
“We’ve been to the market and the it has said what it has said, we sold just under 50 percent of the tickets,” IRFU chief executive Philip Browne confirmed.


The aim was to make €40 million from their sale, but only €14 million will be banked. This will force the union to borrow €25 million to keep the national and provincial squads competitive over the next six seasons.

Reduced
Browne also confirmed the funding of all professional squads will need to be reduced. It is unconfirmed how this will influence contract negotiations with Ireland’s best players.

“We will all have to tighten our belts but we are going to continue to operate at the levels we are at. We will continue to fund four professional teams and the national team and the domestic game.

“It is business as usual we are just going to have to borrow to fund that cash deficit over the next six years.”
This all came as a surprise to the union. They had consulted 10-year ticket holders and Deloitte before setting the same price as 2003, which was a €6,000 reduction on 2010 10- year tickets.


“I think everybody is surprised we didn’t sell as many as we hoped but that’s the nature of the economy at the moment.”
A severance payment of €11.5 million did come from Puma after they prematurely pulled out of Irish rugby and a new short sponsor is imminent, said Browne.
There was also a drop to a €4.5 million deficit in operating cash flow from last season’s €2.4 million surplus.


Honorary treasurer Tom Grace didn’t try to sugar coat the union’s disappointment at last night’s AGM at the Aviva stadium.
“It was hoped we would be debt-free by now; however, the down turn means we will have to borrow,” said Grace.
“Overall, if there’s a message coming through here it’s that the national team is the key provider for all activities undertaken by the union.


“Without the dividend this generates there would be no IRFU funding for provincial teams and consequently the branches would be relying on what they themselves can generate.
“There is absolutely no doubt that times are hard but we are extremely fortunate that we have managed our cash conservatively over the last number of years. The disappointing result with the sale of 10-year tickets reflects what is happening in the economy.
“I think, as a unit, we need to concentrate to develop again. If we don’t spend on the development of the game we can throw our hat at it,” said Grace in a speech to union members, including new president Pat Fitzgerald.

Loss in income
There is another loss in income expected when, or if, the ongoing negotiations with the French and English for newly structured European competitions reaches a conclusion.

Browne was angry about what he believes is the behind-the-scenes work of the English clubs on this matter.


“I think there is a fair degree of misinformation floating around in the media in relation to this. I think there is some pretty errant nonsense in the media, I presume it comes from the English clubs, suggesting ERC aren’t entitled to centrally sell the rights for future competitions. That is nonsense as it has been done in the past. How else do you secure your future but by selling your rights?


“It is also strange that they take that view when they also have a shareholder on the board and were present when that decision was rightly taken.
“It is also bizarre that Premier Rugby Ltd (English) castigated ERC for selling the rights centrally then went off and sold the rights to all matches involving English teams in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland to BT Vision without any reference to the Irish union, Scottish union, Welsh union or, I think, to the English union.”


http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugb...kets-1.1469464

Annual report can be downloaded from http://www.irishrugby.ie/news/29526.php

[Rooster]

Why don't they sell 5 or 10 year tickets at any stage ? Peoples circumstances change and perhaps could not afford one this year but may in a couple of years but then they have to wait to 2020 for sale and may be back in the can't afford situation again

[Setanta]

What worried me about that Report on IrishRugby.ie was the lack of self-criticism; it's all circumstantial or someone elses's fault. Rightly or wrongly fans see the IRFU as more interested in Money than in winning Rugby. The ridiculous jump in ticket Prices for the new Aviva, no clarity in Player contracts, the need to be seen to play to get the punters in outweighing any strategic thinking for the next world Cup all lead to supporters being more interested in their provincial Team than the national Team.

[Dublin4]

What I draw from it is that money will be tight for about five or six years until the best premium seats come up again in 2020.
A lot rides on Joe Schmidt getting some success and getting the punters in.
In fairness to the IRFU, they run a tight financial ship and could give lessons to other sports.
The provinces are going to have to be somewhat more entrepreneurial but there's no harm in that if it forces us to reach out to more potential fans and to grow the game.
Ulster should be in a strong position to grow with your ground development whereas Munster will be a little strapped for cash.
I like the commitment to run the four provinces and not to beat up on Connacht.

[Jackie Brown]

Then there is their contempt for the Northern Supporter...

The IRFU are feeling the delayed effect of the Southern economy dying a death. They built a stadium that is 30,000 too small, charge too much for their tickets, sold the Northern TV rights to the highest bidder rather than thinking of the rugby viewing/supporting public, consistently rewarding dead-duck coaches, underhand tinkering of coaches line ups. I've little sympathy for the shower. Time it was run by a professional outfit.

[Russ]

Then there is their contempt for the Northern Supporter...

The IRFU are feeling the delayed effect of the Southern economy dying a death. They built a stadium that is 30,000 too small, charge too much for their tickets, sold the Northern TV rights to the highest bidder rather than thinking of the rugby viewing/supporting public, consistently rewarding dead-duck coaches, underhand tinkering of coaches line ups. I've little sympathy for the shower. Time it was run by a professional outfit.

Article is about the bad business decisions IRFU makes, with one notably good "business" decision mad chastised.

The Irish media is more laughable than the IRFU

[Dublin4]

They built a stadium that is 30,000 too small, charge too much for their tickets

Are you serious, Jackie? I would dread being in the IRFU's ticket office trying to off load another 30,000 tickets apart from the England game every two years. The fact is that the demand for international tickets has collapsed as the rugby public sees through the non competitive AIs and other lesser games. More fans are interested in watching competitive provincial team matches than yawning through Fiji or Italy in a wind whistling Aviva.
Most clubs used to measure their status in the game by the number of tickets they got, now they can't wait to give them back.

I guess that the IRFU has also learned its lesson on the pricing front and it has had to seriously moderate the pricing policy to get bums on seats.

[ColinM]

They built a stadium that is 30,000 too small, charge too much for their tickets

Are you serious, Jackie? I would dread being in the IRFU's ticket office trying to off load another 30,000 tickets apart from the England game every two years. The fact is that the demand for international tickets has collapsed as the rugby public sees through the non competitive AIs and other lesser games. More fans are interested in watching competitive provincial team matches than yawning through Fiji or Italy in a wind whistling Aviva.
Most clubs used to measure their status in the game by the number of tickets they got, now they can't wait to give them back.

I guess that the IRFU has also learned its lesson on the pricing front and it has had to seriously moderate the pricing policy to get bums on seats.

Interesting one, there are now probably more non 80k games than there are 80k games but IMO that's a sign of the times. 60-70k would be the right size for the Ireland team home games. At the minute Lansdowne is too big to charge €100+ for tickets, but too small to facilitate growth in the game in Ireland, and growth in the supporter base.

The 80k crowds in Croke were as much due to the appeal of 'being there' for something that was to happen only a handful of times in history.

[Bart S]

They built a stadium that is 30,000 too small, charge too much for their tickets

Are you serious, Jackie? I would dread being in the IRFU's ticket office trying to off load another 30,000 tickets apart from the England game every two years. The fact is that the demand for international tickets has collapsed as the rugby public sees through the non competitive AIs and other lesser games. More fans are interested in watching competitive provincial team matches than yawning through Fiji or Italy in a wind whistling Aviva.
Most clubs used to measure their status in the game by the number of tickets they got, now they can't wait to give them back.

I guess that the IRFU has also learned its lesson on the pricing front and it has had to seriously moderate the pricing policy to get bums on seats.

Interesting one, there are now probably more non 80k games than there are 80k games but IMO that's a sign of the times. 60-70k would be the right size for the Ireland team home games. At the minute Lansdowne is too big to charge €100+ for tickets, but too small to facilitate growth in the game in Ireland, and growth in the supporter base.

The 80k crowds in Croke were as much due to the appeal of 'being there' for something that was to happen only a handful of times in history.

I've said elsewhere that the AI's provide very little appeal. The lure of a visit by the Boks, Wallabies or AB's has significantly diminished now that they visit every other year and often a lot of the big names aren't even there. Allied to this, the idea of people parting with a small fortune during November to watch 3 friendlies in the cold is a bit too much.

As for the Croke crowds, I'd also say the fact that Ireland were relatively successful during that period also helped with numbers. The EOS reign and early DK did produce a competitive team in the 6 Nations and one which could compete at least some of the time with the SH teams.

[LadyP]

Why are they wasting so much money on women's sevens, I am all for us girlies getting playing at a high level but from reading the match reports , Dublin knew of sevens in Brazil back in 2009and done nothing about it until this year,no recruiting no plan etc so they appear to be flogging the girls who have played 6Ns , throwing crazy money on a full time sevens coach and support staff , in turn it looks like they are killings the game for us girls.I see recently they went to Portugal for warm weather training, before a sevens game in England? Why a full time sevens coach? Is there a need to pay some guy silly money for 5-7 tournaments a year,I may be wrong bit I read somewhere that the ladies national coach is not full time!

More money spent getting girls to play a d better treatment would be a good start. Rant over .

[pwrmoore]

Why a full time sevens coach? Is there a need to pay some guy silly money for 5-7 tournaments a year,I may be wrong bit I read somewhere that the ladies national coach is not full time!

.

Doesn't make any sense to pay a coach full time when a certain "Mike form Knocknagoney" would do the job for free!

[Scranner]

If Schmidt can produce some decent results, interest in the national side will increase and, as the economy improves, crowds will go up. 'Twas ever thus.

[Russ]

If Schmidt can produce some decent results, interest in the national side will increase and, as the economy improves, crowds will go up. 'Twas ever thus.

Austerity doesn't work.

Increase the quality, and output, and you will see results.

Someone should promote the IRFU a**holes to run the EU

[rumncoke]

I don't think the Aviva is 30,000 to short of a full house maybe 10, 000 more would have been better but D4 couldn't get the planning permission due NIMBYs , which of course gives the ground its rather odd appearance.

And to be honest nothing is worse than a half filled Stadium of silence

[Jackie Brown]

A fully filled stadium of silence is worse.

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