CROKE PERK
€17m revenue generated from concerts at Headquarters
CROKE Park Stadium revenue contributed a record €17million to GAA coffers off the back of seven concerts at the venue last year.
The GAA’S annual accounts were unveiled yesterday with the Association back on track again financially after two disastrious years of Covid left income on the floor.
Five Garth Brooks concerts and two Ed Sheeran dates contributed to an overall operating surplus of €18.4 million for Croke Park Stadium
Stadium hire for the five concerts is recorded at €6.2 million in the annual accounts, coming in at just under €900,000 per gig.
Croke Park Stadium recorded a consolidated group turnover of €59 million for 2022.
Income from premium seats and boxes and catering was worth a whopping €34.7 million €, up from just over €6 million in 2021, where events were hit hard by the Covid pandemic.
Stadium and Commercial Director, Peter Mckenna revealed that there was a 93percent repurchase rate on premium seats and that corporate boxes were currently full.
Croke Park Stadium’s contribution to the GAA in 2021 was zero with the stadium largely out of bounds due to the Covid pandemic.
Mckenna hailed an “exceptional” year and “a new record” contribution from the stadium to the GAA, but cautioned that 2023 would be very different with no concerts lined up for Croke Park and full rates returning, after being set aside by the government for 2021 and cut in 2022.
Utility bills at GAA headquarters present another challenge. They were up 300 percent year on year to €2.3 million.
This was due to a 150 percent increase in energy costs and a return to normal stadium activities after Covid.
“The impact concerts would have contributed was €7.6 million during that period (2022),” said Mckenna.
“In 2023 there are no concerts and we will return to a more modest set of achievements. The €17 million redistribution (to the GAA) is something we are very proud of and a new high water mark.”
No concerts will automatically lead to a substantial drop in income, although there is still a faint possibility that a big name act could yet be attracted for a summer date.
Elsewhere, the GAA’S gate receipts for 2022 were €33.37 million – up from €11.67 million in 2021 when a scaled back Championship was played.
Commercial income – broadcast and sponsor – was down from just over €26 million to just under €22.5 million, but this is explained by the winter Covid Championship in late 2020, which is included in the 2021 figures. This meant that two sets of broadcast and sponsor income led to the €26 million figure.
Total GAA revenue at central level was up from €68.27 million to just over €96 million, with a consolidated surplus of €6.7 million, compared to €1.9 million the year before.
Individual counties reported a combined surplus of €9 million with the four provinces combined having a surplus of €2.5 million.
This left an €18.2 million surplus across the Association, compared to €13.5 million in 2021.
The GAA received a total of €21 million in state funding with €8.2 million of this going towards player grants and €6 for the club covid support resilience scheme.
The remainder of the funding was made up of €3.5 million in Covid grants for the GAA at national level, €2.4 in coaching funding and funding from the department of foreign affairs for community and healthy club grants.
However, the shadow of Covid is set to hang over the Association for a long time to come.
The GAA posted a two year deficit of just over €25 million during the pandemic, with between €2-4 million set to be repaid every year for the foreseeable future.
€3 million was invested in club facilities across 600 clubs, €8 million went to 6606 injured players, with €1 million returned in loss of earnings to injured players.
The 17m mark is something the GAA is very proud of, it is a new high water mark for us...