How good would the LOI be with a €145,000,000 investment?

BOHtox

Funny I should ask that as that's exactly what's being spent by Irish people going abroad to watch British football.

From the Irish times:

IRISH FOOTBALL fans spent approximately €145 million last year visiting Premier League grounds and made 164,000 visits, with an average spend of £776 (€884.64) each, according to VisitBritain, the UK’s state tourism agency.
The Irish accounted for one-in-five football fans who visited a Premier League ground from overseas last year. Though the Irish are by far the most popular visitors to Premier League grounds, a similar survey in 2008 found 267,000 Irish fans attended a match in the UK, so the numbers travelling (down almost 40 per cent) have clearly been hit by the recession.
In that year 400,000 Irish people visited a sporting event in the UK, which may be accounted for by the huge influx to Cheltenham and other race meetings every year.
The Premier League is arguably the most popular football league in the world and is beamed into 212 different territories with an audience reach of nearly four billion people.
Last year 750,000 overseas fans attended a Premier League ground. That was worth €678 million a year to the British economy. After Ireland, Norway (77,000), the US (56,000), the Netherlands (41,000) and Germany (39,000) provided the greatest number of visitors.
Unsurprisingly, Old Trafford, the home of Manchester United, was the most popular venue – attracting 114,000 visitors. This was followed by Anfield, the home of Liverpool, which attracted 89,000 visitors; Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium (88,000), Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge (54,000), and Tottenhams White Hart Lane (38,000).
Surprisingly, Celtic’s ground, Celtic Park, which is a huge draw for Irish fans, did not figure in the top 10 grounds.
Patricia Yates, the director of strategy and communication at VisitBritain, said the results showed the impact of a partnership between itself and the Premier League going back to 2008 with many footballers extolling the virtues of the country on the VisitBritain website.
“It has given us access to some of the stars of the British game who have promoted Britain to their fans back home – and encouraged them to come and visit,” she said

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/travel/2011/0903/1224303401548.html

Where would the LOI be with €145 million investment?
If divided up between the current 21 clubs that would mean that each club would get €6.9 million each. That's a lot of money. I presume that's around mid to low Championship level football.
Thoughts on the article and what it entails?

I-Shot-Jr

The LOI could sign Ronaldo then hold a raffle between all the clubs for him.

Ebbs

Sweet jesus. Firstly...800 per game? Are people flying via private jets or something :S With champaign rather than fosters

LoI could actually hold on to good players, build bigger grounds and actually push forward. We'd still be a feeder league but atleast not to the likes of the SPL and such. The money would snow ball too. We'd have better stadiums and better players....hence go further in europe and once again draw bigger crowds.

I hate these shít hypothetical questions that get my hopes up but ultimately leave me more bitter :pac:

Mr Alan

I predict good things for this thread

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

Not this shït again...

Chucky the tree

Pretty flawed to ponder what the 21 LOI clubs could do with €145m Most of that money is spent on flights and accomdation which the EPL club get nothing from.

Mars Bar

A person who spends €800 on a trip to a PL match needs their head fúcking checked.
It can easily be done on €200.

BOHtox

Chucky the tree wrote: »

Pretty flawed to ponder what the 21 LOI clubs could do with €145m Most of that money is spent on flights and accomdation which the EPL club get nothing from.

I'm not saying what would the clubs do with the money the EPL clubs get, I'm saying what would the clubs do with the money that the Oirish football 'fan' spend on going to and seeing the the EPL

THFC wrote: »

Not this shït again...

Cheers, mate.

BOHtox

Mr Alan wrote: »

I predict good things for this thread

THFC wrote: »

Not this shït again...

And us League of Ireland supporters are bad.
Can we please just discuss what was in the article, opening post and the money involved.

OPENROAD

What do you think OP?

Chucky the tree

BOHtox wrote: »

I'm not saying what would the clubs do with the money the EPL clubs get, I'm saying what would the clubs do with the money that the Oirish football 'fan' spend on going to and seeing the the EPL

Cheers, mate.

But the Oirish football fans wouldn't spent close to €145m because they wouldn't need to pay for a flight/boat or a night's accomdation. Just multple 400,000 fans who traveled to england by the cost ticket for the LOI and that's why Irish clubs are missing out on.

cson

Somewhere in the SPL realm I'd imagine.

Freedom of choice is a great thing all the same.

ArmaniJeanss

BOHtox wrote: »

I'm not saying what would the clubs do with the money the EPL clubs get, I'm saying what would the clubs do with the money that the Oirish football 'fan' spend on going to and seeing the the EPL

You can't just ignore the fact that most of the money isn't football spend, its ancilliary stuff like flights, accomadation, beer. Quite often the game is just a cover for a lads away trip.

If you choose to ignore this then you might as well ask what would the LOI do with the €145M spent on trips to Ibiza.

Mars Bar

I'd be far more worried on what the money the FAI spent on the beer and train for that Irish match could have done for the LOI.

yosemite_sam

Sad, I was on a ferry back in May. It was full of Irish Manu fans, like people possessed. You would have sworn that Manchester Utd were an Irish club, the way they were going on. We are going doing this and we are going to win that, the Club must be in fits of laughter seeing these mugs over week in week out

BOHtox

OPENROAD wrote: »

What do you think OP?

I reckon we'd be mid- Championship but we'd have the allure of European football over the Championship clubs. Players like Keith Fahey, Pat McCourt, Niall McGinn, Shaun Williams, Willo Flood, Sean Dillon, Brian Murphy would all be League of Ireland players.
Qualification to the Champions League group stages would happen and regular qualification to the same stage in the Europa.
Stadia would be developed. Crowds, on average, would be 10 times what they are now.
Regularly, League of Ireland players would be International Players.

BOHtox

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

You can't just ignore the fact that most of the money isn't football spend, its ancilliary stuff like flights, accomadation, beer. Quite often the game is just a cover for a lads away trip.

If you choose to ignore this then you might as well ask what would the LOI do with the €145M spent on trips to Ibiza.

X amount of money is spent watching the matches.
X= { Travel, beer, match ticket}
X is now spent on League of Ireland, in this theoretical example.
X= €145m.
League of Ireland gets investment of X

Chucky the tree

BOHtox wrote: »

X amount of money is spent watching the matches.
X= { Travel, beer, match ticket}
X is now spent on League of Ireland, in this theoretical example.
X= €145m.
League of Ireland gets investment of X

This is incredibly retarded logic. Why not just multiple 400k by the price on an adult ticket?

applehunter

Something not right here.

Gone over a couple of times myself and spent nowhere near €900. She's got her figures wrong there I'd say.

€10 into the Cross on Saturday, €4.20 for pint in the Horseshoe at HT, Petrol divided by 4 I guess about €1.

That's €15.20 all kept in the local economy.

Great value I must say.

BOHtox

Chucky the tree wrote: »

This is incredible retarded logic.

Or can you not comprehend it?

IT'S FÚCKING EASY. IN THIS *EXAMPLE*, I'M SAYING WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO THE LEAGUE OF IRELAND WITH THE EXACT AMOUNT OF MONEY SPENT BY IRISH PEOPLE GOING TO THE EPL?
I KNOW MONEY IS SPENT ON TRAVEL, ETC. I'M PRESUMING THAT THE IRISH WOULD ALSO SPEND THIS MONEY ON THE LOI.

For all we know they could take the club bus to every away game and spend money in the club bars.

lordgoat

Still brutal. It takes years and interest from kids to stay in soccer and develop, not just money.

eagle eye

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

You can't just ignore the fact that most of the money isn't football spend, its ancilliary stuff like flights, accomadation, beer. Quite often the game is just a cover for a lads away trip.

If you choose to ignore this then you might as well ask what would the LOI do with the €145M spent on trips to Ibiza.

Good post but when you think about it if even a quarter of that money was spent on the LOI and if that money was used in a sensible budget to go on trips to LoI games it would make a huge difference.

I'm starting to go to a few games again after years away from it. Its enjoyable and tbh just as enjoyable as going to England to a game, and probably moreso because you meet people every week and make friends over time. Clearly the standard isn't as good but you have a much better view than what you normally get at a game in England and the football has become more exciting I think that it was when I last went many years back.

Personally I think now I prefer to watch the Premeir League on tv and attend LoI live than spend a lump of money on a trip abroad to a game.

GLaDOS

lordgoat wrote: »

Still brutal. It takes years and interest from kids to stay in soccer and develop, not just money.

If there was more money in the Irish game we'd be better able to hold onto the talent we produce instead of anyone half decent going to england/scotland the first sign of interest

OPENROAD

BOHtox wrote: »

Or can you not comprehend it?

IT'S FÚCKING EASY. IN THIS *EXAMPLE*, I'M SAYING WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO THE LEAGUE OF IRELAND WITH THE EXACT AMOUNT OF MONEY SPENT BY IRISH PEOPLE GOING TO THE EPL?
I KNOW MONEY IS SPENT ON TRAVEL, ETC. I'M PRESUMING THAT THE IRISH WOULD ALSO SPEND THIS MONEY ON THE LOI.

For all we know they could take the club bus to every away game and spend money in the club bars.

Basically what you already said, clubs could improve stadiums etc... but obviously it is not a reality, bit like wondering what would happen if the country struck oil

ynwa_17

Better question:

How good would the LOI be if all the money Seán Dunne owed Nama was given to the leagues?

BOHtox

lordgoat wrote: »

Still brutal. It takes years and interest from kids to stay in soccer and develop, not just money.

Ridiculous statement.

Rovers have had two band wagons in the last 3 years. Each time multipling their previous average crowd. The Tallaght Band wagon and now Europe. Money from this has allowed them to buy quality players and they have a very healty average crowd now.

Bohs, Shels, Rovers, Derry, Cork etc have all spent money and bought quality players. This was not recognised by the Irish 'stooler and left the clubs looking like idiots overspending big time.

BOHtox

OPENROAD wrote: »

Basically what you already said, clubs could improve stadiums etc... but obviously it is not a reality, bit like wondering what would happen if the country struck oil

I've said a numerous amount of times that this is a theoretical example

Chucky the tree

Oh Okay. Imo the clubs would end up spending the extra mony on paying ridiculous wages to very average players and then most clubs would end up bankrupt/in sever financial difficulty a few years down the line with a few clubs being demoted for being financial inept.

lordgoat

ScienceNerd wrote: »

If there was more money in the Irish game we'd be better able to hold onto the talent we produce instead of anyone half decent going to england/scotland the first sign of interest

Anyone that's half decent is rarely able to play at the highest level, so while there is a better product available as close by it will always be playing second fiddle.

BOHtox

Chucky the tree wrote: »

Oh Okay. Imo the clubs would end up spending the extra mony on paying ridiculous wages to very average players and then most clubs would end up bankrupt/in sever financial difficulty a few years down the line with a few clubs being demoted for being financial inept.

Well look at you Mister glass half full throwing his toys out of the pram.

Why would we do that?
The league has overspent when we hadn't money. Clubs have learnt from this and are now prudent. It didn't happen in England or Scotland when they started getting from TV money, European money and big sponsorship deals.

lordgoat

BOHtox wrote: »

Ridiculous statement.

Rovers have had two band wagons in the last 3 years. Each time multipling their previous average crowd. The Tallaght Band wagon and now Europe. Money from this has allowed them to buy quality players and they have a very healty average crowd now.

Bohs, Shels, Rovers, Derry, Cork etc have all spent money and bought quality players. This was not recognised by the Irish 'stooler and left the clubs looking like idiots overspending big time.

Ehh the standard of football played is terrible. And i unfortunately still go to games for some strange reason.

The match rovers derry match on tv, somehow managed to be a game of soccer as poor as the international game. To develop the game sure you need money, but more importantly you need numbers from a young age combined with good coaching.

RoryMac

BOHtox wrote: »

Rovers have had two band wagons in the last 3 years. Each time multipling their previous average crowd. The Tallaght Band wagon and now Europe. Money from this has allowed them to buy quality players and they have a very healty average crowd now.

Bohs, Shels, Rovers, Derry, Cork etc have all spent money and bought quality players. This was not recognised by the Irish 'stooler and left the clubs looking like idiots overspending big time.

Maybe it's attitudes like this that stop some from going to LoI games?

People who start going to games are on the bandwagon and people who don't are bar stoolers.

It would be great to see that type of money in Irish football so that we could have teams produce and hold onto their talent, teams making inroads into Europe on a regular basis the way Copenhagen and Rosenberg before them did.

Mars Bar

In an ideal world, I would like to think that clubs would invest most of the money into their youth systems for the future rather than immediately pumping all of it into the first team for the present.

How much will Rovers pump into their youth teams from their EL windfall?

Chucky the tree

BOHtox wrote: »

Well look at you Mister glass half full throwing his toys out of the pram.

Why would we do that?
The league has overspent when we hadn't money. Clubs have learnt from this and are now prudent. It didn't happen in England or Scotland when they started getting from TV money, European money and big sponsorship deals.

That's just my take on this theoretical situation. As for it not happening it England or Scotland? huh? Plenty of clubs over there have screwed themselves big time over the years.

BOHtox

lordgoat wrote: »

Ehh the standard of football played is terrible. And i unfortunately still go to games for some strange reason.

The match rovers derry match on tv, somehow managed to be a game of soccer as poor as the international game. To develop the game sure you need money, but more importantly you need numbers from a young age combined with good coaching.

Perhaps the stlye of football ain't great but playes like Ronan Finn and Karl Sheppard are. Clubs could buy even better players than these.

RoryMac wrote: »

Maybe it's attitudes like this that stop some from going to LoI games?

People who start going to games are on the bandwagon and people who don't are bar stoolers.

It would be great to see that type of money in Irish football so that we could have teams produce and hold onto their talent, teams making inroads into Europe on a regular basis the way Copenhagen and Rosenberg before them did.

I never said that. A group of people who start supporting a team when they're succesful is a bandwagon. Many people even joked on here about them jumping on the bandwagon as they now support Rovers.
Clutching at straws, mate.

I completely agree with you're second paragraph. Although Copenhagen regularly win their league. I'd hate that to happen in the LOI. I'd like an open league.

mars bar wrote: »

In an ideal world, I would like to think that clubs would invest most of the money into their youth systems for the future rather than immediately pumping all of it into the first team for the present.

How much will Rovers pump into their youth teams from their EL windfall?

AFAIK, their plan is to invest in their facilities at Peamount.

homerjay2005

€884 a trip, lol.

i went to a game last year and match ticket, bus and flights cost me €70 return, i was off the drink in january so i spent f*ck all.

my average is about €150 a game, so where the hell do they get that figure??? madness. going off the fact that their figures are already wrong, you can probably cut that figure of €145million down to about €40million already.

Mars Bar

BOHtox wrote: »

AFAIK, their plan is to invest in their facilities at Peamount.

Excellent stuff.

BOHtox

Chucky the tree wrote: »

That's just my take on this theoretical situation. As for it not happening it England or Scotland? huh? Plenty of clubs over there have screwed themselves big time over the years.

It has happened you're right....Look at Livingston for example.
But it's definitely in a minority. Other clubs have spent money wisely and invested in young players, like Blackpool. I may have taken your statement too far. It seems I'm the only LOI fan posting in this thread. I'm up against the clock to post a return post so I can see what posts have been made while I posted originally. Confusing right?
So I end up just posting my mind rather than think of an arguement.

BOHtox

homerjay2005 wrote: »

€884 a trip, lol.

i went to a game last year and match ticket, bus and flights cost me €70 return, i was off the drink in january so i spent f*ck all.

my average is about €150 a game, so where the hell do they get that figure??? madness. going off the fact that their figures are already wrong, you can probably cut that figure of €145million down to about €40million already.

They probably included the likes of millionaires going over for a week and staying in a ****** star hotel and the likes. Getting a premium ticket etc.

lordgoat

BOHtox wrote: »

Perhaps the stlye of football ain't great but playes like Ronan Finn and Karl Sheppard are. Clubs could buy even better players than these.



AFAIK, their plan is to invest in their facilities at Peamount.

While i can accept that, and add a few other names if you look at it as a clinically marketable product the LOI is a long way from being an attraction.

The fight for numbers with GAA and recently rugby also put more pressure on the system.

BOHtox

lordgoat wrote: »

While i can accept that, and add a few other names if you look at it as a clinically marketable product the LOI is a long way from being an attraction.

The fight for numbers with GAA and recently rugby also put more pressure on the system.

But with 6.9 million it would be and not just a feeder for the SPL and Championship. It could be sustainablely a great league.

chopperbyrne

It would be on a par with other smaller European leagues if everyone who traveled to England to see a match instead went to watch a LOI team, irregardless of the estimated amount they spend.

It'd still be a feeder league to the EPL, but less players would leave to go to lower league English teams.

What LOI teams need to do is get out in their local communities and encourage families to attend by offering good deals. It's all about capturing interest when people are young, so they grow up supporting the team.

Chucky the tree

BOHtox wrote: »

It has happened you're right....Look at Livingston for example.
But it's definitely in a minority. Other clubs have spent money wisely and invested in young players, like Blackpool. I may have taken your statement too far. It seems I'm the only LOI fan posting in this thread. I'm up against the clock to post a return post so I can see what posts have been made while I posted originally. Confusing right?
So I end up just posting my mind rather than think of an arguement.

I wouldn't say it's a minority, certainly not in Scotland. Gretna are probably the best one for going bankrupt but nearly ever other major club in Scotland is in big financial pain. Celtic and Rangers have been plodding along and you can see from there diminse in Eureope how much trouble both clubs are in long term. Hearts have been flirting with adminstration for a good numbers of years aswell while I'd say most of the other lcubs are just about getting by.

England is in better shape but there no perfect. Even teams like Blackpool who have spen wisely were relegated so the blue print isn't perfect. I really don't think the money would signify a massive improvement accross the board as running a football club well is extremely difficult.

SantryRed

It doesn't say 880 quid a trip. I think that's on average what an Irish person travelling over throughout the year would spend!

Gavin "shels"

mars bar wrote: »

A person who spends €800 on a trip to a PL match needs their head fúcking checked.
It can easily be done on €200.

€200 would buy you a season ticket at probably most LoI teams!:rolleyes:

cson wrote: »

Somewhere in the SPL realm I'd imagine.

:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D Awh yes, this aul gem. Take Celtic and Rangers away and the top half of the LoI would have no bother fighting it out in the SPL.

chopperbyrne wrote: »

What LOI teams need to do is get out in their local communities and encourage families to attend by offering good deals. It's all about capturing interest when people are young, so they grow up supporting the team.

Easier said than done tbh, look at the likes of Salthill and Mervue, Drom is literally out in the middle of a Quarry where a 25 seater bus struggled to get up to roads while Fahys Field isn't much easier to get to in the middle of an apartment complex.

It worked for Shams out in Tallaght due to them having a shiny new stadium in a mainly untapped area, but they pulled it off brilliantly with good promoting.

Ebbs

mars bar wrote: »

How much will Rovers pump into their youth teams from their EL windfall?

Just got a 100 year lease for their youth facilities, just applied for more planning permission, just opened a ladies team, etc etc.

As for the mass EPL hysteria in this thread, jesus. If you dont like the debate stay out of the thread. The OP wasnt in any way condescending towards the EPL yet you feel the need to get so defensive. Its truely amazing.

Year on year if that sort of money was spent on the league and local tourism it would still increase sponsorship and the likes. I think it would have a profound effect. Even a 1/4 of the money spent on LoI games/merchandise would have a positive effect. Attendances are everything.

We'd certainly have a better national side, better facilities around the country and a better standard league.

chopperbyrne

Obviously some teams will struggle due to their location. Ballybofey isn't the easiest to get to either, but some teams should be able to get far bigger crowds than they do with a bit of decent promotion.

plasmaguy

(a) I'm sure at least half those fans also attend LOI games and spend money here.

(b) We live in a democracy where people are free to do what they want, when they want. While it may not be ideal people go abroad to watch football, good luck to them.

(c) There aren't enough fans in Ireland to ensure LOI clubs have big followings and can make big money signings. Some tried to live outside of their means in the past and almost went bust.

(d) At the average EPL match, Irish fans probably make up 2 or 3% of the total number of fans. Even if they stayed in Ireland, they wouldn't be large numbers.

(e) Fans would probably spend 20 euro max to attend a LOI match.

Ebbs

plasmaguy wrote: »

(b) We live in a democray

Seriously? I dont think anyone is implying a police state. All airplanes aimed at tallaght stadium, tolka, dalyer... Its a hypothetical question.

plasmaguy

Ebbs wrote: »

Seriously? I dont think anyone is implying a police state. All airplanes aimed at tallaght stadium, tolka, dalyer... Its a hypothetical question.

It's all academic to be honest.

Irish people spend hundreds of millions going to Cheltenham and other British race meets, as well as betting on English races.

Everyone knows the LOI product is not as good as the EPL product and never will be for obvious reasons around resources unless of course LOI teams can attract oil sheiks to buy them out.

But such oil sheiks would more than likely prefer to spend their time in London than in some LOI town!

Richard Hillman

Interesting article. Hoepfully ths thread doesnt get shut down by a trigger happy mod because people cant stick to the subject :rolleyes:


The fee's are very interesting and its something the government need to address. There is no way we can keep all of the 140 million in the economy but we need to tackle the issue. A fee around 50 million make a huge difference if handed to the clubs and marketing department in the LOI. I think we should relax rules for non E.U players as well and turn Ireland into something like Belgium is and let top players begin their European careers here with loanees from big clubs and the best young players from South America and Africa too trying to get European work permits. With a massively improved league and facilities, i would imagine it would turn peoples heads a bit more. Improved money from UEFA prize money and transfer fee's to LOI clubs for the non EU players could well be worth 50 million to the country. Added to all of that it would be good for the economy for local businesses around the clubs and advertising marketing and less people traveling abroad to see high level football.



In terms of the Cheltenham Festival, i think that is just bone idleness from politicians that they havnt even tried to address it. People from Ireland flock to cheltenham because they have the best jumps horses on show and the prestige of the Gold Cup. Owners, trainers and jockeys go there because of the huge prize money and the prestige of some races. We should go head to head with Cheltenham and have a race festival here at the same time with vastly superior prize money. The owners and trainers would send their horses here and thousands of Irish wont bother going to 2nd rate horse racing at Cheltenham. We might even get a good few tourists.