2016 Croke Park Classic

jack presley

http://fansided.com/2014/12/24/boston-college-vs-georgia-tech-set-2016-croke-park-classic/

Don't know if to take seriously or not but would be nice if true.

jack presley

jack presley wrote: »

http://fansided.com/2014/12/24/boston-college-vs-georgia-tech-set-2016-croke-park-classic/

Don't know if to take seriously or not but would be nice if true.

what kind of fan bases would they have? you really saw the difference in fans last year due to ucf being a younger college and not having the same kinds of alumni as penn state 2 teams like that could end up being an empty stadium.

Bateman

This wouldn’t get much of a travelling crowd from the US relative to schools that have been over previously, IMO.

Neither team has a particularly large fan base on raw numbers – the raw numbers don’t cover latent non-attendance “support-base” around the country, but anyway…

2013 Averages
1…Michigan 111,592
5…Penn St 96,588
16…Notre Dame 80,795
…Georgia Tech 49,077
...Boston College 33,006

tgdaly

Would be very happy if this happened

OU812

Was just talking to someone in Boston College and mentioned them coming over for this, he said that nothing's been confirmed, it has been mentioned to them but no decision will be made for a while yet.

OU812

OK, Just got off the phone with Georgia tech (called them just on spec).

They have a confirmation in their diary for the first game of the season, Vs Boston College in Dublin August 2016.

Jimbob1977

There's nothing worse than a half-empty Croke Park. It's cavernous.

The Aviva would be more suitable to a match of this size

Isn't Boston College the university that recorded those controversial Loyalist and Republican tapes that were meant to be released on death of the contributor... but the PSNI have demanded access?

eagle eye

Boston is full of Irish people and you will get lots of casual fans who will want to go to this and mix it in with a trip to Ireland. Stadium will be as full as they want it to be.

JCTO

BC will probably get a decent crowd from their side of things. Georgia Tech not so much. What will also help BC is there international study abroad program is huge and there will most likely be thousands of Alumni living in Europe. That and as EE said being in Boston alone will help their cause.

jack presley

http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaa-scrap-plans-for-croke-park-american-football-match-31166293.html

Game not happening any more unfortunately

DBIreland

Could it move to Lansdowne/Aviva? It would be a better fit attendance wise. Seems the GAA pulled the plug and not the NCAA which might mean a change of venue could work.

OU812

That's balls, they're a hungry crowd of you know whats.

I hope the aviva take it...

It's a fluctuating currency, it's a year and a half away & anything could happen by then. This isn't down to the €/£ value.

jack presley

OU812 wrote: »

That's balls, they're a hungry crowd of you know whats.

I hope the aviva take it...

It's a fluctuating currency, it's a year and a half away & anything could happen by then. This isn't down to the €/£ value.

Also, even if the rate does stay where it is now, it should attract more over from the States as it'll cheaper for them to travel.

DBIreland

OU812 wrote: »

This isn't down to the €/£ value.

I think you are right, probably down to the bad press moving the game to Limerick got. The timing of the match doesn't really suit the GAA, they could need Croke Park for their own games any weekend around then.

in fairness most people felt lansdown road was a better venue for it anyway you could get a great atmosphere in a smaller stadium.

jack presley

Landsdowne is the better venue alright but it was the GAA driving this whole thing. I doubt the IRFU or FAI will take up the reigns.

helimachoptor

ah balls

Beefy78

jack presley wrote: »

Also, even if the rate does stay where it is now, it should attract more over from the States as it'll cheaper for them to travel.

I assume the issue is more that the fees that the GAA would need to pay to the NCAA/the two colleges to get the game are now too expensive because of the change in the exchange rate.

paulie21

I see the Gaa have made Croker available to Conor McGregor. Would that not be the same since the UFC are an American company

jack presley

paulie21 wrote: »

I see the Gaa have made Croker available to Conor McGregor. Would that not be the same since the UFC are an American company

With the Croke Park Classic, the GAA are the promoters. I read the last time that the GAA paid for everything for the teams to come over. Flights, accommodation and everything else. That's a big outlay. They won't be the promoters for the McGregor fight, they'll just rent out the ground and it'll be up to the MMA to sell the tickets, PPVs etc.

Dirty Dingus McGee

Terribly short sighted by the tourism board and government.

For the sake of between €500k and €750k the country loses out on €30 million in revenue and advertising the country to a large amount of people in America as well.

Realt Dearg Sec

OU812 wrote: »

That's balls, they're a hungry crowd of you know whats.

Not sure what you mean by this. If they don't think it's viable why on earth would they host it? They're not going to run it at a loss to themselves just because you would like it to go ahead, I'm not sure how that makes them greedy. It looks like perfectly sensible business. They aren't American football promoters or the tourism board. FTR I'm disappointed it's not happening too, but the GAA don't owe anybody a match.

OU812

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

but the GAA don't owe anybody a match.

Actually they do. They made a big deal about the first one saying they were committed to a game every two years for a ten year timeframe.

Dirty Dingus McGee

OU812 wrote: »

Actually they do. They made a big deal about the first one saying they were committed to a game every two years for a ten year timeframe.

The GAA are not going to run at a loss to promote another sport.Get real would you.Only in Ireland would somebody have an issue with what has happened.

Maybe if more people turned up for the last game they might have considered it worthwhile as their might think it was feasible to cover the cost of hosting the game.

Maybe they expected the Tourist board to subsidize it and they have made this announcement with the hope of forcing their hand.

jack presley

Beefy78 wrote: »

I assume the issue is more that the fees that the GAA would need to pay to the NCAA/the two colleges to get the game are now too expensive because of the change in the exchange rate.

Good article on 42.ie about the exchange rate. If the GAA were to spend $1m to get the two teams over, it's now costing them an extra €85k compared to what it would have cost them in January.

http://www.the42.ie/croke-park-classic-future-2067101-Apr2015/

nasty_crash

jack presley wrote: »

Good article on 42.ie about the exchange rate. If the GAA were to spend $1m to get the two teams over, it's now costing them an extra €85k compared to what it would have cost them in January.

http://www.the42.ie/croke-park-classic-future-2067101-Apr2015/

This article actually makes the decision more confusing.... considering the most that its gonna cost the GAA to host it is 1mill - for the sake of an extra 85k.... to cancel it and go against the whole College Football capital of europe mantra - it seems a bit strange!

I would invisage that the NCAA didnt want to change the date to after sept as they would be too much involved with travelling to ireland and back mid season - the previous games were start of the season games! And the GAA didnt want another negative media headache on their hands so they decided to cut it! Which is sad

Cant see the aviva hosting it tbh - the FAI and IRFU are conservative with spending - so i wouldnt expect to see NCAA in there - they would be all over the UFC cos of the promotion work with the company - but the GAA had to spend all the money promoting the Croke Park Classic

OU812

Reports now surfacing that it may take place as the Emerald Isle Classic in the Aviva (but it's a big *Might*)

http://www.the42.ie/2016-emerald-isle-classic-2077973-May2015/

adrian522

That's possibly the most embarrassing photo I've ever seen....

jack presley

Even more embarrassing than this one?