Why don't GAA matches sell out?

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121826816#Comment_121826816

What facts would you have there to say the soccer and rugby are "selling tickets" ?

Dublin alone outdo Leinster and Limerick or Cork are drawing in the same or more than Munster. Together the Munster teams blow Munster out of the water.

The Irish rugby team have become like Wimbledon or the Tour de France and are in no way a reflection of the sport in Ireland. 6 Nations is just an evening out and a place to be seen. Thornley has an article in the Irish Times this week adding to the growing list of media bemoaning how crap the atmosphere of that "full house" is.

rdser

Where exactly did I say that. I said the match day experience sells tickets.

AyeGer

Like the Irish language I think we overestimate the interest in GAA.

I’m a fair weather supporter, I only watch my county when we get to the Quarter or Semi finals stages.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121826898#Comment_121826898

"People might say stick to the rugby or soccer for the entertainment, but the match day 'experience' sells tickets and more importantly repeat customers"

Right here.

You are saying that the match day experience that those other sports offer is selling tickets which isn't true. Munster actually had more fans back before the flamethrowers and half time light shows.

rdser

Thinking you are reading things not there but work away.

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121826741#Comment_121826741

The Bayonne game had 18k and the Northampton game had 24k so one was close to selling out

Sadly the munster team are a shadow of their former selves so this trend is likely to continue

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121827275#Comment_121827275

Surprised at 18k against Bayonne. I was at that game and it felt nothing close to that.

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121827587#Comment_121827587

18k in a 25k stadium is a little over 2/3rds full, felt about right to me. Still took 25 minutes to be served at the bar 🙄🙄

Clareman

Actually, that's a great point, Munster sold out 4 games last season, 1 the Christmas game against Leinster, 1 a once off game against South Africa and 2 in Musgrave Park (Munster Rugby | Munster Rugby Season In Stats), considering Musgrave Park can only take 8,000 it shows how difficult it is for anyone to sell out.

For me, the biggest opportunity for the GAA is to sell out the provincial games, ok there can be dead rubbers in the last rounds but season tickets or discounts or something could get around that.

Clareman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121827587#Comment_121827587

Munster base their attendance on ticket sales rather than people through the turnstiles, they have an awful lot of season ticket holders (I used to be 1) so I'd say you could take at least 2,000 people off the 18k to get a more realistic figure.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121829028#Comment_121829028

Season tickets in hurling are based on capacity of the smaller venues. Can't understand why bigger counties can't run "home only" season tickets or tickets where you get league seats but championship terrace.

A problem both rugby and hurling have is people taking up season tickets just to be in the running for the big game tickets.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121829039#Comment_121829039

Have heard of some sports doing that. Most hilariously the soccer World Cup in Qatar.

BaywatchHQ

I always used to think that the term "sell out" meant a ground was full to its capacity. At the Derry Dublin League match last year it was marked as a sell out even though the crowd was a few thousand short of the grounds capacity and there was plenty of room on the terraces. So if you wanted to buy a ticket last minute at that game you couldn't as Ticketmaster wouldn't let you despite there being room on the terraces.

BaywatchHQ

People say that the National League is the best competition in GAA but in reality it is a joke of a competition because noone actually wants to make it to the final. You actually have articles saying that finishing third is the sweet spot. What other sport would you here it in?

Rosita

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121825661#Comment_121825661

Clare had 28k+ at a Saturday afternoon quarter final against Tipperary at Páirc Uí Chaoimh a year earlier. This was 11k more than Limerick-Kilkenny in Thurles in 2018.

rjoe90

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121829731#Comment_121829731

Because Kilkenny don’t travel at all. It was 95% Limerick in that 2018 quarter final but still a far bigger crowd than Wexford and Clare the same year.

tobefrank321

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121829346#Comment_121829346

That's only been a problem starting this year as people saw how Mayo etc fared last year.

Its not the league that's the joke, its the GAA in general who are determined to do everything possible to ruin gaelic football.

They have now turned the league into a bit of a farce, and the championship has always been a bit of a farce. They can never get it right.

Rosita

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121829760#Comment_121829760

Not sure of the relevance of the perceived make up of the attendance but I'm not sure it (Limerick-Kilkenny 2018) qualifies as a "great" attendance for an All Ireland quarter final as you said.

Mackinac

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121829335#Comment_121829335

I think that’s because children’s tickets were free for that game so they had to leave space to allow for children in the ground. This year you have to buy a ticket for under16s on Saturday night in Celtic Park. Hope it’s as good as last year, hard to beat a packed Celtic Park under the lights, the trad band playing and a last minute point to win the game!

Fr Tod Umptious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121829335#Comment_121829335

A lot of grounds have had reduced capacity over the last few years due to increased health and safety regulations.

So you have situations where there is space on the terraces but the max number of tickets have been sold.

The famous Newbridge or nowhere game was an example of this.

Westernview

The GAA will never sell out stadiums on a regular basis unless they replace the current championship format with the league format. All the top teams playing each other has often brought big crowds to league games in February/March and there is every reason to believe it would happen in summertime on a bigger scale. The current format of having a back door second chance has also damaged attendances.

As someone else mentioned there are too many oversized capacity stadiums of average standard. Supporters want more comfort nowadays and many aren't interested in paying to sit in the rain on cold concrete seats.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121829760#Comment_121829760

Kilkenny don't really have many fans at all. It may be a hurling mad county but it's also a very small one.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121830729#Comment_121830729

Oversized yes but again there is nothing to suggest that "comfort" comes in to it.

Backdoor is also gone now.

rjoe90

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121830544#Comment_121830544

Alot more were at Limerick kk than Clare and Wexford the same year. Which backs up my point that they got the venue in PUC wrong? What are you trying to argue? Also why are you bringing up Clare and tipp the following year? Completely irrelevant.

Westernview

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121830783#Comment_121830783

The round robin is effectively a back door as it renders the provincial championships less important and you get a second chance.

I'd contend that comfort is a factor.

rjoe90

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121830893#Comment_121830893

Yep - potentially a team can lose twice in the round robin and still qualify.

However, the round robin doesn’t take from the crowds imho.

Rosita

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121830853#Comment_121830853

What I am "trying to argue" is two-folds. One: the Limerick-Kilkenny attendance in 2018 was not "great" (as claimed by somebody). It was better than Clare-Wexford but not "great".

The Clare-Tipperary game (it was the previous year actually) is actually completely relevant as it was also (like Limerick-Kilkenny) a quarter final do is directly comparable.

The Clare-Tipperary game is also completely relevant as it challenges directly your view that Clare-Wexford had a poor attendance only because of the venue. Obviously plenty of Clare people were able to travel for another quarter final a year earlier.

rjoe90

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121831148#Comment_121831148

The reason for that is obvious, Clare fans are able to generate a bigger crowd against the old enemy Tipp than they would for Wexford. Also I am sure there was a lot more tipp fans at the game than Wexford the previous year. Cork is a 2 and a half hour drive from Wexford so surely they would have brought more to Thurles.

Westernview

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121830928#Comment_121830928

It's widely accepted that back doors and round robins have reduced the importance of provincial competitions. And if a competition becomes less important then it's just logical that less people will attend it. I really don't see how anyone could say otherwise.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121831404#Comment_121831404

Football provincials are just a warm up tournament now. Championship starts with the round robin. Terms like backdoor don't really fit anymore.

flasher0030

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121826741#Comment_121826741

I was there on Saturday evening too. Wasn't it unreal. I have never seen it as bad. I was seated in the Hogan, close enough to the Davin stand corner. There were multiple groups of teenagers constantly going in and out, up and down the aisles, and standing up on the seats shouting across the stand to each other. I moved to a different location, and then a group of drunk adults came in beside me, and had their pints of guinness with them They managed to sneak them by the security people. They had no interest in the game. They spent most of the while that I was there with them just trying to start Mexican waves. They should really give stand-up a go, cause they thought they were the funniest guys alive - each one laughing hysterically at their own jokes. I moved again, and this time got a bit of piece to actually enjoy the match.

It was only ever quieter type concerts for me that this kind of cr@p happens for me. I didn't think it would seep into Croke Park matches.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121831678#Comment_121831678

The teenagers is mostly a league thing because they can get in free. The trend of gangs of kids queued up on the sidelines to run on at half and full time got way out of hand last year