Teams can have a single training base for the group which makes logistics much easier. It also allows fans to base themselves in one location and attend multiple games.
All that can be achieved with a stadium in GB.
There was never any correlation between Belfast and Dublin when it came to who would be playing there, so it makes no difference if the Belfast games are not on the island of Ireland.
As many have said on many threads the "Irish" aspect of all of this is just window dressing.
The Republic was only included because they needed the votes and the North was only included because for political reasons you could not leave out one part of the UK while including a third country.
Northern Ireland never had anything to offer this bid and that was obvious from the start.
"keeping the game in Ireland" is definitely a factor though"
It's not.
No one outside of Ireland gives a fuk. It was in a different country and different football jurisdiction.
As for stadiums. Coventry, Leicester, Brighton, Sheffield and Sunderland are all ready to go for soccer (Sunderland might be too close to Newcastle) and Murrayfield would be much better than taking a chance on some slapped together all seater PuC.
Looking at it from a neutral point of view UEFA wouldn't be doing their job properly if they picked PuC.
"keeping the game in Ireland" is definitely a factor though. Teams can have a single training base for the group which makes logistics much easier. It also allows fans to base themselves in one location and attend multiple games.
I'm not sure there are many better stadiums available (other stadia in London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow aren't available). Elland Road probably the best of whats left but it is quite old and some seats have restricted views.
Fair play,thats a decent,well researched post and great info.
However as has been pointed out it doesn't matter.Of course it could be done if there was no other alternatives,there's loads of alternatives in the UK which is technically where the original Casement matches were to take place.
UEFA will not give one shiny sh1te.Youll notice all the positive can do speak from Jarlath Burns and Michàel Martin ended with sentences like " but of course ultimately UEFA will decide".
And that is that.
Its not really about it being impossible or very hard. It's whether PuC is a better option than all the other ones and it isn't.
Outside of "keeping the game in Ireland" which most involved don't give a sht about it has nothing going for it.
On PUC and the Euros, looking at this document it really isn't that far off the required facilities. It has the advantage of having plenty of space around it for temporary facilities (which most places need for hosting Euros) Unfortunately I can't access the planning documents for PUC (Cork City Co planning site is shıte) but the PUC website has info on the conference facilities.
PUC already has 21,000 seats so 4,500 temporary seats would have to be added behind each goal (existing terraces are for 12,000 each). Temporary seating could be added similar to that put behind the goals in the RDS for Leinster Rugby but removed every summer. It would be built on the existing terraces and use the existing access points, toilets, bars, etc.
Dressing rooms, managers room, medical, anti-doping, etc. are all there. Not sure about sizes but are intended to accommodate larger GAA squads so presumably would be big enough. Finishes probably need upgrading but that wouldn't be an issue as everything would be 10 years old at that stage and soon in need of a refurb. PUC also has extra dressing rooms which could be used for other purposes. There's loads of space around the pitch for subs bench, officials, photographers, advertising boards, pitch-side presentation/reporter positions, etc.
PUC has a 2,238-seat premium level. The VIP hospitality area for Group or round of 16 matches requirement is 875m² which would be covered by the Muskerry and Seandún Suites (almost 900m² combined). Kitchens sized to cater for those numbers are also in place
Club UEFA (4,500m²) and Corporate Hospitality villages (3,000m²) can be located in temporary facilities within 300m of the stadium. The 4G pitch and surrounds has ample space (18,000m²) right outside the main stand (could probably bridge directly into the Muskerry/Seandún Suite balconies if wanted direct access). You could rip the 4G out and reinstate it after but that again would happen anyway at some stage as part of standard asset renewal. The Sky Boxes thing would be an issue. The only other way I can see of providing that at PUC would be at the back of the temporary seating behind the goals.
The total area required for the Stadium Media Centre (SMC) is 1,200m² but I assume this includes the desks in the stands. PUC won't have enough media/photographer desks as it stands. The Avondhu Suite could potentially be used to provide extra desks and act as the SMC office & storage, it has it's own dedicated entrance. There are open balconies on both sides of the main stand which could potentially be enclosed to use for desks, tv studios or something. The 6,000m² TV compound again fits outside. I'm not sure how big the PUC Press conference room is but a temporary one can be provided if bigger is needed.
Not saying it's going to happen but I think that it wouldn't cost an extortionate amount to get the facilities at PUC to the required level. Sure there are costs but the fact is that no alternative stadium has a UEFA corporate village on site and would have to create that temporarily, same as PUC.
That document also gives an indication why the Casement costs ballooned. The Casement site is very restricted and the stadium takes up every inch. There is no scope for providing temporary facilities outside the stadium so literally everything (corporate village, Stadium Media Centre, etc.) has to be accommodated inside the stadium. It all has to be built within the stands and you can't take it away later either.
The funding saved from building a smaller intercounty stadium would not transfer to the club scene. First off the state funding for an intercounty ground will come direct from the state and is usually the equivalent to a vat refund. At club level the funding comes from the sport capital funding. GAA funding of is from different sources as well within the organisation.
An inter-county ground will attract different sponsorship compared to a club county ground. Most interclub games in most counties attract sub 1k patrons. Most games are played by the end of September, the AI club championships being thr exception.
The need for a stadium capable of holding 5K would not be necessary for 99% of games
Kerry has two actually intercounty stadia Austin Stacks 12k capacity aling with Fitzgerald stadium. Development of any ground will depend on the ability to raise the funds. If you have tge funds tge government and the GAA will chip in. However it's the inability of to raise your own share that limits any project.
If Kerry GAA win there court case they will have over 60% of the funding required
This.
GAA grounds need to be built for the lads who go to every game every year and not the lad who goes to a handful of games every few years because the team is doing well.
maybe just wait a while and not rush into anything. Letting the Brits government off very easy to just move on and finance it without them
If the UK & NI governments dont put anything towards Casement that still leaves 50.million from the irish state and 17 million from GAA HQ. That will leave just under 70 million
Going on the cost of stadium developments around the country it could build for Antrim GAA a good modern stadium to hold 15/20 k with a good modern stand, 3 terraces, and floodlights.
Maybe they should go with something like that to get going and long term when the NI/UK money comes through spread out among the other 5 countys .
They only thing is the money NI/UK promised for casement is that to Antrim County Board or Ulster GAA?
An dont forget the most important thing dont ask how much it will cost.
Exactly
How do you turn a white elephant into an even whither elephant I wonder?
He's just playing to the local audience. Knows full well it's bollox.
Of course it can be good enoght. Just convert the terraces in to seating by putting in railseats or actual proper ones which will reduce capcity to 30k from 45k.
.Upgrade the main stands to the standard the uefa require for broadcasters and sponsers.
Micheal Martin has said that Euro 2028 games could go to PUC.
Please stop with this s*yet.
It was not good enough for World Rugby when it was built it's not going to be good enough for UEFA now or anytime soon.
Well there was quite a bit in the other work, details here;
But the overall point still stands and should be extended to all clubs, not just most.
The North Stand in Tallaght which has a capacity of around 2,500 cost around €11.5 million when opened this year. Now that includes some other work in the ground but building 3,000 seater covered stand would be to expensive for most clubs.
A 3k seater stand is big, with a roof it would cost a couple of million. Doing it multiple times in different places would cost a fortune. You would need a couple of thousand people attending all club championship games (senior and intermediate at least) to justify what you have described. The secondary stadium concept only works if you have one of them.
To be honest, I'd much rather see proper investments in clubs grounds than a big county stadium (unless absolutely necessary).
My own county, Kilkenny, for example. It'll probably need to upgrade the stadium in 10 years time, or start to.
But I look at some of the club grounds like Callan, Thomastown (though parking is a nightmare), Danesfort, O'Loughlins, Clara, Freshford or their likes. All relatively central in the county. Good pitches that are usually in good nick.
I'd love to see all of them have a proper cover stand on one side that can hold 3K, a covered terrace on the other side capable of holding 2K (nothing fancy, just basic seating and cover the length of the side of the field), proper match quality floodlights and given the location of them, some small scale windmills to help cover the annual cost of floodlights.
The cheap tickets means we tend to get good crowds in Kilkenny for the county championships, especially with double headers.
The potential for the club scene to have several grounds capable of holding games at any time of the day and share the burden on the grass throughout the wetter parts of the year would be a far better investment in the long run.
If that means a downgrade of Nowlan Park by 4/5k when it's time to upgrade it, then so be it.
Better a small stadium and several comfortable and quality club facilities. Might mean adding €2 to the cost of tickets to club matches, but I think most Kilkenny fans would go along with that for securing 6/7 top quality club grounds in the county.
And I'd imagine a lot of fans in general would feel the same. Would Kerry fans, for example, think they'd be better off with a 27-30K stadium and several high quality club grounds for their club competitions?
If they can get the money themselves fire away but the government and GAA shouldn't give them a penny for this vanity project.
Ide be all for them wanting money for better spectator facilities but not the plans they put forward. Especially not after already wasting money on a big unnecessary terrace.
Hotel space in Cork is growing fast and it is well connected and has the far superior centre so I really don't think Killarney is gonna be able to compete for events.
Hasn't the number of beds in Killarney being halved in the last 3 years?
Matches with tge exception of CP will.only provide 30-40% of potential income to an stadia build. The critical factor to fund any stadium is ancillary activities.
Accommodation in the locality is critical especially to accomodate larger crowd events. I have predicted from the start tgat Killarney will be funded and will be upgraded. It might not be to tge liking to some heads here but the reality on the ground is that it is one of the few commercially viable projects of all tge proposals.
The stadium is 5 minutes walk from.the town center, it's capable of accessing relatively easy, the town has a train station. But more importantly it has hotel and other accommodation that is second only to Dublin.
You might not like the fact but it was interesting that it managed to secure 50 million through the passport scheme which no other venue managed. With that amount of funds it was over half way to the target cost of 80 million.
It's about the town having enough hotels to cater for the 1000 people who are going to go to the giant empty stadium that has no neutral venue potential and limited concert potential with 2 well established venues in the area already.
What's the link between rental accommodation and the updated stadium?
Because Of tge amount of rental holiday accommodation in Kerry it makes the stadium fairy viable. It had nearly 50 million lined up through the passport scheme before tge plug was pulled on it. It's taking a court case to get thus reinstated, if it is the stadium will go ahead.
Ya Kerry can go fuk themselves with that plan.
It's not 1 or 2 games though and I am not advocating to replicate the current nonsense of giant stadiums for small counties.
I am actually suggesting the exact opposite. Smaller stadiums with better facilities to cater for the league and club final crowd. There needs to be a radical rethink of what a county ground is and a change in how it's funded because we are not far off a disaster scenario of condemned stands and terraces all over the country.
Not sure what's the point in having shiny new stadiums that cost a fortune all over the country. Most of them have no more than 1 or 2 games of any significance every year, if even that. For example Kerry want to redevelop Fitzgerald's Stadium at the cost of 10s of millions of euro but for what? Waste of money.
The design is the least of the problems. Funding is the major obstacle. Do we want county boards all over the country getting into debt like Cork is?
Ya I know all that. But it's still no harm the GAA helping out and also having a say in what a stand should be like.
It's not as simple as though. You need to go through planning etc. and the most important thing, you need the funding. The design is a minor part in the overall scheme of things.
Pairc Ui Chaoimh is exceptionally large, but why would Tullamore not provide useful information for other places?
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://we.vanillicon.com/v2/e68aa2b0e039b12ade8384a2f42841c6.svg)
