THE IRFU HAS mixed things up pre-match this autumn, hoping to give fans “a bit of a nudge” to get behind the Ireland team.
There has been a new playlist at the Aviva Stadium, a lights show before the New Zealand game, and slowed-down versions of The Cranberries’ Zombie ahead of the last two matches.
Reports on the matchday experience vary from supporter to supporter but there’s no doubt that the atmosphere at the Aviva Stadium has become a big talking point among Irish rugby fans.
The IRFU says it will continue to listen to punters in order to understand what they want but the bottom line is that the union is happy with ticket sales.
“We’re delighted to have sold out four weekends in a row, the first time we’ve had four November internationals since 2010,” said the IRFU’s chief commercial officer, Padraig Power.
“There is a sense of achievement around that.
“In the main, what happens on the pitch, the match itself is the main generator. Off the pitch, before the match what we are trying to do is give the crowd a bit of a nudge to get behind the team and then the match itself creates that excitement.
“But we audit and survey back-of-house facilities, what people want and customer satisfaction. We will listen to our customers and tweak accordingly.
“It’s one of our underpinning revenue streams which funds everything.”
Ticket prices for Ireland’s home games have become another major talking point among supporters.
Prices for tomorrow’s game against Australia ranged from €35 for restricted view seats up to €120 for Category 1 tickets or €155 for the Premium level. For the sought-after New Zealand game, tickets ranged to €145 for Category 1 and €180 for Premium level.
Given that they continue to sell out games, Power indicated that the IRFU will consider raising prices again next year.
“I can’t say at this stage but we’ll review after Saturday,” he said.
“We’ve got England and France [at home in the Six Nations] this year and there’s always lots of demand.
“It’s about finding the balance between the revenue we need and making sure people are happy to pay.
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“We benchmark our ticket prices domestically and internationally. Domestically we look at soccer, GAA, concerts, some of which are one-offs, Taylor Swift for example.
Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
“Particularly amongst our Six Nations colleagues, we benchmark and make sure we’re not as expensive as England and France. We’re a bit more expensive than the others. We have the smallest stadium and we all have about five or six games to maximise revenue.
“We put a lot of work into it, we have a ticket working party. The proof of the pudding is that we have four full houses so we are there or thereabouts.”
Another point of discussion has been how the IRFU distributes its tickets, with the current model involving selling the majority through Irish rugby clubs, the idea being that club members can buy the tickets.
However, some clubs sell chunks of their ticket allocation on the corporate market. This provides badly needed income for the clubs, of course, but it means that even diehard fans sometimes find it difficult to get their hands on tickets.
However, the IRFU intends to continue selling the majority of its tickets through the clubs.
“I can’t speak for the clubs but from what I see, it seems to be working for the clubs,” said IRFU CEO Kevin Potts.
“It is a fundamental principle of our ticket policy for decades that our tickets go to our clubs and that club members go to the games as they wish.
“I don’t see that changing. Novembers are slightly different, we tend to get more tickets back that we put on public sale and through the supporters club.”
All of these things are crucial to the IRFU at a time when it’s warning that if the union can’t increase its revenues, then the current rate of spending on the professional and grassroots games will have to be reduced too.
While Potts stressed that the IRFU isn’t threatening to cut any programs right now, the union has to face the realities of rugby’s financial challenges.
“What we’re mainly saying is that if things don’t get better on the revenue side, we’ll have to cut our cloth,” said Potts.
“We’re not at that stage. We’re constantly reviewing our expenditure but we’re not at that stage.”
These words came after the IRFU confirmed a deficit of €18.4 million for the 2023/24 financial year, largely due to Ireland’s 2023 World Cup campaign.
This major deficit was anticipated and is similar to how other unions were affected by the World Cup. The IRFU remains in a relatively strong position with its net assets of €87 million, as well as cash and cash investments of €69 million.
The IRFU's Thelma O’Driscoll, Kevin Potts and Padraig Power. Morgan Treacy / INPHO
Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO
However, Potts warned that “without further additional revenue streams, of which there is no certainty, we simply will not be able to maintain current levels of investment across the game.”
TV deals are another key revenue source for the union, amounting to around 25% of total revenues.
The reality in that regard is that the IRFU and the other unions involved in the URC and Champions Cup have seen a downward trend.
“Our income from Europe and URC has declined over the last five years by almost 30%, so at a time when our costs are going up, the revenues coming out of our tournaments have been declining,” said Potts. “That’s a challenge.”
The IRFU met with EPCR, the organising body for the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup, yesterday to discuss broadcasting rights and Potts said the Irish union is “constantly putting pressure” on all competitions it is part of to do the best they can on this front.
Right now, the Six Nations is in the market for its next broadcast deal and the collective hope is to pull in notably increased revenues for that competition.
The IRFU has stated its preference for rugby to remain free-to-air but Potts highlighted that the Irish union couldn’t overrule a majority vote within the Six Nations to move away from terrestrial TV.
In that sense, Potts and Power both underlined the need for the local broadcasters in Ireland to “come to the table with fair market value.”
The IRFU has added to its own financial challenges by investing more money in women’s rugby in recent years, with the latest hike of €2.6 million bringing the annual spend up to €8.3 million.
The investment has been rewarded in obvious ways, with Scott Bemand’s Ireland 15s team recently finishing second at WXV1, having qualified for next year’s World Cup.
The stated goal of the IRFU is to have four full-time contracted provincial teams by 2028 and with the women’s game currently bringing in revenues of just over €2 million per year, the union won’t be turning a profit in this area any time soon.
The same is true of men’s 7s, which was a big area of focus under former IRFU performance director David Nucifora. There are grants from Sport Ireland and World Rugby, but it is a loss-maker for the IRFU.
The sport of 7s remains under review as World Rugby attempts to figure out how it can be profitable.
“The 7s model globally isn’t working,” said Potts.”World Rugby have acknowledged that and they are in the middle of a review of the whole 7s model with a view to making recommendations for 2025/26 onwards.
“It’s costing a lot of money. It does need to be addressed.”
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IRFU tries to give Aviva crowd 'a bit of a nudge' with matchday experience
THE IRFU HAS mixed things up pre-match this autumn, hoping to give fans “a bit of a nudge” to get behind the Ireland team.
There has been a new playlist at the Aviva Stadium, a lights show before the New Zealand game, and slowed-down versions of The Cranberries’ Zombie ahead of the last two matches.
Reports on the matchday experience vary from supporter to supporter but there’s no doubt that the atmosphere at the Aviva Stadium has become a big talking point among Irish rugby fans.
The IRFU says it will continue to listen to punters in order to understand what they want but the bottom line is that the union is happy with ticket sales.
“We’re delighted to have sold out four weekends in a row, the first time we’ve had four November internationals since 2010,” said the IRFU’s chief commercial officer, Padraig Power.
“There is a sense of achievement around that.
“In the main, what happens on the pitch, the match itself is the main generator. Off the pitch, before the match what we are trying to do is give the crowd a bit of a nudge to get behind the team and then the match itself creates that excitement.
“But we audit and survey back-of-house facilities, what people want and customer satisfaction. We will listen to our customers and tweak accordingly.
“It’s one of our underpinning revenue streams which funds everything.”
Ticket prices for Ireland’s home games have become another major talking point among supporters.
Prices for tomorrow’s game against Australia ranged from €35 for restricted view seats up to €120 for Category 1 tickets or €155 for the Premium level. For the sought-after New Zealand game, tickets ranged to €145 for Category 1 and €180 for Premium level.
Given that they continue to sell out games, Power indicated that the IRFU will consider raising prices again next year.
“I can’t say at this stage but we’ll review after Saturday,” he said.
“We’ve got England and France [at home in the Six Nations] this year and there’s always lots of demand.
“It’s about finding the balance between the revenue we need and making sure people are happy to pay.
“We benchmark our ticket prices domestically and internationally. Domestically we look at soccer, GAA, concerts, some of which are one-offs, Taylor Swift for example.
“Particularly amongst our Six Nations colleagues, we benchmark and make sure we’re not as expensive as England and France. We’re a bit more expensive than the others. We have the smallest stadium and we all have about five or six games to maximise revenue.
“We put a lot of work into it, we have a ticket working party. The proof of the pudding is that we have four full houses so we are there or thereabouts.”
Another point of discussion has been how the IRFU distributes its tickets, with the current model involving selling the majority through Irish rugby clubs, the idea being that club members can buy the tickets.
However, some clubs sell chunks of their ticket allocation on the corporate market. This provides badly needed income for the clubs, of course, but it means that even diehard fans sometimes find it difficult to get their hands on tickets.
However, the IRFU intends to continue selling the majority of its tickets through the clubs.
“I can’t speak for the clubs but from what I see, it seems to be working for the clubs,” said IRFU CEO Kevin Potts.
“It is a fundamental principle of our ticket policy for decades that our tickets go to our clubs and that club members go to the games as they wish.
“I don’t see that changing. Novembers are slightly different, we tend to get more tickets back that we put on public sale and through the supporters club.”
All of these things are crucial to the IRFU at a time when it’s warning that if the union can’t increase its revenues, then the current rate of spending on the professional and grassroots games will have to be reduced too.
While Potts stressed that the IRFU isn’t threatening to cut any programs right now, the union has to face the realities of rugby’s financial challenges.
“What we’re mainly saying is that if things don’t get better on the revenue side, we’ll have to cut our cloth,” said Potts.
“We’re not at that stage. We’re constantly reviewing our expenditure but we’re not at that stage.”
These words came after the IRFU confirmed a deficit of €18.4 million for the 2023/24 financial year, largely due to Ireland’s 2023 World Cup campaign.
This major deficit was anticipated and is similar to how other unions were affected by the World Cup. The IRFU remains in a relatively strong position with its net assets of €87 million, as well as cash and cash investments of €69 million.
However, Potts warned that “without further additional revenue streams, of which there is no certainty, we simply will not be able to maintain current levels of investment across the game.”
TV deals are another key revenue source for the union, amounting to around 25% of total revenues.
The reality in that regard is that the IRFU and the other unions involved in the URC and Champions Cup have seen a downward trend.
“Our income from Europe and URC has declined over the last five years by almost 30%, so at a time when our costs are going up, the revenues coming out of our tournaments have been declining,” said Potts. “That’s a challenge.”
The IRFU met with EPCR, the organising body for the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup, yesterday to discuss broadcasting rights and Potts said the Irish union is “constantly putting pressure” on all competitions it is part of to do the best they can on this front.
Right now, the Six Nations is in the market for its next broadcast deal and the collective hope is to pull in notably increased revenues for that competition.
The IRFU has stated its preference for rugby to remain free-to-air but Potts highlighted that the Irish union couldn’t overrule a majority vote within the Six Nations to move away from terrestrial TV.
In that sense, Potts and Power both underlined the need for the local broadcasters in Ireland to “come to the table with fair market value.”
The IRFU has added to its own financial challenges by investing more money in women’s rugby in recent years, with the latest hike of €2.6 million bringing the annual spend up to €8.3 million.
The investment has been rewarded in obvious ways, with Scott Bemand’s Ireland 15s team recently finishing second at WXV1, having qualified for next year’s World Cup.
The stated goal of the IRFU is to have four full-time contracted provincial teams by 2028 and with the women’s game currently bringing in revenues of just over €2 million per year, the union won’t be turning a profit in this area any time soon.
The same is true of men’s 7s, which was a big area of focus under former IRFU performance director David Nucifora. There are grants from Sport Ireland and World Rugby, but it is a loss-maker for the IRFU.
The sport of 7s remains under review as World Rugby attempts to figure out how it can be profitable.
“The 7s model globally isn’t working,” said Potts.”World Rugby have acknowledged that and they are in the middle of a review of the whole 7s model with a view to making recommendations for 2025/26 onwards.
“It’s costing a lot of money. It does need to be addressed.”
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Atmosphere Aviva Stadium Ireland Kevin Potts