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Croke Park
An
Investigation Into
Croke Park
By James Anders
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Introduction:
I am writing this report as I am a G.A.A fan and attend Croke Park for many matches
throughout the year. I love going to Croke Park as the stadium has always a great atmosphere
and the service provided is top class.
In this report I will carry out an investigation into Croke Park, this will include cost,
revenues, marketing and development. In this report I will mainly focus on Croke Park while
referring to the G.A.A in the process.
Procedure:
Most of the information gathered was collected from online sources which are named in the
bibliography. The information gathered was secondary information as it has been taken from
another source. By collecting information through online sources it makes things much
quicker and the information gathered is accurate when you use the correct website.
Some downfalls of only gathering information from online sources is that I miss out on the
most up to date things as websites are only updated when they have plenty to do so.
Newspaper articles would provide good information but may not be 100% accurate.
Findings:
Development of the stadium
Past
 Over time Croke Park came into the ownership
of the G.A.A.
 In 1894 a company, The City and Suburban
Racecourse and Amusements Grounds Ltd,
bought 14 acres of land and leased the ground
for Gaelic games.
 1906 the City and Suburban Racecourse and
Amusements Grounds Ltd. put the grounds up
for auction, Frank Brazil Dineen put in a bid
for the grounds and only paid £3,250 for it.
The land consisted of 14 acres.
 Dineen made many improvements costing him a lot of money. In 1910 he sold 4 acres
of land for £1,090 to the Jesuits this was purchased by the G.A.A in 1990 to
modernise Croke Park.
Recent
 In the 1980’s a development plan was set in
place for the whole stadium which started
with the Cusack stand in 1993, the canal end
terrace was built in 1998 then named the
Davin stand, the Hogan was rebuilt with
V.I.P and media areas and Lastly the Hill in
2003
 Today it is one of Europe's biggest ground.
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Size
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Croke Park is a three tier stadium and has 7 levels.
The total area of Croke Park is 700,000 sq. ft. – 16 acres.
Total area of the roof is 200,000sq ft. – 5 acres.
There was 2,000 tonnes of steel used to build Croke Park’s roof.
Underground drainage covers 8,000 m.
There are 116 turnstiles and additional portable ones which are used for full house
matches.
There is over 30km of seats in the stadium and more than 5,000km of cabling and
wiring.
In the plumbing of the stadium they used 10,000 m of pipe work.
There are 463 massive lamps all around the stadium– 435 on the roof and 28 attached
to a pole on Hill 16.The floodlights are controlled by a central computer in the
technical area on the Hogan stand.
The floodlight program cost 5 million and was the last aspect of the stadium
development plan.
There are 93 corporate boxes in total.
The largest bar in Ireland is located in the Davin stand and has 500 beer taps.
There are over 500 stewards on match days and then there's another couple thousand
staff.
Revenue and Attendances
In the 2014 financial report of the G.A.A released on 4th February 2015, there was a 3%
increase in total revenues from 2013. The balance in 2013 was €54.6m and in 2014 was
€56.2m, a 1.5 million increase.
Attendances
2014
2013
Change
All-Ireland Football
Senior Championship
Games Played
463,403
495,889
-32.386
32
31
1
Gate Receipts
11.4m
11.9m
-.5m
Attendances
2014
2013
Change
All-Ireland Hurling 11
Senior Championship
Games Played
403,434
382,338
21,096
14
15
-1
Gate Receipts
11.6m
11.9m
-.3m
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 Media income despite Sky Sports input has stayed relatively the same since 2013,
bringing in €10.44m compared to €10.09m.
 Croke Park had a distribution of 7 million in 2014 to the G.A.A which is 3 million
higher than in 2013, concerts are the main factor in this increase.
 Overall 1,356,424 people attended Croke Park in 2014.
Tickets
Allianz League
 Into Allianz league matches, the tickets are usually €5 for a child (under 16) for the
whole league and €25 for an adult to all games excluding the final where the price is
€30.
Leinster Championship
 Children’s ticket prices to Leinster Championship matches is €5
 The following is a list of adult ticket prices for the Leinster championship.
 1st Round/Quarter-Finals Hurling/Football (Single Fixtures)
Stand: - €20
Terrace: - €10
 1st Round/Quarter Finals – (Double Headers)
Stand: - €25
Terrace: - €15
 Semi-Finals – Single Fixtures
Stand: - €25
Terrace: - €15
 Semi-Finals – (Double Header)
Stand: - €30
Terrace: - €20
 Finals
Stand: - €35
Terrace: - €20
All-Ireland
 Tickets to All-Ireland championship games vary depending on the stage, child tickets
are usually €5 - €15 where adults costs can reach:
Quarter Final- €40
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Semi-Final- €40
 The All-Ireland final is €80 straight across the board there is no adult nor child ticket.
G.A.A Costs
Match Day Costs: 8,792,222
Stadium Costs: 8,097,404
Injury and Insurance: 12,771,729
Marketing Costs: 9,204,424
Operating Costs: 2,610,239
Marketing
Target Market:
Croke Parks target market would be those who follow and play G.A.A, from each of the
county’s in Ireland. They have a large market to sell their service and product to, not just
G.A.A followers go to Croke Park, people who attend concerts are included in the target
market. Depending on the event being held the target market can change.
Product / Service:
The core product / service provided by Croke Park provide a recreational service and host
ticket paid events. They sell G.A.A related merchandise in their shop i.e. jerseys. The
augmented product provided by Croke Park is the high quality service they provide, food,
half time entertainment, bars and restaurants. Another augmented product is the reputation of
the stadium and staff there.
Price:
Croke Park use price discrimination, they charge a higher price for adults than they do for
children although there taking up the same amount of space. Due to the lower price charged
for children, students and pensioners it means that they are more likely to attend the matches.
Although they are making a smaller amount of profit on these it is better than making none if
they don’t attend.
Promotion:
Croke Park inform people about events, and constantly remind them, this is the form of
promotion they use. Due to their being no other locations big enough to hold important
matches, or big attendance concerts they have no need to compete when their advertising.
“Be their every step of the way” this is a slogan used by Croke Park to entice people to go to
the matches and be there while their team play no matter the result.
The Croke Park fan zone and Skyline Tour is also an example of advertising by Croke Park.
Recently the Irish Hurlers vs Scottish Shinty team played in Croke Park along with an aussi
rules game, this is an example of promotion as it was held in Croke Park.
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Sales promotion:
Croke Park promote their sales by selling season tickets. Here you can buy a ticket to every
match played in Croke Park for that year. Different season tickets can be bought: some
include the All- Ireland final where others don’t. A seat can also be bought which includes
tickets to every event in the same seat for every event during the year.
People buy these season tickets to ensure seats for important games and they are cheaper if
they are going to attend most matches. Croke Park sell these tickets as they make money for
games where the customer may not even attend.
Another form of sales promotion which Croke Park use is competitions. Most of the prizes
are provided by their sponsors. They also give out souvenirs to people who attend the
matches, this can include flags and posters.
Sponsorship:
Croke Park have numerous of sponsorships including Allianz, Vodafone, Etihad, SuperValu
and many more. The rotating signs around Croke Park makes it a great place to advertise, as
well as on sign posts surrounding the pitch. This gives the sponsors TV publicity.
Croke Park makes big money off advertising as it is an ideal place as it has 4 stand entrances
and crowds of up to and over 80,000 people. There are two big screens on hill 16 and the
corner of the Davin stand, these screens show adverts at half time and before the game.
Here is an example of
advertising during the
aussi rules game:
Place:
Tickets can be bought directly off the Croke Park website or the G.A.A page. Some websites
such as ticket master also sell tickets on behalf of the G.A.A but they receive a commission.
Their channels of distribution include:
Producers
Producers
Consumers
Agents
Consumers
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Conclusion
In this report I have given a summary of the G.A.A revenues and mentioned the attendances
of Croke Park throughout the year. I made reference to the cost of tickets and where the
public are able to buy them. I also summarised the G.A.A expenses during the year. I covered
all the different aspects of marketing and promotions Croke Park use to increase sales. I have
included a diagram of the different ways Croke Park distribute their products and services.
As an introduction to Croke Park I have mentioned the development of the stadium, this goes
from when the land was bought in the late 1800’s and skipped to recent development of the
stadium which finished in 2004.
Recommendations
I recommend that Croke Park advertise their stadium more on the radio or television, not
many people know much about it and its history. One thing which would attract a lot of
people is the G.A.A museum as it gives a detailed past about the stadium and games played
there. One television advert on at a time adults would watch television with their children.
Also I believe they should do some advertising in hotels, if they made up pamphlets which
could be held at reception for guests to see. As when tourists come on holidays the best way
to see Dublin is from the Skyline Rooftop Tour. This is what brings money into Croke Park
and advertises it. This is a simple idea and could make a lot of money.
Bibliography
 www.gaa.ie/content/documents/publications/annual_reports/GAA007_GAA_a
nnual_report_2014_financial_section.pdf
 www.crokepark.ie/about
 www.crokepark.ie/Shop-Home
 www.hoganstand.ie
 www.ticketmaster.ie
 www.wikipedia.org
 www.crokepark.ie/gaa-museum
 www.skylinecrokepark.ie
 www.crokepark.ie/media/latest-news/2015/family-fanzone-at-croke-park