By John Harrington

GAA President, John Horan, says the revenue generated by ticket price increases for the 2019 season will be distributed among GAA clubs and will also help fund foreign units and the redevelopment of county grounds.

“The decision to raise the ticket prices came about, because we made a commitment to increase the revenue to club development grants from €2million to €4million over a four-year period,” said Horan today at the launch of the 2019 Allianz Hurling League.

“It’s something I said in my Congress speech that I intended to put the club front and centre. We had the national club forum and we increased it by half a million this year and half a million next year, and so on.

“So, it’s four half-millions over a period of four years. That revenue had to be found. We’re very tight on our administration costs, and our other grant structures here.

“The only way we could actually come up with the money was actually raise tickets. We also promised out international units that we would look at the funding of their boards.

“If you run a county board in an international unit, you don’t get gate receipts at these international games, bar maybe places like New York or Boston. But in a lot of the international units, they don’t get gate receipts.

“Their impact on the society of the particular country they're in is minimal so they don't get big sponsorship. So, really, a lot of people playing internationally get a few bob from funds and local businesses or they pay for a lot of it themselves.

“So, in that context, it was felt there was a need there. Half a millon from the increased revenue is going to club development. 200,000 is going to the international units.

“We have definite redevelopment work to be done in terms of Navan, Newbridge, Waterford, and other areas in the next number of years, so we had to try and up that as well to see what we could do there.”

In the Allianz Leagues this year, tickets for matches in Divisions 1 and 2 in football and for games in Divisions 1A and 1B in hurling will increase by €3 from €12 to €15 when pre-purchased before match day.

Allianz League tickets bought on the day will cost €20 for adults and €15 for students and senior citizens.

In Allianz Leagues Divisions 3 and 4 in football, and Divisions 2 and 3 in hurling, the admission prices will remain unchanged at €10 and €5.

Juveniles Under 16 will be admitted free to Allianz Leagues games – except where matches are all-ticket, where the admission will be €5.

Tickets for this year’s GAA All-Ireland senior hurling and football finals will increase by €10 to €90 for stand tickets and by €5 for Hill 16 tickets to €45.

There will be a €5 increase for tickets to All-Ireland senior hurling and football semi-finals and will cost €50 for the stands and €35 for the terraces. There are no changes to the prices of All-Ireland quarter finals tickets.

Admission to the GAA All-Ireland football qualifiers will increase from €15 to €20 for Rounds 1,2 & 3 and will increase from €20 to €25 for Round 4.

This is the first time the GAA has increased ticket prices for senior inter-county matches in eight years.

“I think history will show that, you know, we raised it in 2011, we're going up in 2019, when will the next increase come? It may not come for another eight to ten years,” said Horan.

“So, in an 18 year time frame if you raise your prices once I think that's reasonable.

“In the presentation at Central Council the other day, comparisons were made to other sporting costs and to concerts and things like that.

“And, in actual fact, the proposal went through and there was no questioning or challenge to the actual idea at all because it was very clearly presented to people that the revenue is coming in and where the revenue is going back and they saw the benefits and merits of that for clubs and international units and county grounds being developed and gaining from it.”