“The money doesn’t grow on trees. I think we need to be a little bit more realistic in terms of that”

The scramble for tickets ahead of this Sunday's All-Ireland senior hurling final has been as is always the case, frantic.

The clubs got their tickets. It was every person for themselves. You had 'members' showing up across Tipperary and Kilkenny GAA clubs who hadn't been seen on the club grounds since September 2016. An All-Ireland final brings them all out of the woodwork. In fact, the estimation is that the GAA could sell out Croke Park twice over on All-Ireland final day if their marketing and pricing strategies were spot on. For now, with Croke Park limited to a capacity of 82,300 supporters, the GAA have fans over a barrel. And many feel that the organisation are exploiting their position. https://twitter.com/NedzerB13/status/1160623068638830592 https://twitter.com/Paul_Coady10/status/1160989116089229313 GAA Hour pundit and former Laois hurling manager Cheddar Plunkett sees where the GAA are coming from with the €90 figure. A cost that has risen €20 since these counties met in a Liam MacCarthy decider in 2009. "I would disagree with Paul here," says Cheddar. "The €90, if you compare it with the entertainment and skills value you get in comparable games. I just had a quick look before I came out. Ireland and England in rugby, it's €115, €150 for the premium. The Europa League final was €135 a couple of years ago with Porto and Braga. And I think what's coming up in Adare, the Ryder Cup is going to be €130/€135 on the final day and I wouldn't trade any of them for five minutes of an All-Ireland hurling final. So in terms of comparability, the prices stand up." [caption id="attachment_205082" align="alignnone" width="600"] A full house at the 2012 All-Ireland senior hurling final between Galway and Kilkenny. Picture by Brendan Moran, Sportsfile.[/caption] The counter-argument is often made that those are professional sports and that the GAA shouldn't be mentioned in those realms, but Cheddar nods that these gate receipts are being put towards games and development funds by the GAA. "You need to look at it from an economic perspective as well, is it keeping within the rate of inflation and all of that. I probably think it is. We are all screaming at the GAA for money in terms of promotion and development of games and look, where does the money come from? It doesn't grow on trees. So I think we need to be a little bit more realistic in terms of that..." Saying that, Cheddar does feel that a staggered seating charge should be implemented in Croke Park, something everyone will agree with. i.e €50 for a poor Davin stand ticket and €90 for a Hogan Stand seat in the middle of the field.

"The last point I'll make on it is probably the most important point I want to make. As far as I know, I stand corrected on this. For all seats in Croke Park, regardless of whether you're down in the front corner and you can hardly see the far end or not, it's €90. I do think they should look at a tiered pricing for tickets for All-Ireland finals. I would still leave the best tickets at  €90, I would tier it down rather than tier it up..."

While loyal supporters should also be rewarded. "I would also like to look at people who go to games regularly - considering all the technology - that their ticket is scanned to know that they've gone to all the games and just say look - this person or this family has been to every game, let's give them priority..." Paddy Stapleton agrees with Plunkett and adds that families and kids need to be catered. "The association isn't going to run on spring water. They have to generate the funds. The way they're going about it is very short-sighted though. Families aren't catered for at all, they're not even thought of, we want these kids involved in ten/20 years time, we want them playing, supporting and administrating. This is pushing them away." You can listen to the All-Ireland final preview show with Cheddar Plunkett and Paddy Stapleton here. https://soundcloud.com/sportsjoe-gaa-hour/the-all-ireland-final-preview-show-2