INTERNATIONAL FIXTURES:THE FAI will be under even greater pressure to drastically revise the prices it charges for international games in the wake of another poor attendance at the Aviva Stadium for Wednesday's friendly against Norway.
The association, with debts believed to be in excess of €50 million as a result of the redevelopment of the stadium, has seen numbers at games decline dramatically as a result of the economic downturn while premium seat sales have been a fraction of what had been predicted.
Officially, the attendance on Wednesday was put at 30,068 but in reality the stadium looked less than half full and questions have repeatedly been raised about the association’s figures.
The crowd for the Russia game, Ireland's most important and marketable of the current European Championships campaign, was put at 50,411, but there were more empty seats than that number would suggest while a significant number of tickets had been sold at a major discount with, for instance, some 3,000 marketed to readers of the Sunat just €80 for four.
It is all a far cry from the announcement made back on February 9th, when the association claimed that all of its general admission for games at the stadium had sold out and that anyone wishing to buy tickets from that point on would have to consider the Vantage Club scheme.
John Delaney suggested this week that ticket prices would be lowered for next year and he said at the start of last month that tickets for the Carling-sponsored Four Nations tournament would be priced attractively.
It is almost impossible to see those games getting large crowds unless prices are dramatically reduced from the €55 and €40 charged to those who did not get their tickets this week either free (mainly children) or at a discount.
Pricing was certainly key to the success of last weekend’s FAI Cup final for which the attendance was officially put at slightly more than 36,000 but with admission costing just €10 and €5 for that game, the revenue involved would be the equivalent of around 6,000 paying full price to attend a competitive game for which prices are currently €70 and €50.
2011 FIXTURES
Ireland’s confirmed games
Feb 8th: Wales (H) – Four Nations Tournament; March 26th: FYR Macedonia (H) – European Championship qualifier; March 29th: Uruguay (H) – Friendly; May 23rd: Northern Ireland (H) – Four Nations; May 27th: Scotland (H) – Four Nations; June 4th: FYR Macedonia (A) – European Championship qualifier; September 2nd: Slovakia (H) – European Championship qualifier; September 6th: Russia (A) – European Championship qualifier; October 7th: Andorra (A) – European Championship qualifier; October 11th: Armenia (A) – European Championship qualifier.
