All this fuss could have been avoided had they simply rebranded it Páirc Uí Chaos.
For while it might not immediately strike you as a commercially attractive moniker, surely it’s situationally accurate?
Perhaps that stadium could generate some income from a mixed martial arts event with Conor McGregor headlining and the entire bash sponsored by his latest stout. If nothing else that’ll give the Beamish and Murphy’s aficionados a reason to get up off their bar stools and block the turnstiles to defend the honour of good honest Cork porter.
And it would be in keeping with the theme of a stadium stumbling from one crisis to another, like Sideshow Bob in The Simpsons when he was unable to take a step without stomping on rakes at every turn. Sideshows, there have been many, way too many in relation to Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
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From the moment redevelopment work got under way in 2015 – the new stadium opened in 2017 – there has been more action and milestones created outside rather than inside the white lines.
When was Páirc Uí Chaoimh built?
The current stadium was opened in July 2017 after a two-year rebuild.
So this is the second Páirc Uí Chaoimh?
Yes, the original stadium opened in 1976. It was built at the site where the old Cork Athletic Grounds was situated from 1904-1974. Soccer and hockey were permitted at the venue in its early days, but from 1906 onwards it was used solely for Gaelic games. On June 6th, 1976 a new stadium was opened on the site – Páirc Uí Chaoimh. The initial costing for the project was £985,000 but the final price came in at £1.7 million.
[ SuperValu Páirc has a ring to it all right, the ring of desperation in Cork GAAOpens in new window ]
So the original stadium started with debt as well?
Yes, and it was a noose Cork GAA had draped around its neck until the 90s. The county board sold land and property to try and pay loans but the real money-spinner turned out to be sell-out concerts such as U2, Michael Jackson, Oasis and the Féile festival. In an interview with the Irish Examiner in 2014, then Cork secretary Frank Murphy admitted the years after the 1976 development proved to be a difficult period.
“It was a chastening time,” he said, “It was scary stuff, a matter of survival. Essentially we weren’t viable.”
Where did the Páirc Uí Chaoimh name come from?
The stadium was named after Pádraig Ó Caoimh, who was general secretary of the GAA from 1929-1964 and who spearheaded a drive to have a GAA-owned pitch in every parish. He was born in Roscommon in 1898 but moved to Cork at a young age and later studied in London to be a secondary school teacher, returning to Cork to teach at Presentation College.
He joined the Irish Volunteers in 1916 and eventually left teaching to become an officer in the IRA’s Cork Brigade. His leadership qualities led to him becoming general secretary of the GAA – and during his stewardship the 1947 All-Ireland SFC final was played at the Polo Grounds in New York.
He was also at the helm in 1938 when Douglas Hyde was removed as a patron of the GAA for attending an international soccer match between Ireland and Poland in Dublin. But the lasting legacy of his time as general secretary was to initiate a push for GAA-owned pitches in every parish. From the creation of the Parks Committee in 1957 came the Grounds Plans, which led to the purchasing and redevelopment of grounds on a phased basis through Central Council grants. Ó Caoimh passed away in 1964.
How much is the current debt on the stadium?
The Cork County Board is carrying a €30 million debt from the redevelopment. In his annual report last month, chief executive Kevin O’Donovan outlined that Páirc Uí Chaoimh Stadium Company made a loss of €331,000 in 2023.
He added: “Current stadium debt levels, now resting at over €30 million, continue to present a major challenge. In this regard a major positive from 2023 was the signing of a 25-year loan agreement with CLG.”
The stadium made a loss of €2.688 million in 2023. As of September 30th, Cork GAA had a bank loan of €20.181 million (in September 2022 it was €21.056 million). They are also currently paying back €636,000 per annum on a €10 million loan from the GAA. As of September 2023, the loan total was €7,926,438.
How did they get left carrying such a debt?
When planning permission was granted in 2014, the cost was projected to be in the region of €70 million. A year later it had risen by €8 million and by late 2017 the figure was €86 million for the 45,000-capacity stadium.
In 2018, Croke Park stadium director Peter McKenna outlined concerns the final cost could run to €110 million, an eye-watering amount which Cork disputed.
However, the stark reality of the situation in Cork was laid out in Tom Ryan’s annual report in February 2020 when the GAA director general said the ultimate cost of the rebuild was projected to be €96 million. As the figure moved towards the €100 million mark, the running of the stadium was taken over by Croke Park and the new board was chaired by then GAA president John Horan.
“Project costs escalated and budgetary control proved inadequate,” said Ryan in 2020 when explaining the reasons behind the debt.
“Costs also increased due to the emergence of elements that were never within the original scope. To exacerbate those problems, the income streams identified to fund the project failed to materialise. The sale of 10-year premium seats was undersubscribed and land that was earmarked to be sold to fund part of the build cost proved to be overvalued.”
In short, it was and remains a costly mess.
Anything else?
The entire pitch had to be relaid less than two years after the stadium opened. On the back of stinging criticism following the state of the surface for a league game between Cork and Wexford in early February 2019, the county board admitted: “The playing surface at Páirc Uí Chaoimh for last weekend’s Allianz Leagues games was unacceptable.” Subsequent league games were moved to Páirc Uí Rinn and ultimately the Páirc Uí Chaoimh pitch had to be ripped up and a new surface installed.
Nothing else though?
Well, one of the rare sporting events which actually sold out the stadium was a controversial testimonial match for the late Liam Miller, former Irish soccer international and a son of Cork. The game was initially fixed for Turner’s Cross but with huge interest there was pressure on the GAA to open their swanky new stadium to facilitate a bigger attendance and in turn generate a greater financial benefit for Miller’s family.
GAA’s rules did not allow for it at the time but with public outcry very much against the association’s policy, ultimately they relented. Director general Tom Ryan later stated the GAA had “found a way around our own rules” but added Croke Park officials “felt we had been bullied into a course of action that we might well have taken anyway if given the chance.”
Who is Kevin O’Donovan?
O’Donovan succeeded Frank Murphy as full-time Cork secretary/chief executive in December 2018. Murphy had been in the position for 45 years.
What’s going to happen?
Negotiations remain ongoing between Cork GAA and SuperValu, but from the moment Tánaiste Micheál Martin entered the debate it became clear SuperValu Páirc was going to be impossible to push through. The overriding sentiment at Tuesday night’s county board meeting, according to some who were in the room at the in-camera gathering, was an understanding of the financial situation and how commercial income could be generated by naming rights, but a hope whereby some compromise could be reached along the lines of SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
But while that might be palatable for Cork GAA fans, is the value of that name worth the same to the retailer? For a deal to go ahead, would it now be reasonable for SuperValu to ask for the cost to be reviewed down from an estimated €250,000 annually? Either way, a deal is still likely to go through in some form.
But it has been another bad week for the stadium by the Lee.
Páirc Uí Chaos, indeed.
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