i think a lack of competitiveness especially in the provincial championships outside of ulster most years is the reason why...especially in leinster attendances have fallen off a cliff...
The attendance in Leinster have fallen off massively because of Dublins dominance.Even Dublin fans aren't bothering with it any more.
Negative tactics being used by a lot of teams is part of the problem I would think and also competitiveness has dipped massively.
It would be interesting to see the comparisons between the late 80's and today.
Football was extremely competitive in the 90's up to mid 00's and thus attendances were great in that period but that was not normal
The un-competitiveness is the main issue in my opinion as there is very little point going to a match when the result is a foregone conclusion and so many matches are foregone conclusions these days.It would be very interesting to see what the attendances would be (particualrly at the top end) if the championships were split into divisions and we got more competitive games to go to.
Also I think the GAA could do with slashing ticket prices and seeing would that make a difference.Live sport is terrible poor value for money.
There's a massive difference in how you look at the attendance figures for this year. first off the national league final had its first ever full house at croke park all at a time when people are saying things are falling apart. Secondly the all ireland quarter finals threw up another full house on a saturday afternoon, had the Dublin v Donegal game been on its own you would have gotten a full house and the mayo v Tyrone game would have got around the 50 thousand. The Dublin v Kerry semi final was sold out and you had two full houses for the all ireland finals. The demand to see the big guns play each other is bigger than it has ever been.
Replying To hill16no1man: "There's a massive difference in how you look at the attendance figures for this year. first off the national league final had its first ever full house at croke park all at a time when people are saying things are falling apart. Secondly the all ireland quarter finals threw up another full house on a saturday afternoon, had the Dublin v Donegal game been on its own you would have gotten a full house and the mayo v Tyrone game would have got around the 50 thousand. The Dublin v Kerry semi final was sold out and you had two full houses for the all ireland finals. The demand to see the big guns play each other is bigger than it has ever been."
I would think in Leinster most people from outside Dublin have given up and bar an odd local derby held outside croke park crowds are dropping bigtime. Also the qualifiers are only prolonging the season for in many cases counties that will not win anything. Theres no doubt the way football is been played by 2 average teams is not easy on the eye and only the hard core are going to qualifiers at this stage.