Jack in fairness the Aviva stadium will be filled or near filled more then 10 games a season. It is the home of Irish rugby and soccer and is a concert venue in the capital city of Ireland. The only Cork game that could fill the new puc would be a Munster hurling final where the are the home team, which will only happen once every few years, the only way a all Ireland qi will be held in Puc will be if the are moved from a better located venue. What singer could be able to sell out Cork and be willing to play cork, when the could play slane, croker or the Aviva.

ros1 (Roscommon) - Posts: 1211 - 10/12/2014 21:44:26    1677932

Jack_Goff
County: Meath
Posts: 1361

1677925 baron, are you against the government giving the aviva hundred of millions when it's filled less than 10 times a year?

Between concerts, AI QF's and Cork matches this might be filled 3 times a year. The ratio of full houses to money spent compared to the aviva actually will favor it.

I always felt that the two big November internationals, Six Nations games and the one big soccer qualifier should be played in Croker and Landsdowne left at 35,000 with a GAA size pitch (easily done at the time if the pitch had been rotated 90 degree). Both stadiums could be shared and everyone would have got value for money.

As I said, we like to do things arseways in this country and waste money. Croke Park is unused for 6 months of the year and too big for many of the games played there. The Aviva is full for 5-6 rugby matches over 6 months and might be filled for one or two soccer matches.

Lets build big stadiums in Belfast, Cork, Roscommon, Killarney, Castlebar, Galway, Clones, Thurles, Limerick and fill them once every 2 years (if we are luck). Why don't we throw in a big stadium on the M50 and build the Bertie Bowl while we are at it.

If the sporting organisations and the Government worked together we could have shared stadiums we actually need, a load of top class municipal training centres and proper infrastructure to get you in an out of the big matches fairly easily. The utopian ideal.

tirawleybaron (Mayo) - Posts: 1390 - 11/12/2014 09:41:47    1677952

I dont understand the begrudgery argument in favor of a new stadium, that something new will automatically draw unwarranted criticism and therefore it means that it is worth it to build it. When you put a pointless development in the context of austerity today, there is little or no argument in favor of building a 70 million refurbishment.

The argument that it will be good for rock concerts also is a questionable one. Bruce Springsteen played in PUC last year, and the fact that the stadium will have a roof in a few years wont make any difference either way to drawing acts like his to Cork.

My point is that there needs to be a huge amount of work put into the GAA around the smaller counties, and bringing regional and provincial facilities up to minimum standard seems to be a more urgent issue than throwing money at another shiny building that will only be filled every other year. It is not a central location for quarter finals in the championship.

Donegalman (None) - Posts: 3846 - 11/12/2014 11:04:49    1677978

I'm with Bennybunny on this. There are certainly valid questions, but we can't be too negative. This stadium will be an asset for Cork, not just for the GAA. And Cork is building up a bit of steam as a brand. Over the past 2-3 years the city has been singled out for praise by Lonely Planet and Huffington Post. Indeed it recieved favourable reviews in the very same publication that lashed out at Templebar - not that you'd have known it of you were listening to National media. I know it's trendy to 'hate' Cork, and say that Cork people are 'up in themselves' - but as a nation, we need to look beyond that. The city-break market is the largest tourism market that there is. As a nation, it'd be ridiculous to rely on one city to capture our share of that. Despite our ridiculous tendancy to paly down our cities as 'big towns' and then proceed to compare them to the world's most famous cities, Cork is a sizeable city. Look at the various lists of European and American cities, thousands of which you'll never have heard of. Then you quickly begin to appreciate that Dublin is in fact a big city (probably among the top 5 or 10% globally) and Cork, with 400,000 people in its urban area, is probably about average.

Belfast has made admirable strides into the city-break market. British cities like Dundee, Cradiff etc, are all making an effort. Cork needs to make an effort too - not just for Cork - but for the country. We need to give tourists a second option to attarct repeat visitors. A decent stadium could form a significant part of that offering. And folks, knowing the way CCB do business, the few pictures they released, may not bear any resxemblance to the plans.

Culchie (Cork) - Posts: 799 - 11/12/2014 11:07:15    1677979

I wouldn't begrudge Cork a shiny modern stadium. I would have issue with its size, accessibility and potential usage.

If it could be used for Rugby and Soccer or even athletics, or if its capacity was 25-30,0000 you would have a realistic chance if using it regularly. The fact is the new stadium won't even be used for Corks football and hurling league matches so will only up 5 or 6 times a year and might fill twice if you are lucky.

The stadium is awkward to get to if you are in Cork. If you live in Ulster or Connaught a round trip to Cork for a match is 12+hrs.

Bottom line. The new stadium is the wrong size, in the wrong location, limited in use and over priced.

tirawleybaron (Mayo) - Posts: 1390 - 11/12/2014 11:32:13    1677989

I'm not sure about this access argument either, to be honest. In fairness, it might be better to put it somewhere towards Little Island, or maybe off the Dublin road. But you can't have it all. The main problem with access to the current site, is that everybody comes at it from Centre Park Road. Fair enough, one side is closed off by the river. But I can count five access roads (including the old railway) - we need to get people using them. And people also need to realsie that they won't be able to park next to the ground. In that regard it'll be no diffeent to any other major venue. Maybe if we stopped the cars coming down Centre Park and Monaghan Roads, run buses from Black Ash, and town? Obviously use the old railway line to a greater extent - Ballinlough can hold some of the ars - what about Blackrock? Any serious potential for parking out there? Eventually Tivoli will provide the solution, but I accept that that's a long way off. Maybe when the Port moves down, the lads with the Ferrys could be permitted to operate over and back on match days?

Culchie (Cork) - Posts: 799 - 11/12/2014 11:47:06    1677994

Pick it up and move it....

Horsebox77 (Kerry) - Posts: 5491 - 11/12/2014 12:46:15    1678018

Culchie i have always though that Cork is a nicer city then Dublin but i don't see how a new gaa stadium will encourage foreign tourests, or even Irish tourists maybe other then one weekend a year

ros1 (Roscommon) - Posts: 1211 - 12/12/2014 20:49:29    1678340

ROS1: The Aviva is usually filled for 2/3 Six Nations matches, 2 Rugby Autumn Tests and 2-3 soccer matches a year.

Due to Croker being 30k bigger they don't get that many converts either. 1 or none most years. When I said the Aviva filled 10 times a year I was being generous. Other notable attendances will be a RCC match for Leinster, a Leinster v Munster league match and an international soccer friendly. Next year we will fill it for Ireland v England soccer match.

Croker will have more than enough usage for the whole year. Last year we had 4 80k plus attendances. (and the 2 years before.) 7 50k plus attendances. And about 6 30-50k attendaces and that doesn't include the regular Dublin league matches.

3 80k plus 1 direction concerts and if the plans went ahead you could of had 5 80k with Garth.

It's crazy talk when people try and say oh Croker isn't used for half the year. It gets a lot more people going through it's gates than the Aviva and has paid itself off easily.

tirawleybaronit's also crazy talk to suggest the soccer and rugby matches be played in croker on top of all the dates the GAA already has lined up. The pitch would be destroyed. Both stadiums are needed for the 3 associations. Aviva having a lot of problems paying off the debt despite massive government funds but it will pay itself off eventually. A great long term investment. Croke Park is printing money now and if the GAA want to pump some of that into upgrading lessor used stadiums they can do it.

Donegalman I've lived close to Slane in the past and let me tell you there is zero chance of it ever hosting more than 1 gig a year and sometimes it only does it every 2 years. Fact is Croker and the Aviva are much more popular venues for concerts and logistics plays a big part in that.

Jack_Goff (Meath) - Posts: 2920 - 14/12/2014 17:03:39    1678464

Jack i never mentioned croker i was talking about the new puc. The Aviva will be filled for at least 4 Irish soccer games next plus the possibility of Ireland been in a euro play off and other friendly games depending who are the opposition are could fill out. Plus there are these pre-season tournaments with the likes of Liverpool and Celtic coming over in July/ August. There could be 5 or 6 Irish rugby games where it will fill out plus Leinster, Munster and Ulster all have played either European or pro 12 games there plus it has held the uefa final and European rugby finals, American football games and concerts, whereas the new puc will be filled about once every 3 years.

ros1 (Roscommon) - Posts: 1211 - 15/12/2014 21:52:35    1678742