A 12% INCREASE in hurling championship gate receipts helped the GAA rake in €29m at national level in all competitions in 2013.
The figures were published this morning in the association’s annual financial report. The GAA’s Director of Finance Tom Ryan described it as ‘very encouraging’ that gate receipts increased for a second successive year.
It was also significant that an increase was achieved because of the fact that 2012 also produced an All-Ireland hurling final replay. The outstanding hurling championship that succeeded in capturing the public imagination saw gate receipts increase from €10.65m to €11.92m.
Aside from the two-game saga between Cork and Clare in September, there were also extremely healthy attendance figures for the All-Ireland semi-final ties.
62,114 supporters attended the meeting of Dublin and Cork while there were 62,962 present for the Limerick and Clare game. The Phase 2 qualifier between Kilkenny and Tipperary was also a sellout in Nowlan Park last July with 23,000 supporters in attendance.
In the football championship there was an 8% increase in gate receipts, up from €10.95m to €11.87m. In the football league there was a 16% increase – which can be attributed to Dublin’s progress through the spring competition – from €1.95m to €2.26m while there was 29% drop in the hurling league from €1.29m to €0.92m.