IRFU plays centre pass for advertising revenue

The IRFU is selling on-pitch advertising in Lansdowne Road for the upcoming rugby internationals.

While commercial logos have been painted on the grass behind the posts before, this is the first time that the centre of the pitch is being sold as an advertising medium.

More Ferrall, the company with the contract to sell the space, promises a 3-D effect from the painted-on logos when viewed on television. The image size can be as large as 70 square metres, which it promises will mean massive impact.

A maximum of two commercial logos can go on the pitch. The costs are relatively high at £25,000 per logo for the game against France. It is the same price per logo for the game against England, while the friendly against Italy comes in at a more modest £15,000 per logo.

A single advertiser can take up the option of buying the two spaces. The price includes production.

"It is very expensive for a once-off match," says Mr Paul Moran, managing director of Mediaworks, Peter Owen's dependent media shop. "But the rates are probably justifiable when you allow for the international viewer-ship of the French and England games and of course the fact that the games will be broadcast live adds another dimension."

On-pitch commercial advertising has been common in rugby, particularly in the Southern hemisphere, for years, because it offers advertisers the chance to be both highly visible and on-screen for the duration of the game and not just in ad breaks.

The logos can also to be seen on replays during post-match analysis. Centre-pitch advertising is not an option even in one of the most commercially minded sports, Premiership football, and in the US only team logos make it on the pitch in American football. In Croke Park, the GAA's own logo is painted on the pitch.

It will be interesting to see how rugby purists react to yet another commercialised element in the sport. As yet, no advertiser has taken up this new media option for any of the games but clearly, given the cost, the ones who are likely to be interested are those whose products have brand appeal outside the domestic market.

More O'Ferrall is in negotiation with several potential clients and is confident that there will be commercial logos on the pitch for the first international on February 6th.