Economic downturn forces FAI to reduce admission prices

INTERNATIONAL TICKETS: THE FAI have confirmed reductions in the price of admission to Republic of Ireland games at the Aviva Stadium ahead of tickets for the forthcoming games against Macedonia and Uruguay going on sale to the general public this morning (10am).

Irish fans will welcome the reductions but will not be happy with the decision to offer the tickets for the two internationals in a two-match package deal, a scenario that backfired spectacularly on the IRFU last November.

Prices for Category A and B general admission tickets – which account for the vast majority of the stadium’s 50,000 capacity – have been reduced in price by up to 12 per cent in the face of dramatically declining attendances prompted by the economic downturn. Effectively all of the ticket prices will be cut by €5 to €10 so that admission to competitive matches will now cost €45 and €60 rather than €50 and €70, reductions of 10 and 14 per cent respectively.

It means an outlay of €75 for the upper tiers of the stadium for the two upcoming matches and that rises to €105 for the lower section.

In percentage terms, the reductions for friendly games are slightly larger as the prices were lower to begin with. Tickets for the Uruguay game will now cost €30 and €45 as opposed to the €40 and €55 charged for admittance to the Norway game towards the end of last year.

The official attendance for that match was just over 30,000 although the number of people who actually bought full-price tickets from the FAI is believed to have been significantly lower. Similarly, the 20,900 who are said to have watched Ireland’s more recent game against Wales included an increased number of guests and purchasers of discounted tickets.

The situation is a far cry from the claims by senior association officials early last year that there would effectively be no tickets going on sale for games at the new stadium. The scale of the economic downturn has been at the heart of the problems since then, but the failure of the organisation’s 10-year premium ticket scheme has also served to undermine its broader sales drive with seats effectively intended for the corporate and long-term market being made available instead on a match-by-match basis at heavily discounted rates.

The association have yet to sell out a game at the ground despite Ireland having played a glamour friendly against Argentina and the top-seeded team in its European Championship qualification group, Russia, over the last few months. They will hope the price reductions will change all that.