Last August, revenues for the Aviva Stadium firm were boosted by the American college football game featuring Navy and Notre Dame. Photo: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
The Aviva Stadium company – set for a large pay-day with the staging of the Uefa Europa League final at the venue this evening – recorded operating profits of €6.58m last year.
New accounts filed by New Stadium DAC – jointly owned by the IRFU and the FAI – show the operating profits of €6.58m last year were down €1.4m, or 17.5pc, on the €7.97m operating profits for 2022.
The decline coincided with the Aviva not hosting any major concerts last year in contrast to 2022 when Harry Styles and Westlife performed to sell-out crowds at the venue.
The 2022 gigs delivered $18m in box office receipts from selling 185,539 tickets, according to figures from Pollstar. The Aviva will top that by some margin during a bumper 2024. Taylor Swift plays three nights at the end of June while Pink also has two dates next month.
Last August, revenues for the Aviva Stadium firm were boosted by the American college football game featuring Navy and Notre Dame.
The new accounts show that operating profits were down despite the stadium generating €8m in licence fees from the IRFU and the FAI which was an increase of 13pc on the €7.1m paid out by the two sporting bodies in 2022.
The sporting entities pay the fees to New Stadium DAC for matches staged at the Aviva which also generates income from catering contracts. A sizeable chunk of the company’s revenues come from naming rights for the stadium.
In 2010, Aviva bought the naming rights for a reported €40m over 10 years. In 2018 they extended the deal to 2025.
The deal agreed in 2018 came into effect in 2020 and a note attached to the New Stadium accounts states that the company’s share of its naming rights income is released to the profit and loss account each year.
Last year, New Stadium Ltd again paid out no dividend to its shareholders.
The stadium company recorded a pre-tax loss of €3.15m which was more than double the pre-tax loss of €1.29m for 2022.
The loss last year takes account of hefty non-cash depreciation costs of €9.7m.
The company pays the IRFU €750,000 each year for the rent of the stadium land.
The number employed by the stadium firm increased by one to 18, while staff costs increased from €1.7m to €1.8m.
