Build it and they will come

Sligo Rovers lifted the FAI Cup for the second year in a row on November 6^th, but the most encouraging aspect of the day was the 21,662 fans that passed through the turnstiles at the Aviva Stadium. Last year had seen an even more impressive crowd of 36,101, but that was seen as a once off as Irish football fans took an opportunity to watch a football match at the new stadium at a reasonable price. Given that the average attendance in the League of Ireland Premier Division in 2011 was 1,559, the question needs to be asked, would better facilities and stadiums lead to increased attendances?

Well the club in the Premier Division with the largest average attendance is Shamrock Rovers, with an average figure of 3,665 attending home games at the Tallaght Stadium. This stadium had an eventful journey to fruition since 1996 when a new consortium took over the club and announced a plan to build a 10,000 seat stadium in Tallaght. Their first match in Tallaght was 13^th of March 2009 and in the intervening period it faced objections, an internal fan lead coup and the club almost going out of the business.

The stadium that is now the clubs home is a 6,000 seater multipurpose stadium which has hosted Rugby League Internationals, American Football, an archery tournament, a marching band competition and of course, Europa League games.

Rovers installed an additional stand containing 2,500 seats at the car park end of the ground to bring the capacity up to 8,600. The fact that UEFA gave their approval for Rovers to play their Europa League group stage games at Tallaght Stadium gave an official seal of approval to the facilities when benchmarked against European stadium.

At the other end of the attendance spectrum in the Premier Division are clubs like Drogheda United and UCD. In 2011 Drogheda United had an average attendance of 708, while UCD had 615. These clubs would have modest facilities when compared to the likes of Tallaght Stadium and the Aviva Stadium. Also given their low average attendances, it is hard for the clubs to improve facilities due to lack of funds. So how do clubs get the money they need to improve facilities and attract more supporters?

Norway has a population of 4.8 million. Republic of Ireland has a population of 4.4 million. Yet despite our similar sized populations the Norwegian league attracts more supporters and has far superior facilities. The stadiums in Norway have seen significant improvements being made over the last 10 years as Norwegian football journalist Vergard Rinne explains. 
 

“All stadiums are all-seaters because there has been a kind of revolution in that area in the last decade. A lot of clubs have expanded their stadiums.” 
The funds to do this came from a cyclical process started with Rosenborg’s success in the Champions League. 
 

Rinne explains. “It came from Rosenborg distributing the money they got around the league (by buying players from other clubs). Also TV deals have been very important. The last one in 2007 gave the clubs £100 million pounds over three years”. 
 

The FAI negotiates the TV rights for the Airtricity league as part of a wider package including international games. A figure of £100 million pounds for TV rights for the domestic game would certainly be fantasy land figures for the League of Ireland at its present stage of development. 
 

Also, although we have seen Shamrock Rovers make progress this year in Europe, their performances in the Europa League group stages seem to indicate they still have a distance to travel to qualify for the money spinning Champions League group stages. So a Rosenborg type team that could benefit the whole league is not likely in the short term. 
 

Added to this is the sad news about Bohemians who instead of improving their facilities find themselves in a financial position which means they have to sell Dalymount Park, the original home of Irish football. This development will lead to an enforced exile for The Gypsies as they will have to come to an agreement with another club to share their facilities.
 

However, could formal permanent ground sharing proposals improve facilities in the League of Ireland and, in turn, increase attendances? There is precedent around the world as clubs in Milan, Rio, Rome and Munich share grounds with their biggest rivals. The economic argument is simple: share the costs with both clubs investing in the facilities for the benefit of both clubs. 

So, for example Bohemians could ground share with Shelbourne and Drogheda could ground share with Dundalk. None of these clubs would be natural comrades but if a plan could be put in place which would lead to improved facilities and attendances, would the benefits be worth the loss of identity?

*Attendances: www.football-lineups.com