Bumper receipts for GAA

Semple Stadium will be awash with green this weekend, as it was during the 2022 final between Limerick and Clare. Photo: Brendan Moran

GATE receipts will likely have exceeded a record โ‚ฌ5million when the Munster Senior Hurling Championship comes to its conclusion with Sundayโ€™s final in Thurles.

The total attendance for the 10-game round-robin stage of the competition was 270,750, 4,000 more than last season.

The enduring appeal of the Munster SHC is set to continue with a sold-out Limerick/Clare Final.

A crowd of 45,000, if the finalised capacity allows for it, would see the entire 2023 attendance figure of 310,440 eclipsed by over 5,000.

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While a marginal increase, combined with the rise in ticket prices, gate receipts will surpass the โ‚ฌ5.4m mark that was achieved last year when there was a rise of โ‚ฌ655,500 from 2022โ€™s โ‚ฌ4.736m figure as a total crowd rise of 48,420 (18 per cent) was recorded.

A stand ticket for a round-robin game this season cost โ‚ฌ30, 18 per cent more than admission up to last year.

The price of stand and terrace tickets for this weekendsโ€™ final have also increased from the 2023 marks of โ‚ฌ40 and โ‚ฌ30 respectively.

Meanwhile, stand tickets for All-Ireland Finals at Croke Park will increase to โ‚ฌ100 in July, a โ‚ฌ10 rise on last year. Terrace tickets go up by a fiver, as to prices for quarter-finals and semi-finals.

โ€œThis is the first increase to final ticket prices since 2019, and the second in 14 years, and is part of a ticketing review which featured discounts during the Leagues,โ€ said a GAA statement.

โ€œThe additional ticket revenues generated will underpin a continued growth in our investment into Coaching and Games (โ‚ฌ12m), Infrastructural Redevelopment of our County Grounds and Venues (โ‚ฌ5m) and the continued capacity to assist club infrastructure through the GAAโ€™s Club Development Fund Scheme.โ€