ROCK LEGENDS AC/DC and a host of large sports events helped the company behind the Aviva Stadium make an operating profit of almost €4 million last year.
According to accounts filed by New Stadium, which officially ‘owns’ the venue, the company made an operating profit of €3.6 million for the financial year ended 31 December 2015.
New Stadium, a special purpose vehicle created to manage the arena, is jointly owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union and the Football Association of Ireland (FAI). The venture has a 60-year lease on the stadium.
The company’s directors report stated that 2015 “saw a programme of 16 events which attracted almost 600,000 customers to the Aviva Stadium”.
Events
It noted that several football events were held at the 52,000 capacity stadium including the FAI cup final and the FAI women’s senior cup final.
Perhaps most memorably the Aviva hosted Ireland’s home Euro 2016 qualifying matches during the year, which included a famous 1-0 win over world champions Germany.
The venue was also graced by Australian rock legends AC/DC, who played to a sell-out crowd in July of last year.
The stadium’s €3.6 million operating profit was down slightly on the €4.6 million recorded in 2014, when the venue played host to 20 events which attracted a total of almost 650,000 customers.
The director’s report stated that the “increased cost base is due to the increase in our commercial rates liability”.
A spokesman for the Aviva said that the stadium “usually has 19 (or) 20 major events, in 2015 we had 16″.
“We saw an increase in conferences and non-match day events and hope to see continued growth in that area,” he said.
The company also received €4.1m in government grants, the same as in 2014 and 2013.
The company also saw its wage bill drop slightly, from €1.33 million to €1.26 million as the average number of full and part time staff employed by the company during the year dropped from 27 to 24.
Flexibility
Despite this, New Stadium incurred a full-year loss of €3.3 million, up slightly from the €2.7 million recorded in 2014.
However, this paper loss was almost entirely due to the depreciation in value of the stadium itself, which is now valued at €351 million compared to €361 million in 2014.
The director’s report said that the company traded in line with expectations, and said that it is aiming to ensure that its conferencing and events business “is as successful as possible”.
It added: “The stadium has demonstrated great flexibility in coping with a busy event schedule in 2015. The stadium company is committed to attracting high quality sporting and non-sporting events”.
In 2009, the Aviva insurance group signed a 10-year deal for naming rights of the stadium, which replaced the old Lansdowne Road and was officially opened in 2010.
Written by Paul O’Donoghue and posted on Fora.ie
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