Plans For New Stadium In Connacht

CK22

People talking about central location in the middle of Connacht. Like is Casement a central location, or is Croker and Thurles? Croker and Thurles have solid rail infrastructure, and both are located near the motorway network. So even if you’re a Wexford fan coming up to Croker, it’s not too bad because of the M11 and the Train to Pearse. Claremorris makes no sense. It has a fail station on the already awkward Western Rail Corridor. You can’t get a train from Sligo to Galway without having to change in Dublin. Or from Westpory or Claremorris wiyhout Athlone. Will this mean that McHale is no longer used by Mayo, or that this new stadium will only be used for provincial finals? McHale is alright by GAA standards. Pearse is decent as well, even though access is horrific. The Hyde is alright but needs work, though it is central. If this is happening, which I doubt it will, I think the best solution is either redevelop The Hyde, McHale, or sell Pearse Stadium and build something near Galway Airport maybe, which isn’t far off the M6/M17 M18 junction.

PARlance

ProudDUB wrote: »

But should it just be about Connacht GAA matches? It only has 5 counties. There are only so many matches, that will be played in Connacht, between Connacht counties, especially as ye all tend to travel to London & New York when you play them.

Factor in qualifier games, Super Eight games, league games, hurling and rugby matches (presuming a decent provincial venue for the rugby is also a consideration) where the opposition supporters will generally be coming from another province...and a wider, year round picture of what is needed starts to emerge imo.

I'm fairly sure that the thinking behind it is for each Province has it's own landmark stadium... primarily for its Counties. Being central to each would be key imo.

megadodge

threeball wrote: »

Athenry sits on two motorways genius. Everywhere from Dublin to Cork could access it easily and get away just as quick

Yup Einstein, and coming from Dublin and Cork might actually be handier than accessing it from most parts of Connacht.

Just make sure it's accessible to all the non-Connacht parts of the country and screw the rest of Connacht!

Why even bother using the word Connacht, it's obvious some here think Connacht consists of Galway alone. Jesus you remind me of a large portion of the Dublin population who think the whole country ends at Lucan.

RedDevil55

PARlance wrote: »

Those motorways service Leinster and Muster mainly so it really doesn't come into the equation if building a Stadium for Connacht.

Claremorris would be the best bet for me.

It would be ridiculous to build a brand new stadium in Claremorris when there is a 30k capacity ground 20 minutes up the road.

Not sure where this story came from tbh. The only way it could possibly make sense is if Galway GAA sold up Pearse stadium and built a new stadium in Athenry.

CrabRevolution

As previously mentioned, there's no source for this story other than an identical message posted on hoganstand. It doesn't really make sense either.

Is it to be one county's stadium being given an upgrade, or a new 6th ground being built?

What's the demand for it? Connacht's stadia aren't exactly being overwhelmed as it is. The last 2 Roscommon/Galway finals have gotten 18'000. You'll get 20-30'000 at a Galway/Mayo match, but I can't see either of those 2 counties giving up their alternating home match to some neutral ground.

Even in Leinster where we have a neutral stadium, many counties don't want to play there and want to play games at their home grounds in front of smaller packed out crowds.

nice_guy80

Just upgrade the Hyde.
It already has the best surface in Connacht
Job done.

kupus

white elephants come to mind.

threeball

nice_guy80 wrote: »

Just upgrade the Hyde.
It already has the best surface in Connacht
Job done.

Access is crap and there's no parking for a start. Start sending 15,000 cars down the athlone road and see how you get on.

threeball

megadodge wrote: »

Yup Einstein, and coming from Dublin and Cork might actually be handier than accessing it from most parts of Connacht.

Just make sure it's accessible to all the non-Connacht parts of the country and screw the rest of Connacht!

Why even bother using the word Connacht, it's obvious some here think Connacht consists of Galway alone. Jesus you remind me of a large portion of the Dublin population who think the whole country ends at Lucan.

You said it was a back water and I put you right. The only backwater here is the 90% of Mayo that is a nightmare to reach by road if there's any traffic. Look at knock for the pope. It's on the best stretch of road on mayo with months of advance planning and the traffic was brutal.

Hulk Hands

leestone wrote: »

Roscommon town is 20 mins from middle of the country added it to been only a hour max from every county town Galway city castlebar Carrick Sligo plus the other main towns in those counties in the province of Connacht. Athenry is near the sounthern tip of the province over 2 hours plus from parts of mayo Sligo Leitrim, you mentioned Kilkenny Wexford Quicker for them to get to Roscommon than another 40 miles plus to athenry.

Roscommon is the Eastern tip of the province and is a place nobody wants to go to. Having a stadium outside of the Galway catchment area is the same logic as having a Leinster stadium in Laois as opposed to Dublin. It sounds all nice to put your finger on the Central point of a map of Connacht and put a stadium there. It falls down when you realise the place has an average age of 65, no hotels, no entertainment options and no transport links

grbear

kupus wrote: »

white elephants come to mind.

That'd definitely be my biggest fear.

I'm going to make a few assumptions here to try and construct an argument so apologies in advance to anyone offended.

I'm going to work off the stadium being in Galway as they'd have the fullest fixture list between hurling and football.

I'm going for an assumed cost of €85million based on the projected cost if Casement Park which this is theoretically similar to.

We'll pencil in the same level of grant Pairc UI Chaoimh got at €30million but assume that also means more conditions attached to make the stadium available to other organisations if needed.

I'll be optimistic and say that selling corporate ten year tickets and maybe the naming rights contributes another €10million.

Croke Park to put in €15million like the proposed plans for Casement Park.

If my maths check out that leaves a bill of €30million to be picked up by either Galway GAA or Connacht GAA.

Between the hurlers and footballers Galway will probably have around ten home matches a year. If we are optimistic and say that the improved facilities and better access boost average matches attendances to 10,000 at €20 a head thats around €2million a year gross income from match tickets. Even giving the stadium the Connacht final at an optimistic attendance of 20,000 at €30 a head just about boosts things to €2.6 million a year.
€2.6million gross income to pay down a €30million debt doesn't add up from what I can see. The stadium facilities themselves could generate some revenue but I'd be surprised if they made a contribution beyond paying the wages of the people running the place.

You'd need average attendances closer to 15,000 at Galway games and guaranteed extra revenue with autumn concerts and a partnership of sorts with Connacht Rugby to get this thing close to viable.

megadodge

threeball wrote: »

You said it was a back water and I put you right. The only backwater here is the 90% of Mayo that is a nightmare to reach by road if there's any traffic. Look at knock for the pope. It's on the best stretch of road on mayo with months of advance planning and the traffic was brutal.

No I didn't!

Go on, look back over my posts.

The first person to use the term 'backwater' was the incredibly bitter (and probably drunk) Hulk Hands when describing Roscommon town.

So no, you didn't "put me right", you put yourself wrong.

megadodge

Hulk Hands wrote: »

Roscommon is the Eastern tip of the province and is a place nobody wants to go to. Having a stadium outside of the Galway catchment area is the same logic as having a Leinster stadium in Laois as opposed to Dublin. It sounds all nice to put your finger on the Central point of a map of Connacht and put a stadium there. It falls down when you realise the place has an average age of 65, no hotels, no entertainment options and no transport links

Is the hangover bad?

megadodge

threeball wrote: »

Access is crap and there's no parking for a start. Start sending 15,000 cars down the athlone road and see how you get on.

Why would 15,000 cars be heading down the Athlone Road?

Just pluck random numbers out of your arse there and pretend something is going to happen that has never, ever happened after all the big matches played in the Hyde over the years.

There are EIGHT access roads to Roscomon town. While not all of them head to Galway, the majority of Galway people would NOT be using the Athlone Road to head back and there's absoutely no way 15,000 cars would ever be heading out there.

There's a common theme to your posts here - lying!

Cosmo Kramer

I see a couple of the the usual GAA forum nutters have been let loose on the Galway City forum.Would probably be best to call a halt to this thread before it gets any worse.
Not a hope of another GAA stadium being build in Connacht anyway. Any future development will be an upgrade of one of the existing ones. In that context Galway City is at a disadvantage due to the poor location and space restricted nature of Pearse Stadium.

Euphoriasean

Mayo would never agree to a Connacht stadium in Galway and neither Mayo or Galway would agree to one in Roscommon. As they are the biggest counties they will have the most say,not fair but that's the way it will be.

Galway collaborating with Connacht Rugby definitely makes sense but it could be difficult to get all parties on board though,IRFU,ERC,Pro 14,GAA. Could potentially mean moving some League games to Tuam which would not be ideal. A must to have it somewhere close to the city. Would be great for another RWC bid.

Selling up Pearse Stadium would be an additional source of funding. Think the Sportgrounds is only leased to Connacht.

grbear

I'm not sure if the current rules would even allow Connacht GAA to enter into a partnership with Connacht Rugby.


After tomorrow night and the results of this audit come out I don't think there will be many people looking to give Galway GAA much money, nevermind enough to build half a stadium.

Fr Tod Umptious

Connacht does not need another stadium

There is a very good one in Salthill and even though access is a problem the ground itself is excellent, and you have a big ground in Castlebar

Both have been revamped in the last 15 years, both rarely get capacity crowds

Let them be utilised first and then once they are need in redevelopment maybe look at an other option

The Lost Sheep

Euphoriasean wrote: »

Mayo would never agree to a Connacht stadium in Galway and neither Mayo or Galway would agree to one in Roscommon. As they are the biggest counties they will have the most say,not fair but that's the way it will be.

Galway collaborating with Connacht Rugby definitely makes sense but it could be difficult to get all parties on board though,IRFU,ERC,Pro 14,GAA. Could potentially mean moving some League games to Tuam which would not be ideal. A must to have it somewhere close to the city. Would be great for another RWC bid.

Selling up Pearse Stadium would be an additional source of funding. Think the Sportgrounds is only leased to Connacht.

It wouldnt be that difficult to get all the rugby groups on board. IRFU are so involved in EPCR and Pro14 that getting them ob board is an issue.

nice_guy80

Most Galway fans are sitting at home watching on tv when their footballers or hurlers are playing
So I wouldn't be too worried about catering for them

A new stadium isn't needed
Enough money is being wasted
Especially when there is a need for full time coaches and rural gaa development across the provinces

ProudDUB

Euphoriasean wrote: »

Mayo would never agree to a Connacht stadium in Galway and neither Mayo or Galway would agree to one in Roscommon. As they are the biggest counties they will have the most say,not fair but that's the way it will be.

Galway collaborating with Connacht Rugby definitely makes sense but it could be difficult to get all parties on board though,IRFU,ERC,Pro 14,GAA. Could potentially mean moving some League games to Tuam which would not be ideal. A must to have it somewhere close to the city. Would be great for another RWC bid.

Selling up Pearse Stadium would be an additional source of funding. Think the Sportgrounds is only leased to Connacht.

If posters here are not able or willing to put their respective loyalties & rivalries aside, when having a discussion about where to locate any new stadium, what hope is their for county boards? So how about taking it out of their hands?

Get in an independent body to make the decisions. Get people who are capable of evaluating everything at play, without being blinded by the usual county board egos, loyalties and resentments. It would be a massive departure from how things are normally done in Ireland, where cronyism and mé fein-ism reigns supreme, so it'll probably never happen.

A way around the rugby thing can be found if the will is there. The GAA are their own organization & can make or break their own rules as they see fit. The willlingness to change just has to be there. The recent Rugby World Cup bid may have shown a willingness to be more open minded in that regard. However, the Liam Miller fiasco pissed away a lot of that goodwill, so who the eff knows where we stand now. :rolleyes:

grbear

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

Connacht does not need another stadium

There is a very good one in Salthill and even though access is a problem the ground itself is excellent, and you have a big ground in Castlebar

Both have been revamped in the last 15 years, both rarely get capacity crowds

Let them be utilised first and then once they are need in redevelopment maybe look at an other option

All true.

I threw up those few numbers earlier and even with an optimistic spin on things they just don't make enough sense.

Maybe I'm completely wrong and someone inside Croke Park has come up with a scheme to host a week of Garth Brooks concerts every year for the next twenty years at Connacht GAAs new home but I won't be getting my hopes up. Or line dancing lessons.

Diabhal Beag

I just don't see the attendances to warrant a new ground or even significant investments in the existing grounds. Hyde held a Connacht final with well under 20k there but there wasn't anybody who missed out on tickets from what I could tell. Still made for a great atmosphere.

The match in McHale this year had under 30k in what was promised to be a sellout.

Don't get me wrong, I've been in the same traffic gridlocks as the rest of ye coming out of Pearse/McHale/Hyde/Sligo/Carrick, but it would be pissing away money.

grbear

Open to correction this but I think the Mayo-Galway match would have been sell out except for the fact there was a late health and safety inspection which allowed extra tickets to be put on sale.

flatty

I think it should be as close to the city as practical, but east of the river

Coillte_Bhoy

grbear wrote: »

Open to correction this but I think the Mayo-Galway match would have been sell out except for the fact there was a late health and safety inspection which allowed extra tickets to be put on sale.

Ya officially it was a sell out, i think could have easily been over 45k there if there wasnt all the H&S stuff beforehand, lot of people couldnt be arsed travelling on the day

TCDStudent1

Coillte_Bhoy wrote: »

Ya officially it was a sell out, i think could have easily been over 45k there if there wasnt all the H&S stuff beforehand, lot of people couldnt be arsed travelling on the day

Well they had to let a significant proportion of supporters to walk along the pitch before the match. So I think the H&S stuff was probably justified on that day.

Coillte_Bhoy

TCDStudent1 wrote: »

Well they had to let a significant proportion of supporters to walk along the pitch before the match. So I think the H&S stuff was probably justified on that day.

Im not saying it wasnt, but i know of a few potential walk alongs who didnt go. I think you missed my point tbh

rossie1977

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

I just don't see the attendances to warrant a new ground or even significant investments in the existing grounds. Hyde held a Connacht final with well under 20k there but there wasn't anybody who missed out on tickets from what I could tell. Still made for a great atmosphere.

The match in McHale this year had under 30k in what was promised to be a sellout.

To be fair 30k at a first round game was terrific and all the 19k tickets for this years final sold out well in advance. Could have sold alot more had they been available

None of three stadiums rights now (Hyde, McHale or Pearse) are really suitable when it comes to transport links or indeed as venues for spectators in general with the terrible weather we get here in the west every summer. I mean the 2011 and 16 (drawn game) and 17 finals were days you wouldn't wish on your mortal enemy

If something like this came to a vote Sligo and Leitrim would choose Roscommon as they always pick the Hyde for Connacht finals (assuming it's not vs Roscommon). Mayo and Galway would obviously oppose Roscommon so you likely would end up in a deadlock and whole thing being scrapped.

Diabhal Beag

45k for a Connacht championship match isn't happening even if we had a stadium with that capacity in the province. That was the most hyped up Galway-Mayo match in a long time too so interest was at a peak.

You'll always have the few people that'd claim they'd have gone if it was less crowded/not on the Sunday/at an earlier time/usual waffle but I'd say if you accounted for them you wouldn't have had 35k at McHale that day even if you threw all H&S requirements out the window.

RedDevil55

TCDStudent1 wrote: »

Well they had to let a significant proportion of supporters to walk along the pitch before the match. So I think the H&S stuff was probably justified on that day.

The problem with MacHale Park is that everyone has to enter at the bacon factory end. For the big championship games it would be better to have turnstiles down at the Albany end. You could get an extra 5k in safely then.

Of course that's only a couple of times a year so may not be worth it.

Coillte_Bhoy

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

45k for a Connacht championship match isn't happening even if we had a stadium with that capacity in the province. That was the most hyped up Galway-Mayo match in a long time too so interest was at a peak.

You'll always have the few people that'd claim they'd have gone if it was less crowded/not on the Sunday/at an earlier time/usual waffle but I'd say if you accounted for them you wouldn't have had 35k at McHale that day even if you threw all H&S requirements out the window.

Sorry, i actually meant 35k and ill disagree with your second point, if we didnt have all the hype about attendance in the run up,i think there would easily have been 35k there but hey its just a difference of opinion

Coillte_Bhoy

RedDevil55 wrote: »

The problem with MacHale Park is that everyone has to enter at the bacon factory end. For the big championship games it would be better to have turnstiles down at the Albany end. You could get an extra 5k in safely then.

Of course that's only a couple of times a year so may not be worth it.

Used to be turnstiles on MacHale Road back in the day and you could also enter at the Albany end but obv both entrances would need serious upgrades now

Diabhal Beag

Coillte_Bhoy wrote: »

Sorry, i actually meant 35k and ill disagree with your second point, if we didnt have all the hype about attendance in the run up,i think there would easily have been 35k there but hey its just a difference of opinion

I think the hype of attendance stopping people from going is more than cancelled out by people who decide to go because of the hype. Can see your point but think everybody who was genuinely interested in it had their ticket sorted before the day of. Even walking in to the clubhouse there was nobody going up to the box office vans for ages.

munchkin_utd

Connacht just announced a new swish stadium in Galway.
Connacht Rugby, not GAA.

https://www.rte.ie/sport/rugby/2018/1007/1001602-connacht-unveil-plan-to-redevelop-the-sportsground/

They are redeveloping the sportsgrounds as a 12000 capacity stadium in association with the Greyhound board.
It's costing 30million for what is a fairly small stadium, but sure when you have a regular guaranteed schedule of games, combined with regular use by the greyhound board, then it makes financial sense and you can pay off that amount of cash.

The GAA county boards who dont even have 1 guaranteed big home game per year dont have that luxury.

troyzer

munchkin_utd wrote: »

Connacht just announced a new swish stadium in Galway.
Connacht Rugby, not GAA.

https://www.rte.ie/sport/rugby/2018/1007/1001602-connacht-unveil-plan-to-redevelop-the-sportsground/

They are redeveloping the sportsgrounds as a 12000 capacity stadium in association with the Greyhound board.
It's costing 30million for what is a fairly small stadium, but sure when you have a regular guaranteed schedule of games, combined with regular use by the greyhound board, then it makes financial sense and you can pay off that amount of cash.

The GAA county boards who dont even have 1 guaranteed big home game per year dont have that luxury.

A lot of that will be public money.

BloodyBill

It was always the most likely outcome. I think it will be a great place to watch rugby. It's obviously fairly small and won't allow a big following develop like Leinster or Munster have but it will be more than enough for Connacht. Fair play to them and I hope it's a great addition for the city and province.
It 'll show up Pearse Stadium for what it is..an ugly duckling built on a beach and totally unsuitable for Hurling with winds careening in off the Atlantic.

PARlance

Inclusion of an all weather pitch jumped out at me, would hate to play rugby on that surface tbh.

crusier

BloodyBill wrote:

It was always the most likely outcome. I think it will be a great place to watch rugby. It's obviously fairly small and won't allow a big following develop like Leinster or Munster have but it will be more than enough for Connacht. Fair play to them and I hope it's a great addition for the city and province. It 'll show up Pearse Stadium for what it is..an ugly duckling built on a beach and totally unsuitable for Hurling with winds careening in off the Atlantic.

The sports ground is every bit as close to the sea and on a height. I reckon there's money buried in Pearse stadium somewhere and that's why they don't want any outsiders coming in.

MfMan

BloodyBill wrote: »

It was always the most likely outcome. I think it will be a great place to watch rugby. It's obviously fairly small and won't allow a big following develop like Leinster or Munster have but it will be more than enough for Connacht. Fair play to them and I hope it's a great addition for the city and province.
It 'll show up Pearse Stadium for what it is..an ugly duckling built on a beach and totally unsuitable for Hurling with winds careening in off the Atlantic.

Stadium itself isn't in any way ugly, and you get wind everywhere on this island, not particularly worse in Salthill; more likely also to affect football games than hurling. Location is it's only, major drawback.

Suckler

threeball wrote: »

Access is crap and there's no parking for a start. Start sending 15,000 cars down the athlone road and see how you get on.

Agree, they'd need to develop two more decent entrances/parking and access to the Galway road for a start. At least you'd have options out. Ring road north and Lanesborough direction are decent and would't take much to cordon off the town centre to keep things moving in and out.

nice_guy80

why is this in the GAA forum?

munchkin_utd

nice_guy80 wrote: »

why is this in the GAA forum?

From the link
"The multi-use facility will also be made available for the hosting of other sports, including soccer and gaelic games, if the demand arises."

The Lost Sheep

PARlance wrote: »

Inclusion of an all weather pitch jumped out at me, would hate to play rugby on that surface tbh.

Theyre not that bad to play on. Especially the newest forms of the all weather surfaces

nice_guy80 wrote: »

why is this in the GAA forum?

Because its a new stadium in Connacht and talk about new GAA stadium being needed so its relevant....

PARlance

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

Theyre not that bad to play on. Especially the newest forms of the all weather surfaces

The new ones are good, I just think it's a shame to have it as a surface for a Rugby ground. Soccer is very good and GAA is ok, just think Rugby isn't suited to it.

Fr Tod Umptious

MfMan wrote: »

Stadium itself isn't in any way ugly, and you get wind everywhere on this island, not particularly worse in Salthill; more likely also to affect football games than hurling. Location is it's only, major drawback.

Yea I don't get the dislike for Pearse Stadium as a stadium.

Sure the location sucks but as an actual ground I think it's perfect.

Not too big, not too small and a really tidy stand, unlike that pillar monstrosity up in Castlebar.

nice_guy80

the pitch will be too small for all GAA games.

move it to the egg chasing forum

The Lost Sheep

nice_guy80 wrote: »

the pitch will be too small for all GAA games.

move it to the rugby forum

The discussion is fine here and hopefully in time we'll see plans for new GAA stadium in the province.

The Lost Sheep

nice_guy80 wrote: »

the pitch will be too small for all GAA games.

move it to the rugby forum

The discussion is fine here and hopefully in time we'll see plans for new GAA stadium in the province.

BloodyBill

MfMan wrote: »

BloodyBill wrote: »

It was always the most likely outcome. I think it will be a great place to watch rugby. It's obviously fairly small and won't allow a big following develop like Leinster or Munster have but it will be more than enough for Connacht. Fair play to them and I hope it's a great addition for the city and province.
It 'll show up Pearse Stadium for what it is..an ugly duckling built on a beach and totally unsuitable for Hurling with winds careening in off the Atlantic.

Stadium itself isn't in any way ugly, and you get wind everywhere on this island, not particularly worse in Salthill; more likely also to affect football games than hurling. Location is it's only, major drawback.

I'd dispute the substance of your post. I agree there is wind everywhere but You don't have any meaningful wind in Pairc ui Caoimh or the Gaelic Grounds. They are built in sheltered areas. You ll find on met Eireann that the winds on the coast are way stronger and more frequent.