Small deficit recorded Tipperary County Board as cash flow becomes an issue
By Shane Brophy
Tipperary County Board recorded a deficit of €78,203 in its accounts presented to GAA Convention on Saturday night.
This was despite income rising by 10.5% to just over €4 million with most areas seeing increases, including gate receipts which was only a modest €2,500 despite admission price rises of twenty percent. The popularity of club season tickets played a large part with a rise of almost €20,000 on the previous year. However, treasurer Eleanor Lahart remarked on the abuse of the match passes, and this will be curbed going forward.
Gate receipts also covers online streaming income of €78,444, down on the previous year but does not include a final payment for the year from Clubber who pay in four instalments.
The biggest increases in income came from associated bodies, up over €220k with Tipp’s share of National League income in both hurling and football rising sharply, plus central and Munster Council funding for team expenses and other grants from Central & Munster Council.
There was also a sharp rise in fundraising income to almost €200,000, over 75% coming from the GAA Clubs Draw.
Expenditure rise
However, the increase in income was offset by a 14% rise in expenditure to €4.087 million. The biggest chunk is the €1.797million (a rise of 27%) spent on inter-county team administration, which accounted for almost 44% of total spending by the county board this year.
For the first time in the accounts, there was a break down in terms of where the money was spent with €587,374 on the senior hurlers, €471,683 on the senior footballers, and €741,217 on the underage and development squads in both hurling and football.
The €1.797million doesn’t take into account financial contributions from the Tipperary Supporters Club, the Friends of Tipperary Football, and the Commercial Board, which combined brought spending on county teams to over €2 million, with a budget in place of €2.18 million for 2024.
cash flow issues
The ever-rising costs associated with inter-county teams is placing a significant strain on the county board to meet its operational requirements with cash flow a significant issue over the past year as with the split season, and inter-county activity confined from December to July means it is hard to generate revenue during that time with little club activity.
Tipperary also have financial commitments towards the upgrading of the training grounds at Dr Morris Park with plans for a new pavilion and a fourth playing field, plus an upgrade of FBD Semple Stadium. Tipperary GAA had to use the profits from the GAA Clubs Draw of €153,140 to complete phase 1 of Dr Morris Park but Eleanor Lahart warned that using GAA draw funds for infrastructure projects cannot continue as it is now be needed to run the county board on a day-to-day basis with separate funding sources required for such projects.
Tipperary GAA also have a financial commitment with TUS Thurles to be an anchor tenant to his multi-sport development which includes three playing pitches, one of which will an all-weather. To that end, the project took a small step forward last week when it received a top-up grant allocation under the governments Large-Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF), receiving an additional €183,415 to bring its total to €745,969. TUS and Tipperary GAA have to contribute 30% of their own monies to the project, however, with the project set to run into millions of euro, they still have a long way to go.
To mitigate against the financial strains, the county board under new CEO Murtagh Brennan and treasurer Eleanor Lahart, who have just completed their first years in their respective roles, have made considerable savings in terms of renegotiating the contract with Setanta College who oversee the strength & conditioning of the underage development squads.
There was also the cancellation of a storage contract and the renegotiation of a number of existing contracts, while Tipperary GAA is now also a member of the Tipperary Chamber of Commerce which offers more opportunities to link with local businesses.
On top of that is securing additional revenue via new sponsorships, plus the running of two fundraisers, including raising €27,000 at the annual race-day at the Galway Races. However, another which can raise approximately €100,000 is needed on an annual basis.