European Cup final: Not so much a charm offensive as a logistics imperative, the Heineken European Cup will remain in Dublin and, according to ERC chief executive Derek McGrath, will hopefully attract a 40,000 capacity crowd.
Despite the two finalists, Toulouse and Perpignan, wishing to play the match closer to home, the operational and legal consequences are too great to change and that's even if the ERC wished to shift the game from Lansdowne Road to a venue in France.
Quite simply, the ERC have shook hands on too many deals and are rooted in marketing, printing and television contracts too labyrinthine at this late stage to back away from. Their task now is to convince Irish rugby fans to discard parochial interests and arrive in Lansdowne Road on May 24th. That will cost extra money but the ERC, after a record year at the stiles, are flush.
"There's no doubt about it that if we had two Irish teams or an Irish-French final I'd be sitting out on a golf course now," said McGrath. "But you've got to remember we've already had huge success in the tournament. The numbers are up for the quarter-finals and semi-finals this year.
"We've figures of over 180,000 who came through the gates. That is about 60,000 to 70,000 up on the previous year. In terms of the financial impact there is a direct impact and that's clearly one of the issues that we considered when we made our confirmation of Dublin. But it is an event at the end of the day, a rugby event, a sporting event. We feel that the quality of this is such that we give it the investment that it requires."
The organisers expect 10,000 fans to pour in from France with the ERC, broadcasters and sponsors eating up another 5,000 tickets. In addition 6,000 tickets have already been sold since January leaving the Irish public a tranche of about 20,000.
Seating will be provided in all areas of the ground, as at soccer internationals, which will reduce the ground capacity to 40,000. To make the fixture attractive, a number of incentives are also being offered.
The schools' enclosure at the South Terrace will be open and 500 seats will be made available, from the four IRFU Branch offices, for a5 each. Other offers in the East and West Stands will allow fans to buy two top-priced tickets at a57 each and the next two at a25, or four tickets for €164. This more volume, less cost approach works right down to the lowest-priced tickets, all of which can be seen on the ERC website, www.ercrugby.com.
Flanked by Pat Maher from sponsors Heineken, the IRFU's Noel Murphy, Niall Cogley, head of RTÉ Sport, and Frank McGee from Dublin Tourism, it was effectively an ERC counter move to the negativity which is emanating from France in particular.
"We announced our decision that Lansdowne Road would host the eighth Heineken Cup final last September. It was well received and supported by everybody. In fact, the only criticism we received was that Lansdowne Road might not be big enough. No one then questioned the Dublin venue until between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. last Sunday evening," said McGrath.
David Humphreys, the only Irish captain to have lifted the cup, Mick Galwey and Toulouse flanker Trevor Brennan, who will play in the final, will be involved in radio campaigns from next week to promote the event with poster campaigns in Dublin city running from this weekend.
Munster second row Mick O'Driscoll has agreed terms with Perpignan and will play with them next season. O'Driscoll turned down improved terms in line with other Irish international second rows.
Portadown, relegated from Division Two of the All-Ireland League this season, are seeking to be reinstated following the proposed merger between Munster clubs Dolphin and Sunday's Well.
