Leading ticket sales enabling software company Future Ticketing is predicting possible total attendances of up to one million at SSE Airtricity League of Ireland grounds this season.
The 2023 season kicks off this Friday night and some clubs using the Offaly-based Sport for Business member’s software have the ‘sold out’ signs already up for the opening evening of the new campaign.
Overall, Future Ticketing’s partner clubs across the domestic game are projecting an upswing in gate receipts of between 15 and 20 percent, ensuring a record year in the history of the league.
This means that as many as 800,000 fans could be passing through the turnstiles for games in the League of Ireland Premier and First Divisions.
When potential attendances of nearly 200,000 at cup, European and the SSE Airtricity Women’s Premier Division are added, the figure of one million is within reach.
Last year 664,365 fans attended games in the Premier and First Divisions, a significant rise itself on the last pre-covid number in 2019 of 450,870.
Future Ticketing has confirmed that season ticket orders are running up to 20 percent ahead of 2022 – itself a record breaker – with some 20,000 people booking their seats for the whole year in advance.
The Future Ticketing clubs in the Premier Division are Bohemians, Derry City, Drogheda, Dundalk, Shamrock Rovers, Shelbourne, Sligo Rovers, and St Pat’s while partners in the First Division are Bray Wanderers, Finn Harps, Galway United, newcomers Kerry FC, Longford Town, and Treaty United.
“These are boom times for League of Ireland football and a definite pattern of rapid growth can be seen in season ticket sales and that points to record attendances throughout the coming year,” said Future Ticketing CEO Liam Holton.
“The clubs must be applauded for embracing our online ticketing service and we are proud to share the journey with them during this remarkable digital transformation.”
“All of the clubs have willingly bought into our vision of how our unique digital platform can enable them to further engage customers, provide a first-class experience online and at the turnstile, and increase attendance figures. The year-on-year growth is a reflection of that.”
“A club and league record number of season ticket sales in 2023 is the latest stage in a strategic plan on season tickets which began in 2018,” added Mark Lynch, Director at Shamrock Rovers.
“Various incentives and promotions around season tickets along with an excellent product, including our performances and the matchday experience, has helped the club reach the point where there will be over 4,000 season ticket holders joining thousands of other matchday fans at Tallaght Stadium in 2023.”
At St Patrick’s Athletic, Friday’s match at home to President’s Cup winners Derry City – who sold out the Brandywell for the season curtain-raiser against Rovers – is also sold out.
“Because we have teamed up with Future Ticketing, fans of the St Patrick’s Athletic have found it much easier to buy tickets, whether it’s a season ticket for our main stand, section G, or an individual match on any Friday night,” said Karl Stafford, St Pat’s Ticketing Manager.
On the capital’s northside Dave Rothwell, Membership Director at Bohemian FC added to the positive noises on ticketing.
“Our partnership with Future Ticketing has been crucial to the continued growth of our dedicated fan base. And advance sales this year prove how popular the ticketing service is with our supporters.”
Looking ahead to the new season, Keith McDarby, Commercial Director at Shelbourne FC said: “We are set for another record-breaking season here at Shelbourne FC with regards to our season ticket offering. Since we have begun working with our ticketing provider, Future Ticketing, we have seen steady increases year on year offering our fans a seamless way of purchasing their season ticket to Tolka Park”.
“What we’re seeing is definitely a very positive trend where there is a growing appreciation of how our proactive model benefits our partners,” concluded Holton.
“It is all the result of hard work, and we are really looking forward to the new season and continuing to work with our clubs.”
