Irish Greyhound Racing has got off to a flying start to the New Year with the announcement of a 25% increase to central prize money grants.
This will be distributed across all race types from the elite to the lowest grade and see an increase in the amount of prize money filtering through to the sports stakeholders of €950,000.
The basic grant represents the minimum prize money for each grade of race and is paid out by the Irish Greyhound Board through a central account. This is topped up in many case by additional money generated by individual tracks through sponsorship or promotional activity aimed at attracting quality racing and increasing crowd numbers.
Attendance at tracks in the latest published figures covering the calendar year of 2014 were down slightly on the previous year but investment in broadcast deals and an increase in Government funding through the Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund mean that the sport is likely to have returned to growth in key areas in 2015.
A consultation with stakeholders undertaken over the past year gave clear indication that an across the board rise in basic grants toward prize money was the most effective way to boost regeneration of the sport in 2016.
Total racing turnover in 2014 exceeded €25 million, an indication of the size of the sport which might not be immediately obvious to those outside its reach. Total attendance was just under 650,000 over the course of that same year, making it still one of the most popular spectator sports in the country by footfall.
Boylesports, Dublin Coach, Red Mills, the Irish Independent and Kerry Group are among the biggest sponsors of the sport which also provides a major fundraising mechanism for clubs and teams across other sports.
