League of Ireland Europa League 2015-16

League of Ireland Club Co-efficient

Well it is never to soon to look ahead to discuss the League of Ireland clubs and their impending Europa League  matches. The draw is very important as to the success to our league clubs. The big date is June 22, 2015 which is the draw and out league clubs find out who they are playing and where they have to travel to. The hope is they get the easiest draw and win easily.

   The clubs that will be Representing the League are your Shamrock Rovers, St Patrick's Athletic and Cork City F.C. We all want our league clubs to do well and win. Win provides the club with badly needed money with each round they play in. The further they progress the more money they will make. To bad there wasn't some type of revenue sharing with other clubs in the league to keep things competitive. Below is the payout for each round.

First qualifying round: €120,000

Second qualifying round: €130,000

Third qualifying round: €140,000

Play-off round elimination: €150,000

Base fee for group stage: €1,300,000

If 2014 is any indication then each club that wins and advances will earn 120,000. uefa-europa-league-prize-money. So lets say Cork City F.C draws a club from Wales would be ideal. First Cork City should be favorite to win. Then there is the lower travel cost and the toll on the team would be minimal. There would also be interest in the stories about the 2 leagues and 2 clubs. Cork City F.C. supporters (who are the owners) would be thrilled. Winning this would get them to the second qualifying round and 130,000.


Now lets say the Saints draw a very difficult Serbia, Slovenia or Polish club and lose in the first round. The saints will only get 120,000 for they yearly expenses. They will miss out on another 130,000 from the second round.


Now here is the fun part. Lets pretend your Shamrock Rovers get past the first and second round and get to the third round. This would give the hoops 120,130 and 140 for a total of 390,000 in revenue. This cash wind fall could pay for their entire player budget for the season.
League of Ireland Budgets 2015



Identify with the league of Ireland

To many times players jump to a competitor team and the club kind of loses it's identity. 2014 Dundalk F.C won the league title. They were led by their dynamic MF Towell. The story of the LOI would be what club could catch Towell and Dundalk. I realize the League could not compete with European clubs but can't se stop players from jumping from one club to another so easily.

Richard Towell

Shamrock Rovers lost Ronan Finn to Dundalk no less. Finn was the catalist in the middle for the Shamrock Rovers. It is good for the club and the league if clubs had first dibs to sign players back if they wanted them. 

Ronan Finn will be dress in Lilly white for the 2015 season

Danny North is another great example to represent a club. So fans can associate players with clubs

Galway United 2015 will be good for the league

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_urban_areas_in_the_Republic_of_Ireland_by_population

#1
 Galway is considered on of the Big 5 major cities in Ireland. The First Division of the League of Ireland needs a presence in this City. Galway United F.C also has batter fans support than UCD.

The positive for the League of Ireland
First Galway United had almost 3 times the attendance 1,108 compared to UCD's 445. It is not the students fault that the community or more students don't come out to watch them. It is always fun to watch this team develop the passing game as the season progresses. But Galway United will be much more interesting to watch just because more people are interested in them. They averaged 1,108 in the First Division and that was the best of the First Division.
League of Ireland attendance 2014
This season they will have the Big Clubs (Cork, the hoops, Sligo) who have a much bigger fan base than most First Division clubs. The games at Eamonn Deacy Park will be much more interesting with higher quality players visiting. I see a bump up in attendance to beat the league average of 1,596. 

#2

Galway is also located in a ideal geographical location for the League of Ireland. This Club will link the 2 big Cities of Limerick and Cork and give the league an much more encompassing feel to a national league. Galway is almost directly West of Dublin and is slightly over a 2 hour car ride. I am using Dublin as a center for the league since there are 3 clubs who will be traveling there ( Shamrock Rovers, Bohemians F.C and St. Patrick's Athletic). 

#3

 Eamonn Deacy Park pitch has always been one of the nicer grounds in the League. Playing at great venues that have a good fans base will drive up interest. I for one am glad Galway finally has a team.

Eamonn Deacy Park

 Eamonn Deacy Park has the capacity of 3,300 seats and 5,000 total

Galway is also located in a strategic location for the league of Ireland. It will connect the 2 big cities of Limerick and 

Premier Division 

No.	Club	Average	Games	vs '13	Highest
1	Cork City FC	3.841	12	95,4%	5.676
2	Shamrock Rovers FC	2.591	12	-7,0%	4.600
3	Sligo Rovers FC	2.341	12	-0,1%	3.481
4	Dundalk FC	2.287	12	15,9%	3.364
5	Bohemians FC Dublin	1.611	13	0,1%	3.403
6	St. Patrick's Athletic FC	1.378	12	-17,0%	3.200
7	Derry City FC	1.289	12	-13,6%	3.298
8	Drogheda United FC	1.122	12	32,4%	2.045
9	Limerick FC	813	12	-48,3%	1.307
10	Bray Wanderers AFC	783	12	-8,9%	3.320
11	Athlone Town FC	654	12	-13,1%	1.793
12	UCD Dublin AFC	445	12	-8,6%	885
.	Total	1.596		2,1%	5.676

  The Premier Division has been stuck at the average attendance of 1,600 (roughly) for the last 5 years (2010 - 2014). Hopefully this year things will show an improvement at the gates and the league starts growing again. 

The students have had the least supporters almost every year for the last 5 years with only about 500 attendance. They were relegated to the First Division to make way for Galway United. Galway is a City that the league needs a Premier club. Galway is a Big city and had an average of 1,000 attendance last year. This is double the students. 

      The Top clubs

Cork City is a model club. They are owner by their supporters. They play in Turners Cross which is one of the best venue to experience a game. They have always had a great attendance. Last year they were in the running until the last game of the season. This attributed to the 3,841 average attendance which blew every other club away.

Shamrock Rovers played all year trying to gain that valuable 2 Europe League spots. The hoops placed 4th and qualified since the Saints won the FAI Cup. This is one club that could advance a round or two and make some noise and money in the Europa League. The Rovers have lad the league in attendance since 2009 then the built the new Tallaght Stadium. The Rovers have been way over the league avg (over 3,000) except for this year 2,500. This is concerning but much better than everyone else.

Sligo Rovers have a great model to follow. Sligo is a small city however the entire town get behind this club. They have a good training culture having most players live close by in facilities. This creates a great bond within the club. They do not have one big business investor but many small community investors. The have been building their stadium one stand at a time. The build when there is a need and have one of the nicest facilities in the league. The have been over 2,000 since 2010.

Ireland	Average	Best club	Average
2014
2013	1.564	Shamrock Rovers FC	2.787
2012	1.645	Shamrock Rovers FC	3.022
2011	1.613	Shamrock Rovers FC	3.864
2010	1.612	Shamrock Rovers FC	3.918
2009	2.043	Shamrock Rovers FC	3.342
2008	1.796	Cork City FC	3.267
2007	1.715	Cork City FC	3.350
2006	1.548	Derry City FC	3.200
2005	1.759	Cork City FC	3.641
2004	1.863	Cork City FC	4.033
2003	2.338	Cork City FC	4.147
2001	1.709	Bohemians FC Dublin	2.705
2000	1.816	Cork City FC	3.187

The second tier make up what i call the league average.