It's a long shot the players wages but didn't Finglas Council do something like that with Sporting Finglas the Irish soccer team from a few years back? I might have got my facts wrong i really don't follow soccer.

Would be good to get some help off the council the grants we've gotten for the flood lights etc we're direct from department of sports.

Is there precedent for councils/local authorities investing in players or providing monies to clubs for player signings and wages?
My understanding is that any investment made by a local authority/council is in the facilities/infrastructure of the club( parc scarlets, salford city stadium to name 2 come to mind). i think any assistance they can provide in this regard to put the permanent seated tier or stand in would be greatly appreciated as would extra toilets etc. Anything that will help bring the club to the next level infrastructure wise. Imo we wont develop the attendances much more without these facilities. The clan terrace is great but isnt for everybody and we are probably the only club in the 3 top pro rugby leagues with no permanent outdoor cover seating area.
It would be great if they come up with financial backing but they would be unlikely to pump it into players/wages.

All immaterial, at least 5 years too late coming to the party with this one. All avenues of potential funding need to be explored but really there is going to be no joy there.

ummm, wrote: Bit of a boo boo then. If you're going to make a claim you expect to be asked to back it up, should have had the figures before going in.

Good point, well made.

Let's do some sums ourselves then.

I don't have any knowledge of Connacht stats, but I have seen this:

www.munsterrugby.ie/news/578.php

Taking the lower end of a Munster Pro12 match value (1.2 million as opposed to the high value of 3.5 million) and scaling for crowds (Connacht average 5060 vs. 18741 Thomond Pro12 average) you get a per-match value of about 0.3 million. That gives an estimated gameday only value to the local economy of 4.2 mliion per year. Some games e.g. Toulouse are probably worth a lot more. I'd estimate that the Toulouse game - 9000 supporters and a New Years' style piss-up - was worth over one mliion alone.

However this does not include the wage bill of 3 million plus, or construction/development and so on (last season this amounted to between 600 and 700K).

Therefore an estimate of 12-15 million seems a bit high but not completely unreasonable.

Bit of a boo boo then. If you're going to make a claim you expect to be asked to back it up, should have had the figures before going in.

ummm, wrote:

Robbo wrote: ...but we need more money for SH imports. (?)

I think that means when we intend to target more expensive NIE players from now on.

As for the local economy value being 12-15m, was that a number given by the council or did Connacht make that claim?

The figures were from Connacht.

Robbo wrote: ...but we need more money for SH imports. (?)

I think that means when we intend to target more expensive NIE players from now on.

As for the local economy value being 12-15m, was that a number given by the council or did Connacht make that claim?

Not much to it.

To paraphrase so as not to invoke the copyright gods...

Tom Sears and Alex Saul gave a presentation to our finest elected representatives.
Expansion, new facilities, season tickets up to nearly 4000.

21 Connacht players have represented Ireland but we need more money for SH imports. (?)

The value put on Connacht to the local economy was €12-15m. This was queried and Sears is to get more robust figures from the Chamber of Secrets and UCG.

The councillors have "vowed" to "consider" opening whatever pot of gold there is, if more detailed figures are provided.

I get an email each week when the Sentinel comes out, in this weeks it listed an article which caught my eye but which isn't being posted on the GalwayNews.ie site..

Anybody bought a copy and read the following article..."Council to consider Connacht Rugby plea for financial backing".

What gives, anything of interest...?