Euro 2028 - Host bid

[KirkieRR]

Those Casement Park pics. The pitch at Adamslie Park is in better nick, and they're building houses on it.

This looks like a cosy English stitch-up with Johnny Ireland.

Edited November 17, 2022 by KirkieRR

[lubo_blaha]

This is the current nick of Casement Park in Belfast. Given the lack of devolved government there and impending squeeze on spending / borrowing what chance this place actually makes the cut?











 
Tbf you could probably temporarily seat the ends.

We could’ve put forward Cathkin Park if that’s the kind of stadiums they’re accepting.

[Mark Connolly]

On 17/11/2022 at 23:39, lubo_blaha said:

We could’ve put forward Cathkin Park if that’s the kind of stadiums they’re accepting.

We should bid on our own using all 3 Hampdens

[Miguel Sanchez]

So with the tournament less than six years away, North Ireland with no functioning government and the UK with... well, a government but up to its eyeballs in debt, they're going to build an entirely new stadium on that abandoned bit of waste ground? Very good.

[topcat(The most tip top)]

4 hours ago, Miguel Sanchez said:

So with the tournament less than six years away, North Ireland with no functioning government and the UK with... well, a government but up to its eyeballs in debt, they're going to build an entirely new stadium on that abandoned bit of waste ground? Very good.

Presumably this is a sweetener as the GAA try to shake down the UK government for millions of pounds

 

[The Golden God]

I'm sure Casement is getting done up, tbh it would be worth the embarrasment of having a British and Irish tournament with basically all English stadiums, just to see the absolute fury the NI Unionists would unleash when there'd be 2 GAA stadiums involved and no Windsor. The level of rage would solve the cost of living crisis itself.

[HibeeJibee]

12 hours ago, The Golden God said:

I'm sure Casement is getting done up,

It would take a miracle for Casement Park to host Euro 2028 matches, says former Irish FA president Jim Boyce - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk

Former Irish FA president Jim Boyce believes it would take “a miracle” for Belfast’s Casement Park to be ready to host a game at the Euro 2028 Finals.

Casement Park is one of 14 stadiums included in a joint five nation bid to host the tournament. The football associations of England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland have submitted a Preliminary Bid Dossier to UEFA. Casement’s owners – Antrim GAA – has planning permission to rebuild the famous west Belfast stadium, with the redevelopment work on a proposed 34,578-seater arena due to start next year.

Should the bid be successful, the shortlist of 14 stadiums will be trimmed down to 10. If Casement Park is selected the Belfast venue will host at least four Euro 2028 fixtures.

If Northern Ireland qualify for Euro 2028, their matches are likely to be staged at the home of Antrim GAA. The National Stadium at Windsor Park was not selected for the bid as its capacity is just 18,500, well under the UEFA’s minimum requirement for European Championship games. Boyce and the Irish FA backed plans for a new £300m international sports stadium for Northern Ireland at the former Maze Prison site but the controversial scheme failed to come to fruition. It was hoped a showpiece arena could be built in time for the 2012 Olympics but the proposal, which was also supported by the GAA and Ulster Rugby, was abandoned as supporters voiced their opposition and the focus switched to upgrading Windsor Park and Ravenhill.

With work yet to get under way on the Casement Park Stadium and a political crisis ongoing in Northern Ireland, former FIFA Vice-President Boyce fears there would be no Euro 2028 matches north of the border if a bid to host the tournament was successful.

“There’s ongoing problems around Casement with construction costs rising and no-one is working in Stormont,” argued Boyce. “In my opinion it would be a miracle for Casement to be built, inspected and tested in order for Northern Ireland to play a game there in the Euros. “I think the best we can hope for is games for teams preparing for the tournament. “The Irish FA are right to be part of the bid but I think it would take a miracle for games at Casement to happen. “We are still waiting for stadium funding for Irish League grounds while will it cost more than £140m to build Casement?”

Questions over how Casement will meet UEFA's 30,000 capacity - The Irish News

GAA and IFA officials remain insistent that Casement Park would be able to host games at UEFA's Euro 2028 despite question marks over how they would meet the minimum requirement of 30,000 seats.

The European governing body's regulations for Euro 2024 in Germany state that no stadium can host games with fewer than 30,000 seats and that no temporary seating is allowed. Casement Park, on which long-awaited redevelopment work has yet to begin and over which a significant funding issue remains, has a proposed overall capacity for GAA matches of just over 34,500.

However, the planning agreement that has been passed is for a stadium with 26,000 seats and a standing area for a further 8,500 spectators. That would leave the proposed new west Belfast landmark at least 4,000 seats short of what's needed. UEFA's rules for hosting Euro 2024 stated explicitly that “no provisional or temporary seating installations” or “non-seated spectators” will be permitted. The governing body's 30,000 threshold is also classified as “the number of seats actually available to the public, excluding all media infrastructure and not counting seats which cannot be sold for reasons of view obstruction”. Those restrictions are likely to remain in place for 2028. That means as it stands, Casement Park will have to find a way to break the threshold of 30,000 seats in order to be considered as a potential venue.

A GAA official told The Irish News that Casement Park “will be capable of holding the desired 30,000 capacity for the Euros when built and in line with UEFA requirements if required in 2028.” Details on how the stadium would achieve that aim in light of the ban on temporary seating are unclear, however.


Brendan Hughes: A blank cheque for Casement Park hard for Stormont to justify - Brendan Hughes - Belfast Live

The worry for fans is that Casement now becomes caught up in a wider dispute over the restoration of Stormont. The sorry saga over the stalled redevelopment of Casement Park is deep into extra time, but must surely now be reaching the final whistle.

The GAA ground in West Belfast has lain derelict for almost a decade amid botched efforts to build a new stadium on the site. With the dismissal this week of a legal challenge by a residents' group to planning approval, construction has been given the green light.

But there is one main hurdle left to overcome, and it could be a major stumbling block: Money. The budget originally agreed for the stadium was around £77million, with Stormont pledging £62million and the GAA providing £15million. However, the most recent projected cost from the Department for Communities was approximately £110million. That figure was released three years ago. Since then, the construction industry has been hit by rising costs of materials. Last year, then First Minister Paul Givan said the cost of the Casement Park project could stand at more than £140million - almost double its original budget. So how will it be paid for?

The GAA has placed the onus on Stormont, insisting the sporting association does not intend to increase its financial contribution. Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey and her department were somewhat ambiguous this week on the funding question. Asked whether approval from the Stormont Executive would be needed to release extra cash, Ms Hargey insisted the devolved administration has already signed off on the wider project. She said the funding for Casement was "secure". Her department failed to give a direct answer to the same question, saying the next stage is to "complete the business case and finalise overall costs". But the department has previously acknowledged approval would be required from the full power-sharing Executive to release more funds.

It put forward this point in response to the Information Commissioner's Office as it attempted to defend refusing to make public the latest projected cost of the build. With no Executive in place because of the DUP's ongoing boycott over Brexit's Northern Ireland Protocol, the allocation of additional funding is left in limbo. There needs to be a negotiation between the GAA and Stormont on how to split the multi-million-pound shortfall, as it is surely unsustainable for the GAA to refuse to increase its spending.



GAA sticking to its position over stadium funds as legal challenge fails - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk

Judge rejects residents’ bid to prevent redevelopment, but governing body won’t budge on paying for project. Speaking to the BBC’s Evening Extra on Tuesday, the chairman of the Casement Park Redevelopment Project Board admitted: “The £110m [estimate] has been in the public domain since 2019. Can we build a stadium for that figure today? Of course we can’t.

The GAA has said its position on funding for the refurbishment of Casement Park has not changed, even though costs could have doubled by the time work starts. A High Court judge yesterday dismissed a legal challenge by a residents’ group that had tried to prevent planning permission from being given to the new 34,000-seat GAA stadium being built in west Belfast. The stadium, which will host Antrim GAA’s home games and Ulster finals, has been at the central of legal battles since plans were announced in 2013. At that point, the GAA pledged £15m towards the project. The redevelopment has now been given approval, but the projected cost has climbed from £77.5m to £110m in 2019. Inflation and the price of construction materials have risen since then.

Ulster GAA head of operations Stephen McGeehan said last summer there was “no question” the project would cost more than £110m, with a figure of £140m mentioned by former first minister Paul Givan last July. Yesterday, Mr McGeehan said: “We’ve been given a commitment that the budget shortfall will be met by the Executive whenever that is in place, and we’ll start those conversations with elected representatives as soon as this afternoon.”

 

[lubo_blaha]

We should bid on our own using all 3 Hampdens

The first one may prove difficult.

[ArabFC]

I'm all for it if we automatically qualify and get seeded in the group.

But it is all a bit of a farce - not only splitting it between five countries, but having a joint bid where Scotland only provides one host, and that ground is probably the third-best stadium in the city in question.

[Clown Job]

2 hours ago, ArabFC said:

But it is all a bit of a farce - not only splitting it between five countries,

It will be promoted as only being split between two countries 

 

[HibeeJibee]

Turkey 2028:

[Salvo Montalbano]

6 hours ago, HibeeJibee said:

Turkey 2028:

A much better bid tbh 

[Theroadlesstravelled]

Euro 2022 was essentially a UK home tournament. 

Give it Turkey.

[forameus]

On 17/11/2022 at 23:39, lubo_blaha said:

We could’ve put forward Cathkin Park if that’s the kind of stadiums they’re accepting.

f**k, beat me to it.  But honestly, is there a huge amount of difference between them putting forward Casement Park and us putting forward Cathkin Park?  Looks like both would be razed to the ground and built on, so f**k it.

Turkey's bid just looks a lot more sensible, and adds a certain frisson of danger which seems to be what major tournaments need these days.

[Donathan]

England as a solo host and a separate Celtic bid both make more sense than this dog’s dinner. 
 

Principality Stadium, Cardiff (74,000)

Murrayfield, Edinburgh (67,000)

Hampden Park, Glasgow (52,000)

Aviva Stadium, Dublin (51,700)

Semple Stadium, Thurles (46,000)

Park Ui Chaoimh, Cork (45,000)

Windsor Park, Belfast (40,000)*

Casement Park, Belfast (40,000)*

Pittodrie, Aberdeen (40,000)*

Liberty Stadium, Swansea (40,000)*

 

 

*Requires redevelopment 

[Donathan]

I do think something we might see going forward at the Euros is tournaments which have one main host and then a few co-hosts that don’t qualify automatically but are guaranteed to play group games at home if they do manage to qualify. Sort of a hybrid between the 2020 format and the traditional format. 

[The 55]

Slightly off topic, and apologies if already asked and answered, but are all three countries automatically qualifying for the next World Cup?

If so, would that mean a successful bid would put England, Scotland, Wales, N Ireland and S Ireland IN AUTOMATICALLY. 

[HibeeJibee]

2 hours ago, The 55 said:

Slightly off topic, and apologies if already asked and answered, but are all three countries automatically qualifying for the next World Cup?

If so, would that mean a successful bid would put England, Scotland, Wales, N Ireland and S Ireland IN AUTOMATICALLY. 

They are but remember next WC has 48 teams and host slots come out of their continent's allocation (but 1 extra place in repechage awarded).

Nothing official about Euro 2028 but reports that 2 nations will qualify automatically. Unclear who'd join England and how though press rumours of Eire as supplying multiple stadiums; who knows maybe some playoff back-up/ringfenced pathway/etc.

Edited November 21, 2022 by HibeeJibee

[Bully Wee Villa]

Given how shite we usually are against Wales and Ireland I'd rather take my chances in a normal qualifying group then some sort of Five Nations minus England competition.

Edited November 21, 2022 by Bully Wee Villa

[invergowrie arab]

5 hours ago, Donathan said:

England as a solo host and a separate Celtic bid both make more sense than this dog’s dinner. 
 

Principality Stadium, Cardiff (74,000)

Murrayfield, Edinburgh (67,000)

Hampden Park, Glasgow (52,000)

Aviva Stadium, Dublin (51,700)

Semple Stadium, Thurles (46,000)

Park Ui Chaoimh, Cork (45,000)

Windsor Park, Belfast (40,000)*

Casement Park, Belfast (40,000)*

Pittodrie, Aberdeen (40,000)*

Liberty Stadium, Swansea (40,000)*

 

 

*Requires redevelopment 

You could have the whole tournament in Dundee if we just put an asterisk with requires development around it.

Windsor Park has already been developed and the GAA grounds aren't all seater. 

Semple Stadium is like something from Scottish football in the 80s.