We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL is to spend nearly €3 million on the provision of public match screenings and a festival village for the four Euro 2020 matches that are to be held in Ireland.
DCC has put out to tender for interested parties to apply to develop a ‘creative direction’ for the Football Festival Village and multiple public viewing areas around the city in time for the tournament.
Euro 2020 will be the first European Championship held across the continent, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the first tournament.
Ireland, via the Aviva Stadium, will host four of the competition’s matches, on 15, 19, and 24 June 2020, together with a round-of-16 game on 30 June.
Dublin is paired with Bilbao in Spain for Group E matches in the tournament, which will see 51 games played in 12 cities across Europe from 12 June 2020.
The contract put out to tender is expected to be worth a maximum €2.9 million before VAT. DCC says it expects at least five bidders to reply to the tender request.
‘Dressing programme’
Per indicative figures provided by the council, roughly 80% (a maximum of €2.3 million) of that figure will go towards the provision and management of fanzones around the city.
10% (about €350,000) will go towards the ‘Host City Dressing Programme’ and the remaining 10% (just under €300,000) will be allocated towards pre-tournament promotional events.
The Football Festival Village will differ in certain key ways from the public viewing areas – the latter will only show the games being played in Dublin (together with two others, one of which will presumably be the final on 12 July), while all matches in the tournament will be shown in the village – a structure that will last for the duration of the tournament.
Viewing areas meanwhile will be temporary structures set up on the day and removed just as quickly at the end of each event.
The festival village will hold between 2,000 and 5,000 people, while viewing areas will hold up to 10,000 people with one giant screen.
The dressing programme is planned to see monuments and landmarks (and the main routes to the Aviva also) throughout the city dressed with flags and banners, together with ‘laser projections, building wraps, and countdown clocks’.
All pre-tournament events, designed to build anticipation for the tournament proper, are expected to take place within a year of the first match kicking off.
Deadline
Bids must be lodged by the tender deadline, Friday 26 October.
Fanzones have become an ubiquitous (and heavily branded – something European governing body UEFA will insist upon) element to international sporting tournaments, giving fans (both those with tickets and those without) the opportunity to have some fun and watch events in the tournament other than the ones they plan on attending themselves.
While Dublin has never played host to events in a tournament of this size, fanzones and public viewing areas are not unheard of in the capital.
In recent years the Dublin football team’s All Ireland finals have been broadcast live at Smithfield Square, while Ireland’s match against France in the last European Championship in 2016 was also shown at the same location.
However, where the viewing areas and festival village will be located is not yet known.
Whether Ireland will be present in the tournament itself of course remains to be seen.
Qualification for the tournament kicks off from next March.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Generic homeless crisis comment
@Jack Goff: generic response to generic comment :-)
@Jack Goff: I’m a squeezed middle taxpayer and I approve for my tax to go towards this. There are almost 4 million non homeless people in this country, would be nice to see the money go towards them for once.
@Peter Cavey: Non homeless? i’ve heard it all now.
@Peter Cavey: keep on fiddling Nero,Rome is in safe hands
@Peter Cavey: dead right lad
Cheaper than the Pope’s visit and at least this crowd will spend money (and turn up)
@David A Roberts:
Cheaper than the Queen of England’s visit aswell, and we’ll actually be allowed onto our streets.
Fanzones are great craic. I was at the euros in France in 16 and went to the fanzone at the Eiffel Tower. It was brilliant
@Charlie: C minus
@Charlie: goodman Charlie. Glass half full
hopefully Ireland will qualify, or this will be a damp squib.
@Gulliver Foyle: No chance!
@Gulliver Foyle: you mean damp squid!
@Paul O’b: Nope the phrase is damp squib but some people erroneously say damp squid, I mean what other way does a squid come, come on.
@Diarmuid Hunt: you’ve out this up on a pedal stool…
@Pilib: Haha
@Diarmuid Hunt: deep fried
@oriainarama: And when you bite into your deep fried squid is it bone dry on the inside? You might have your calamari frying a bit long there.
What about what about what about, ah feck em where’s my plastic hammer.
COYBIG.
The drinks industry will be the big winners, let them pay !
Are they having a laugh 3 mill might take one or two off the streets
@Denise Prendergast: the revenue generated from tourism and the vat and excise taxes may far offset the 3m cost and ultimately take homeless off the streets.. just a possibility
@David A Roberts: Denise doesn’t think that way.
And I suppose the tax payer should just pay for all these lazy B*st*rds. Popping them out left right and centre…
@Denise Prendergast:
3 thousand euro would take several off the streets if they actually wanted to leave the streets.
But then fraudsters pretending to care about them wouldn’t be able to feel gods about themselves and blame the gubberment.
@David A Roberts: just as the South Africans “took the homeless off the streets” for the 2010 World Cup!!!!!When it was over the homeless returned. I live in Cape Town and I see plenty sleeping on the streets and hundreds begging at traffic intersections trying to get the 12 rand which would get them a place in a homeless shelter for the night. The Irish Government will only get the homeless off the streets if their presence interferes with the “image” the authorities want to project. Of course lots of hotel rooms will be needed for supporters. The homeless will be kept out of sight and “out of mind”.
They really don’t have there priorities right this country, we are being taxed to the hilt the harder we work the more we pay and now they want to spend 3 million on a piss up I really don’t get it god help the children of the future.
@Declan Judge: you have to spend money to make money, you should have been listening to your business teacher when you were in school.
As per usual; the populists have arrived to say that nothing should ever be spent on anything until no one is homeless.
@Keithphoto: What’s wrong with that nobody should be homeless except those who wish to stay on the streets we can live without the big screens
My god the gap widens I am sure if you did a survey on whether people would prefer to see that money spent going towards building a few houses rather then see a football game on a large screen the results would be interesting.
@Donal Carey: that’s the problem … if a few people took responsibility for their own actions and didn’t widen their gap 8 times by the age of 28, maybe the crisis may be lessened ….
@Donal Carey: you do realise it’s possible to spend money on more than one thing? This is an investment. It’ll make a lot more than it costs.
@Donal Carey: Even if the DCC didn’t fund these fan zones your off your head if you think they’d build houses instead.
@The Guru: That’s the problem they are spending absolutely no money in housing .
Can they organise a big wagon that plays music to bring these people to and from zones?
Ballgames…
Par for the course; the populist nutters have arrived to say that nothing should ever be spent on anything until no one is homeless.
Par for the course; the populists have arrived to say that nothing should ever be spent on anything until no one is homeless.
Why are UEFA not paying for this?
3 million, hilarious, we will get a few posters and quite a few brown envelopes for that.
@David Byrne: If Uefa paid for it then any revenue we maid would have to be given to them, as people have said before. You have to spend money to make money, we will make a profit on this if you take in money made by pubs, hotels, buses and the likes of small local shops.
have your say