A chara, 
 
I write to you regarding ticket sales for the forthcoming Munster Senior Hurling Championship group phase, which, as you aware, will see each county play 4 games over a 5 week period.  
 
In recent years, there has been a major change in how supporters purchase tickets, with greater numbers of tickets being sold through the Tickets.ie network (Supervalu, Centra and online), and less tickets being sold through County Boards. Last year, for example, for the 2 hurling semi finals and the quarter final, of the total attendance of 82,429 that attended the 3 games, Tickets.ie (Supervalu, Centra and online) sold 48,639 (59%) of tickets, while the participating counties sold 10,751 or 13% of tickets. Sales at the ground amounted to 9,685 tickets, or 11.7%. Other channels, such as sales to the Season Ticket scheme, accounted for the remainder.   
 
Last year, 3 counties in Munster played 1 Munster Senior Hurling Championship game, whereas this year, all 5 counties will play 4 games.  Therefore, the new format will present new challenges in terms of ticket sales, and it will be impractical for counties and clubs to handle large amounts of tickets, given that there will be just one week between most of the games. It is time consuming for clubs to receive orders, forward orders to the County Board, receive their allocation, distribute the tickets, collect the payment and forward the payment to the County Board.  
 
Therefore, our aim is to place the majority of stand tickets on sale through the Tickets.ie network and to encourage pre-match day sales. We want to avoid large numbers of people coming to the grounds on the day to purchase and with 120 Supervalu and Centra stores across the province selling GAA match tickets, and with the buy online and print at home option, it has never been more convenient for supporters to source tickets. We also want to ensure that those who buy early get the best available tickets. However, County Boards will receive an allocation for distribution to clubs, sponsors, players and so on, but the majority of tickets will be placed on sale through the Tickets.ie network, which as already stated, has been selling most of our tickets in recent years.  
 
The fact that our grounds are different in capacity and contain different amounts of seats, along with the existence of the GAA Season Ticket scheme, makes offering  a 'ticket package' difficult. Therefore, tickets are being priced at a pre purchase price of €20 for stand tickets and €15 for terrace tickets (Cusack Park will be €20 general admission), which is a €5 reduction on the quarter final price of last year. This price is available until midnight on the night before each game. The match day price will increase by €5, so stand tickets bought on match day will be €25 and terrace tickets will be €20. As already stated, we wish to encourage pre-match day sales, so supporters that buy early, save €5. Juvenile tickets (U-16) will be €5 no matter when they are purchased. Students and OAP's will receive a concession of €5.  
 
A different arrangement will be in place for the final and the competing counties will receive a much larger allocation.  
 
It is planned that tickets for the 2018 Munster Senior Hurling Championship group games will go on sale to the general public on May 1st. Tickets for all games will go on sale together, so supporters will be able to purchase tickets for 1,2,3 or 4 games, if they so wish.