Bohemians could be offered the chance to play more games at the Aviva while Dalymount Park undergoes a facelift.
The much-anticipated facelift for Dalyer will see capacity increased to 8,000 but will necessitate Bohs needing to find a temporary home for the 2026 and 2027 stadiums.
The upcoming Valentine’s weekend clash between Bohs and Shamrock Rovers (with the working title of The Second War Of The Roses) as well as the 2023 FAI Cup final between Bohs and St. Patrick’s Athletic are examples of Bohs being allowed to use the Aviva under specific circumstances, but the race is now on to secure a temporary stadium.
An article by the Irish Mirror noted that Bohs and Pats could share a stadium – temporarily, lest anarchy reign – as Richmond Park has a bigger capacity than Dalymount Park.
Parnell Park and the RDS were floated as potential options as Bohs’ temporary home, but both were ruled out.
League of Ireland director Mark Scanlon said that while the financial realities involved with playing at the Aviva every other week make the Aviva an unlikely venue for Bohs to take up temporary residence, he said the league would be happy to facilitate the side if they wanted to play the occasional fixture there.
Case in point, the upcoming match against Shamrock Rovers has already sold over 20,000 tickets with the possibility of 30,000 tickets being sold for the league fixture.
Scanlon said “it’s very much a trial game and the first time this has ever been done but we’re very encouraged by the ticket sales that Bohs have to date,” he said.
The 2023 FAI Cup final between Bohs and Pats attracted a crowd of 43,881 to the Aviva in November 2023, a figure which marked the highest attendance at a domestic Irish football match since 1945.
The Aviva has hosted Bohs for other certain fixtures such as their UEFA Conference League matches in 2023 as Dalymount Park was not up to UEFA standards to host a European club competition match.
Scanlon noted that owing to Bohs’ schedule, he cast doubt that there would be enough space for Bohs to play at the stadium for two seasons as the Aviva is used for other sporting events and concerts.
Bohs will have to inform the League of Ireland by the end of the summer about where they plan to play their home matches in 2026, and possibly 2027 should construction go over schedule.
The League of Ireland boss said of the Aviva “running a stadium of this size isn’t cheap.”
“The club takes on the cost and takes on the risk, depending on the attendance. It wouldn’t be the case of a regular League of Ireland attendance figure being financially viable to open the Aviva.”
In October 2023, plans for the revamped Dalymount Park were announced.
The upgraded Dalymount Park would leap to the 2nd biggest stadium in the League of Ireland by capacity, with Shamrock Rovers on track to increase their capacity to over 10,000 in the coming years.
New stands to the east and west side will amount to 6,240 seats and two new terraces to the north and south will allow for just under 1,800 standing fans.
A public thoroughfare along the eastern boundary connecting North Circular Road and Connaught Street has been earmarked as part of the plans, along with various eateries and a new public plaza.
The match-day facilities for teams and officials will also be upgraded as part of the process.
The current timeline for completion of the redeveloped stadium is the start of the 2027 season but Dublin City Council said at the time “this is very much dependent on further funding becoming available for the construction stage from the government.”
Daniel Lambert, Chief Operating Officer of Bohemian FC said at the time “Dalymount Park has hosted thousands of football games, enjoyed by millions of supporters, continuously since 1901, while also being an integral part of the general sporting, cultural and societal fabric of Dublin City.”
“It has, however, long passed its capability to provide an appropriate, safe and modern facility for football and community use.”
“We have engaged extensively with Dublin City Council since their acquisition of the stadium in 2015 and thank them for their considerable efforts to get us to this point; in particular the work of Brendan Kenny initially, and more recently Richard Shakespeare, both of whom have always shown a firm commitment to this historic site,” he said.
“We would also like to put on record our gratitude to various ministers for their engagement with the club over the years, in particular the strong support of Minister Paschal Donohoe, and also the cross-party support and engagement of many local TDs and councillors throughout the process.”
With local TD (and Bohs fan) Paschal Donohoe back as Minister for Finance the redevelopment is likely to have a smooth road to completion but the search for a new temporary home for Bohs continues.