QuoteWill the new Dalymount have expansion capacity?
I'd bet my house that an 8k stadium will prove too limiting for Bohs within a decade.Originally Posted by Nesta99
Will the new Dalymount have expansion capacity?
Maybe but getting an average crowd of 6k let alone 7k or above would be transformational to a club like Bohs so that wouldn't be a bad place to be.
Id expect so over a decade of growth, of all things Bohs have shown, pre recent league growth, an ability to build attendances from about 1500 to 3k without winning anything but id be interested in guesstimate, projection, ecpectation of current or near term membership/season tickets and even just matchnight type numbers - if 8k capacity existed near term.
Initially they will fill it, people coming out of curiosity to see what they are getting etc and Bohs will out grow it in 10 years, but if there is success in the early years of the new stadium it will be out grown in less than 10yrs. I've said on here before, I hope it has the facility to expand. I still think they should have left the orientation as it is and took the 10k option, but hey who am I, I'm only a humble bottlewasher.
Interestingly season ticket sales fell when Rovers built the East stand as people knew there would never be a problem getting tickets. Bohs may see the same thing as sometimes scarcity helps with demand. Fomo.
It's a big jump from 3k to 8k and I expect rovers average attendance this year to be way less then 8k which was the old capacity. Maybe I'm wrong but I think with the odd exception crowds of 6 to 7000 in loi are still pretty strong
It'll be interesting to see how the 8k capacity works for Bohs. I don't think there is additional room for expansion but you are doubling the current capacity. There will be an uptick initially but holding onto that long term and throughout the season is the challenge. I'm not sure it will take a decade to outgrow it tbh probably closer to two. Sure I don't think Rovers had outgrown Tallaght even before the addition of the new stand and Rovers have been playing there for 14 or 15 years now.
The general public laughed at the Richmond Arena plans when the first were revealed. It was said that a LOI ground with 12k capacity was ludicrous. It’s amazing to see how far we have come in only a few short years.
You get a taste though and you just want more and more
Last season Rovers passed 6k average, that rose from 5k+, and 3k+ the previous years, so I'd say club would be delighted to grow a small bit again this year, which a couple of bumper gates will help.
This is what Im getting at, I think. FOMO plays a part of things with restricted capacity but in general what is the current actual demand if there wasnt restriction. People buy season tickets and/or membership to avoid the scramble for tickets, if there is no scramble then membership or season teickets can take a hit. People can be more selective with the games they want to see and a club doesnt have lower profile games covered by season tiicket absentees. How much can Bohs grow support over the next 6 (minimum imo) years with a ground caacity of 3k? Maybe there is a golf club style waiting list for membership but that can cause an elitist mentality and a kickback, there have already been rumblings here of unfair allocation of limited tickets. Its certainly not a criticism, its a great place to be working from when a few years ago 1500 was more like the demand. But if Dalymount opened in the early years of the 2030, so 6 years there needs to be roughly 2.5 fold increase in demand to need to look at Dalymount capacity again. That would be unprecedented growth for any club anywhere. I dont think LoI crowds will totally fall back to pre pandemic levels but I dont think we can say that recent demand is bedded in forever either - Rovers title wins will create its own surge that could fall back if not winning the league so its a partial indiator of potential demand at best. If Bohs were able to say that current demand is steady at 5k currently, based on waiting lists or enquiries for weekly tickets then for yes 8k could already be a low capacity figure but if not then the 8k may not be far off what is needed bar the odd bumper gate and that in itself is a good thing again. The ability to expand without undoing a recent redevelopment should be factored in as a no brainer but....
Maybe we are hitting the peak attendance wise though. 8k is more than big enough for Bohs imo
Looking at Kerry's website, all but 70 seats in Kerry's main stand have been sold, which, if accurate, would mean 400+ season tickets sold in all. Of course, in practice, many of the seats in less than ideal areas would have been taken out of circulation by the club themselves, but then terrace season tickets which were bought also have to be added to the mix.
Not season ticket related but would any of the Bohs lads on here know anyone who is looking to sell a Jodi ticket for the rearranged Dundalk game on Monday 15th April.
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