2026 LOI Season Start Date

**redobit** · 08/12/2025, 10:06 PM

Sligo Rovers and Longford Town reject formal request from FAI to move games to Friday night. Delighted. Saturday night is Rovers night.

**pineapple stu** · 09/12/2025, 8:08 AM

Why would the FAI request that?

**Burnsie** · 09/12/2025, 10:18 AM

Scanlon mentioned it on the podcast last week, prompted by Dan who i think knew the answer before he asked the question. the idea was to "own Friday nights"

**sbgawa** · 09/12/2025, 4:37 PM

i dont get that tbh, if the TV match is on Friday and 90% of the games are on Friday , how much more do we "own Friday" by Sligo or Longford also playing

**Longfordian** · 09/12/2025, 6:54 PM

I'm sure our games would make all the difference in capturing the imagination of the Irish public.

**legendz** · 09/12/2025, 6:55 PM

Scanlon also mentioned that the highest viewing figures are usually on Friday. Must be low interest in a standalone TV game, that doesn't clash with the other fixtures.

**total hoofball** · 09/12/2025, 8:10 PM

If anything leagues around Europe are seeing increasing numbers of league games scheduled over multiple days mainly for TV coverage 3 days regularly seen now. I don't see how just two LOI clubs having a preference for their home games a day later on a Saturday night adds that much of headache for the LOI fixture schedulers once there is some understanding of flexibility being required from both clubs to accommodate some mid-week rounds of games and opponents from July having European games to navigate a schedule around

**Nah Nah Nah Nah** · 09/12/2025, 10:14 PM

Friday / Saturday night isn’t taken into account for schedules. If it’s a dual weekend we’d play Friday night at home. Likewise if we got picked for TV it would be moved to Friday also. I’d say we usually end up on average playing 12 games at home on a Saturday.

**EatYerGreens** · 10/12/2025, 12:25 AM

Originally Posted by sbgawa

i dont get that tbh, if the TV match is on Friday and 90% of the games are on Friday , how much more do we "own Friday" by Sligo or Longford also playing

It's just hubristic/jingoistic corporate and marketing speak.

"The LOI owns Friday nights!". Except for the fact that Irish rugby provinces play that night too, and get aired on bigger channels. English football plays quite a few games that ngiht too, with matches always in Sky. And even Irish League matches happen that night and get broadcast as well. But hey - apparently we own Friday nights...

**oriel** · 10/12/2025, 9:46 PM

Originally Posted by redobit

Sligo Rovers and Longford Town reject formal request from FAI to move games to Friday night. Delighted. Saturday night is Rovers night.

Happy about Sligo in that, lovely trip over on a Sat night, desperate luck a few years ago when we finished 3rd under O'Donnell, both Sat night games moved, one was international, poss both, hopefully get over in 2026.

**wonder88** · 11/12/2025, 8:53 PM

that was a very poor idea from the LoI, I am glad it was rejected by the 2 clubs (where Cobh asked to change).
I would suggest that one of the Dublin clubs, really UCD should move to either Thursday night or Sunday evening for a lot of their home games.

**redobit** · 11/12/2025, 10:30 PM

Apart from Sat being the night that works best for crowds in the Showgrounds. There is a very practical reason too. Our match nights have a large number of volunteers at each game (as do most clubs tbf). But volunteers don't arrive at 7:45. They could be setting up or getting ready from early on a Saturday. A move to Friday makes it a lot more difficult for volunteers who work Mon to Fri to help out.

**legendz** · 14/12/2025, 7:50 AM

The majority of First Division clubs are content to play through the international windows. It is a club decision. First Division goes about it's business with regular Friday night games. The FAI disagree with it.