LEINSTER CHIEF EXECUTIVE Officer Shane Nolan says the redevelopment of the RDS will allow the organisation “do things we have never done before”.
Yesterday it was announced the RDS main arena is to be renamed the ‘Laya Arena’, with the redevelopment to be completed next year.
Following a €52 million redevelopment programme, primarily of the Anglesea Stand and Grandstand, Laya Arena will boast a capacity in excess of 20,000, with the new Anglesea Stand to house over 7,000 supporters.
“It gives us way more options,” says Nolan.
“The overall facilities are a major improvement: toilets, beverage offerings, everything. We will keep all the good things from before but the facilities in general will be a major upgrade. That will benefit everyone.
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“Then we will be able to do things we have never done before, like hospitality offerings in the new stand and in the church behind. Then you still have the broader campus that is the RDS which is quite unique and being able to leverage that as well.
“It just gives us more options for a better fan experience. Be that your matchday fan who is behind the goal right through to your corporate customer, being able to offer different things that we weren’t able to do before.”
Leinster are now in the second season of playing their home games away from the RDS, but are due to return to the ground for the 2026/27 campaign. The redevelopment will add about 2,000 to the stadium capacity, with no restricted view seats.
The number of season tickets available will also rise from 12,000 to 15,000.
“Every seat will be like a premium, excellent-view seat,” Nolan added.
“We would love as many of those 15,000 as possible to come to the RDS with us but we don’t really want to go above that number. There’s no hard and fast rule for it but generally you want to keep a decent number for away fans and for people who want one or two matchdays or whatever. Go beyond 15 (thousand) and you lose your ability to sell tickets to people who want to go to one or two games.”
Ticket pricing is also currently being reviewed.
“We are looking at that at the moment. In February we will go on sale and start the process. Our fans have been brilliant in terms of moving with us to the Aviva for this and last season, but we want to make sure that we manage that process right in terms of giving people the option to come back in. We are looking at the pricing review of that as well.
“We will be able to offer more products, options and services for customers, and that will involve different tier pricing. We will still be very conscious of keeping our pricing structure accessible and affordable for kids and families but we do know that there is a market for a higher end experience as well so for the first time we will be able to offer that range of services. So we will figure out the pricing and stuff in the next month before we go live in February.”
Nolan added that Leinster are yet to decide on how often they will use the Aviva Stadium in the coming years.
“We intentionally haven’t made a call on that because last season and this season has been like an experiment for us to see what is it like to play in the Aviva for more than one or two games, or what is it like to use Croke Park.
“It has been really interesting to see what that is like for our fans and our players and it has given us food for thought as to what the new model will look like when we move back to the RDS.
“Clearly we want to play as many games in the RDS as possible. I would love the RDS to be sold out every game and the hottest ticket in town, a really intimidating place for the opposition to come. To do that we need to play more games here but then there is the commercial reality of our fans having the ability to fill the Aviva Stadium. We have even seen them fill Croke Park recently and I need to be aware of those commercial realities. That revenue earned goes right back into our professional and domestic games.
“So we need to get that balance between this being our home and playing more of our games here against what are the right times to consider another stadium. We are intentionally not nailing exactly how many games there are but we will play the vast majority – as we did previously – here in the RDS.”
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Redeveloped RDS will allow Leinster 'do things we have never done before'
LEINSTER CHIEF EXECUTIVE Officer Shane Nolan says the redevelopment of the RDS will allow the organisation “do things we have never done before”.
Yesterday it was announced the RDS main arena is to be renamed the ‘Laya Arena’, with the redevelopment to be completed next year.
Following a €52 million redevelopment programme, primarily of the Anglesea Stand and Grandstand, Laya Arena will boast a capacity in excess of 20,000, with the new Anglesea Stand to house over 7,000 supporters.
“It gives us way more options,” says Nolan.
“The overall facilities are a major improvement: toilets, beverage offerings, everything. We will keep all the good things from before but the facilities in general will be a major upgrade. That will benefit everyone.
“Then we will be able to do things we have never done before, like hospitality offerings in the new stand and in the church behind. Then you still have the broader campus that is the RDS which is quite unique and being able to leverage that as well.
“It just gives us more options for a better fan experience. Be that your matchday fan who is behind the goal right through to your corporate customer, being able to offer different things that we weren’t able to do before.”
Leinster are now in the second season of playing their home games away from the RDS, but are due to return to the ground for the 2026/27 campaign. The redevelopment will add about 2,000 to the stadium capacity, with no restricted view seats.
The number of season tickets available will also rise from 12,000 to 15,000.
“Every seat will be like a premium, excellent-view seat,” Nolan added.
“We would love as many of those 15,000 as possible to come to the RDS with us but we don’t really want to go above that number. There’s no hard and fast rule for it but generally you want to keep a decent number for away fans and for people who want one or two matchdays or whatever. Go beyond 15 (thousand) and you lose your ability to sell tickets to people who want to go to one or two games.”
Ticket pricing is also currently being reviewed.
“We are looking at that at the moment. In February we will go on sale and start the process. Our fans have been brilliant in terms of moving with us to the Aviva for this and last season, but we want to make sure that we manage that process right in terms of giving people the option to come back in. We are looking at the pricing review of that as well.
“We will be able to offer more products, options and services for customers, and that will involve different tier pricing. We will still be very conscious of keeping our pricing structure accessible and affordable for kids and families but we do know that there is a market for a higher end experience as well so for the first time we will be able to offer that range of services. So we will figure out the pricing and stuff in the next month before we go live in February.”
Nolan added that Leinster are yet to decide on how often they will use the Aviva Stadium in the coming years.
“We intentionally haven’t made a call on that because last season and this season has been like an experiment for us to see what is it like to play in the Aviva for more than one or two games, or what is it like to use Croke Park.
“It has been really interesting to see what that is like for our fans and our players and it has given us food for thought as to what the new model will look like when we move back to the RDS.
“Clearly we want to play as many games in the RDS as possible. I would love the RDS to be sold out every game and the hottest ticket in town, a really intimidating place for the opposition to come. To do that we need to play more games here but then there is the commercial reality of our fans having the ability to fill the Aviva Stadium. We have even seen them fill Croke Park recently and I need to be aware of those commercial realities. That revenue earned goes right back into our professional and domestic games.
“So we need to get that balance between this being our home and playing more of our games here against what are the right times to consider another stadium. We are intentionally not nailing exactly how many games there are but we will play the vast majority – as we did previously – here in the RDS.”
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Bigger and better laya arena Leinster Rugby Shane Nolan