Photo: Bildbyrån
Niklas Wikegård has good news for all animal keepers.
Next season, the team will partially move into the newly renovated Avicii arena.
– The fans will come close to the ice and the height has been removed, he says to Sportbladet.
This season, Djurgården is in the hockey Allsvenskan, but the plan for the big club is of course to get back up to the SHL. The club’s new general manager Niklas Wikegård61, has big ambitions going forward.
Wikegård’s new arena announcement
The plan is that Djurgården, regardless of which division they play in next season, will partially step into the newly renovated Avicii arena (Globen). From January 2025, it is planned that the national arena will be completed and Tre Kronor will have the honor of inaugurating it during the Beijer Hockey Games in February. In addition, the home World Cup will be played there in May.
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During this season, neither Djurgården nor AIK will play at the Avicii arena – which is said to have been renovated at a cost of just over SEK 700 million – but for the 2025-2026 season, Wikegård’s team will play some home games there.
– I think there are five to seven matches planned in the “Globe”. But then there is also a cost issue that we have to take into account. Stockholm Live plans far into the future and we have to block dates in the arena, otherwise everything but sports will take up space in the calendar, he tells Sportbladet.
Could be an advantage for Djurgården
The new Avicii arena will hold exactly 14,000 spectators, only 150 more than it did before. But Wikegård is still convinced that the arena change will be a “game changer” for Djurgården next season.
– It will be an incredibly beautiful arena, have seen drawings and pictures of it. It will be insanely cool with balconies that hang down and bleachers that go all the way to the Plexiglas. The fans will come close to the ice and the height has been removed. Then there will be large social areas and I hope that we can make commercial progress in the new arena, he says.
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So it’s good news for the fans who get closer to their team and can contribute more energy to the players, which in the long run can help the team and be a big advantage when the opposing teams come to visit.
This will be exciting to watch. Will Djurgården get a lift at the Avicii arena when it is fully renovated? Niklas Wikegård thinks so anyway. It would be interesting to hear what you think. Please write a comment!
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