Tips to boost your stadium’s revenue potential

With capital investment increasing, clubs and stadium managers have to make sure they maximise the potential revenue of their stadium. Here’s how

It is an old saying that fans are a club’s biggest asset. “Clubs have a DNA. One aspect that is constant is the supporter. It is important to get them in as often as possible. Once they walk in, they are hooked and they will return more often. And at the end of the day it is all about how much they have spent,” says Barry Pollen, the new stadium director of Soccer City in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The new Emirates stadium was designed and built
with its key shareholders in mind; the fans

Pollen was previously involved in stadiums in the UK. Especially in England, stadium managers are aware of the importance of a balance between all stakeholders. “A stadium should offer value to all customers; fans, players, sponsors, suppliers and so on. In the end they are all your customers. Successful stadiums put all customers at the core of their business. But success is not measured at the opening but over the life-time of the stadium.”

To achieve this, a stadium needs to have professional and innovative management that works from a solid business plan. Stadiums in France and Italy are just beginning to realise this and are now turning to other European venues to learn from their experiences.

Well thought-out design
A venue’s prospects of commercial success start from the very beginning: its design. “It is vital to have the operators on board at an early stage to be able to produce an achievable business plan,” Pollen says. A solid long-term business plan is essential. “If your stadium has an under capacity you will lose revenue. A stadium with over capacity increases maintenance costs. It is as simple as that. You must drive your business as a seven-days-a-week business.”

For the architect, this creates a challenge. John Barrow, senior principal at architecture firm HOK Sport says: “The flexible design and construction determines the success. Smaller clubs are especially difficult clients for us as they tend to have little information about their fans, such as where they are coming from, how much money they spend on average or how they get to the stadium.”

Because of this, HOK Sport designs stadiums that are easily expandable. “We start building from the top down. We start with the roof for the stadium the club eventually wants to have and design all layers underneath that. In the end it is much cheaper, as new floors can easily be bolted in without bringing in heavy equipment or breaking down parts of the structure.”

New examples of this approach are venues like Euroborg in Groningen, the stadium in Heerenveen, the FC Twente stadium in Enschede and AZ stadium in Alkmaar – all in The Netherlands. Despite the small population in their local towns, these clubs anticipate a fan-base that exceeds the current numbers and as such their stadiums were built to allow for increasing capacity in the near future.

Smart technology for marketing
But it is not only the design that impacts the return of revenue; technology can boost that even more. Royal Sporting Club Anderlecht’s stadium in Brussels, Belgium, has a capacity of just 24,500 while the club has a fan-base of almost half a million. The club was among the first to have LED side-perimeter boarding installed.

“These panels allow the club and their sponsors to be interactive with their fans,” Anderlecht’s commercial and marketing director Chris Lioen points out. “Previously we could only have three advertisers on the static perimeter boards, which would be there for the whole year. Now we can have many more and even have different advertisers for each match.” By choosing LED panels that are not affected by light, the club has ensured clear and proper display of advertising messages at any time of the day, Anderlecht has managed to tighten its relationship with another stakeholder in the club: the sponsors.

Lioen, a former Coca-Cola, Siemens and British American Tobacco marketing professional, says: “A logo is the sign-board of a company. I am very aware of the importance of displaying that at a good quality. We were aware that during daytime matches the sun could influence the quality and visibility of the commercial messages on some manufacturers advertising panels. For sponsors who pay so much for their advertisement, this means a waste of money. We wanted to avoid that.”

Technological advances will play an increasingly important role throughout venues in the future. Barrow says: “At the Telstra Dome in Sydney, Australia, they have installed 2,200 special seats with smart technology that provide many extra benefits for the spectator.” The architect predicts that seats like these will become the norm in the future.

Looking after the masses
As more revenue is usually generated from the few corporate fans, placing all your focus on this group is tempting. “Corporate interest is increasing but the challenge is not to over prioritise. The Emirates Stadium has only 7,500 corporate visitors, but their spending equates the 53,000 other visitors,” Barrow points out.

Liverpool FC has found a novel solution that allows them to sell seats twice, thus increasing revenue from the fans. Ian Ayre, commercial director at Liverpool FC, says: “Season ticket holders who cannot attend a particular match can sell their ticket back to the club, which can then make the ticket available to other fans. As we have all details from our season ticket holders in our database, money will be transferred back into his account.” With many fans travelling from other parts of the world all the way to Liverpool to experience the unique vibe and tradition, the club increases its fan base even more by enabling as many as possible to enjoy a match.

At the Emirates Stadium in London, the experience of the average fan was brought to the fore when the venue was designed. The venue has a relatively large number of points for the sale of food and drinks, while concourses are specifically designed to improve the flow. Barrow explains: “Wider concourses will allow the flow of fans to go more smoothly and enables them to get more quickly to the sales points from which venue operators can make extra profit.”

Personalised approaches to generating revenue add a unique touch. The O2 Arena, also in London, has special lounges for subscribers to O2 cell phone services enabling the average fan to suddenly become a corporate partner.

In the end, stadiums can learn a lot from the world’s best known theme parks, such as Disney World. “All you want to achieve is to get your fans in, in as smooth and friendly a way as possible, to keep them in, and to let them out in as smooth and friendly a way as possible, to ensure they will return in the near future,” Barrow points out.