LEVY UK
Rak Kalidas, commercial director
The biggest shift in stadium VIP hospitality in
recent years is actually more to do with how
the fan is changing. The person attending live
sporting events today is different, so with this
you need to start catering to their needs. This
has mostly been driven through the offering of
the high-street at the stadium, market halls,
and the type of restaurants they would
typically experience outside of a stadium.
The key part of achieving this is translating
this into the sports stadium and creating
experience in the premium hospitality spaces
that would reflect the fan and the changing
trends in dining and socializing.
This has resulted in the decline or shift of
the traditional hospitality offering, where you
would fi nd round dining tables with linen
tablecloths. People don’t want this anymore
as they want to socialize and network more,
as well as have an experience within the main
event. Sports stadia that assume what the fan
wants and not understanding their consumer
base is the biggest mistake venues can make
when it comes to the premium experience.
For example, at Villa Park home of English
soccer side Aston Villa, there was a series of
traditional corporate boxes, but with a
downward trend in demand for this type of
offering, we optimized the space by opening
up the boxes by removing all the walls. It
created a big lounge, open space for pre-
and post-game hospitality with a feature bar,
places for networking opportunities and more
of a premium feel. The result has unlocked
a different market by simply removing walls
and the stuffi ness.
This is something we have seen in the US and
you can start validating some of this thinking
in the UK by the kind of experiences stadia out
there offer, and what is likely to be coming to
the UK. The biggest trend I have seen there is
the open, social lounge or club. It’s about the
tiering of the premium experiences and the
ticket price. Tottenham Hotspur Stadium has
set the benchmark in the UK, where it has nine
or more tiers of experiences just within the
premium space.
Going forward, the effect of Covid-19 will
certainly change the experience at stadia, this
is particularly the case with the hygiene factor.
It will have a big role in how we curate the
spaces within the venues to give the consumer
more comfortability when they return. It will
also impact and change some of the service
models and styles in the short term. Meals may
have to be boxed and no longer open, while
offerings such the traditional chef’s table will
have to be looked at and might change, and
we would have to look at fi nding new dining
experiences to replace it. Technology and the
use of it within spaces will no doubt come to
the forefront as a result of Covid-19 due to the
fact we’ve been forced to use it so much over
this period of time. So, perhaps there may be
more of a reliance on fans to use their personal
devices for solutions at the stadium.
We’ve been talking to our colleagues in the
US where there has been much discussion on
everything from staff interaction to how food
is served. What we now
have to do is collate the
best practices as an
industry and put
them into action.
Villa Park’s Gaslamp Lounge,
VIP HOSPITALITY
34 www.stadia-magazine.com June 2020
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