The Andalusian club recently launched Sevilla FC Events, through which businesses can use the stadium for meetings, conferences, product launches, team building and more. As plans for the venue’s future are discussed, the club has commissioned a survey to find out exactly what the supporters want.
The Estadio Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán in Seville is an iconic venue in the history of Spanish and European football. It has been the home of Sevilla FC since opening its doors in 1958, while it has even hosted a European Cup final and a World Cup semi-final. With so many legendary moments having taken place there, there is a special aura at the stadium and Sevilla FC are looking to capitalise on this space.
One of the primary business objectives at Sevilla FC is to better use their home ground, which is why the club launched Sevilla FC Events and why they organised a consultation with supporters to define future development plans for the Nervionenses’ home.
Given that the 43,000-capacity stadium will host the 2021/22 UEFA Europa League final this year, some redevelopment work has already been carried out to create new VIP zones and rooms. Sevilla FC now want to make use of these spaces on non-matchdays and Sevilla FC Events will help the club achieve this, offering businesses the chance to use the venue for meetings, conferences, ceremonies, meals, product launches, team building and other corporate events.
As the club’s first vice-president José María del Nido Carrasco explained: “Now with these new facilities, the objective was to make these spaces and the stadium itself profitable on non-matchdays. That is the objective of Sevilla FC Events. We are just starting out with this and we have good revenue forecasts, although at this stage we prefer to remain cautious rather than generate expectations that may not be realistic. It is true that we’re very satisfied with how this start has gone.”
The project is creating a buzz in the city, so much so that the mayor Antonio Muñoz attended at the launch event for Sevilla FC Events. Given that the stadium is in a well-connected part of the city, close to the centre and a 15-minute drive from the airport, it is the perfect place to conduct business. With hotels and a shopping centre nearby and with Seville an increasingly attractive tourist destination, the possibilities are endless.
As Del Nido Carrasco added: “Spain and Seville were enjoying a boom in Business Tourism (MICE) before the pandemic and, even now, the forecasts are interesting when it comes to investing in a unique venue or headquarters, something different and perfectly located for holding corporate events. Sevilla FC’s clear objective is to have a venue that goes far beyond a stadium that just hosts matches, as we want it to be a living building, with daily use if possible.”
Even on matchdays, Sevilla FC have been working hard to try to make the most of their facilities and to boost their revenues. They have improved their VIP and hospitality offering, have installed a click and collect service for food and drink and have made the stadium WiFi quicker and more reliable. With all of this, the club is always looking to strike a balance between tradition and modernity.
As the Nervionenses look towards the long term, they commissioned the North American multinational Legends to carry out a study with supporters to analyse whether the club should improve its current Estadio Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán or consider constructing a new ground. With the club keen to hear directly from their supporters about what they’d like their stadium to be, the results of this survey will carry a great deal of weight in any decision Sevilla FC might take with regard to its stadium.
On this, Del Nido Carrasco said: “We realise that knowing first-hand what our members and season ticket holders want is key when it comes to deciding what we want. They are the ones who are going to come to the stadium regularly, so knowing what they want will help us to make decisions.”
Whatever the future holds for the Estadio Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán, Sevilla FC know that the stadium already has so much potential in the present and that’s why they’re trying to make the most of the space seven days a week.
This article originally appeared LaLiga’s Global Futbol newsletter.
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