Stadia, venues and host cities
You host the big days. Let’s earn more from every other day, and prove what hosting is worth.
The event owner often keeps the best rights. A host needs a plan for its own.
A stadium, arena or circuit hosts the event, but the rights holder often keeps the best commercial rights. A city or country pays to host, then has to show what it got back. Both need a commercial plan of their own.
I have sold for a governing body, a world championship and a sponsorship business. I have negotiated with the governments and tourism boards that host. So I know how rights holders, sponsors and broadcasters value an event, and how to sell to them and negotiate with them.
The problem I hear
- A full calendar of events, but income that leans on a few of them.
- Naming rights, partners and hospitality under-sold or sold cheap.
- Hosting costs public money and the return story is thin.
- Bids and funders now ask for social impact and legacy, with evidence.
What I do
- Audit your commercial assets: naming, partners, hospitality, calendar, data
- Build, price and test partner offers on real prospects
- Target the events and rights holders worth bidding for
- Build the business case for hosting: who pays, what comes back
- Show the social value and legacy, with evidence funders can test
Usually talking to: venue and stadium chief executives and commercial directors, major-events and destination teams, city and regional leaders, tourism and sport agencies.
Fourteen events a year, picked from twenty
I ran the global promoter of the World Rally Championship. Every year we built a calendar of 14 events, January to November, from a rolling pool of around 20 candidates. Each had to make its case. The FIA World Motor Sport Council had to approve the final calendar.
That calendar was the platform for everything we sold: TV and media in 186 countries, sponsors, leading automotive brands, and a global core audience of 800 million TV viewers, as claimed in a 2004 to 2005 press release and not a count of unique viewers (source: Premium TV press release, via Sportcal). So I know what a host has to prove to be picked, and what a rights holder is buying.
Along the way I negotiated the promoter agreements with heads of state, tourism boards and regional governments, in 21 countries and regions over more than a decade.
Wales, Ireland, Spain, France, Germany, Sweden, Estonia, Poland, Cyprus, Finland, Norway, Italy, Portugal, Jordan, Abu Dhabi, Greece, Turkey, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Argentina.
So I have seen both sides of the same deal. At Nielsen Sports I took the same method from sport into the National Theatre, a new venue and a new audience. I have also worked with destination and public bodies including Abu Dhabi Tourism, Manchester City Council and the Welsh Development Agency.
Why this is a good fit
Same commercial engine
Naming rights, partners, hospitality and tickets are what I have sold for 25 years. A venue sells many of the same things, from a different seat.
Hosting is a bid and a promise
Cities and countries compete to host, then answer to taxpayers and funders. They need numbers and a story that stand up.
Social value gets scored
Tenders and bids now ask about community benefit and legacy. I help you show the evidence.
I have sat across the table
I have negotiated with the people who decide where big events go: heads of state, tourism boards and regional governments. I know what they weigh and what they need to hear.
What you get
A plan you can take to your board
- A clear picture of what you can sell: naming, partners, hospitality, calendar and data.
- Partner offers built, priced and tested on real prospects.
- A hosting case that shows who pays and what comes back, so you can win an event and justify it.
- Social value and legacy shown with evidence funders can test.
“…He not only managed the leadership team but also the major stakeholders in the world of motor sport and rallying from the FIA, to Ford, Citroen and MINI as well as the key sponsors…”
“He is a master of bringing people together and moving them collectively in the same direction.”
Quick answers
What is stadium commercial strategy?
Working out what your venue can sell, to whom and for how much: naming rights, partners, hospitality and the days between big events. Then making sure someone owns it.
What can you do for a stadium, venue or host city?
I audit your commercial assets (naming, partners, hospitality, calendar and data), build, price and test partner offers on real prospects, build the business case for hosting, and show the social value and legacy, with evidence funders can test.
What host-side experience do you have?
I ran the global promoter of the FIA World Rally Championship for more than a decade. Each year it built a calendar of 14 events from a rolling pool of about 20 candidates, approved by the FIA World Motor Sport Council. I negotiated the promoter agreements with heads of state, tourism boards and regional governments in 21 countries and regions.
What are you trying to grow?
Book a free 30-minute call. Bring the event or contract you need to justify. We look at who pays, what comes back and whether I can help. You leave with a clear next step.
Discuss your next commercial priority