Global Fútbol

The Estadio Carlos Belmonte is a different kind of sporting facility in the context of Spain, offering unique experiences for all who want to enjoy a relaxed atmosphere where football is at the centre. This is thanks to the effort and creativity of Albacete Balompié, in the way they are offering the kind of product that was being demanded.

In this sense, the 2021/22 season saw the launch of the ‘I Hospitality Empresarial’ project. On this, María José Nicolás, Director of Development at Albacete Balompié, explained: “It was an area that had been left empty due to the pandemic and after the pandemic we struggled to reactivate it. So, we found the perfect spot to start the ABP Business Area, which is now in its third season. This is a business club where the 25 member companies, and others who come as guests, on a weekly basis, can enjoy networking and forge relationships of high commercial impact.”

Following the good sporting performance of the team last season, in 2022/23, interest in these areas increased, so imagination was employed again, because there were very few spots remaining. The director continued: “With this, we decided to start commercialising seats inside the Palco de Honor and to rename it Palco VIP. In this space, the institutional, corporate and VIP guests coexist. In this box, 45 of the 150 seats were sold to individuals who were keen to enjoy a different way of watching and enjoying football.”

With all this, as the club’s Director of Development has explained, the club was obliged to improve the image of the box by upgrading the televisions for more modern ones, making the seats more comfortable and enhancing the catering offering, along with the presentation and service.

The club currently has two projects on the go to further increase the amount of hospitality seating at the Estadio Carlos Belmonte. The director stated: “One of them is about accommodating around 30 people and we want to market it as a ‘Match Experience’. The intention is to launch it soon, even this season. The other project is a bit more ambitious and we’d like to use the space left free by the old video scoreboard, with the plan being to work on this in the summer and launch it in the 2024/25 season.” 

Looking ahead to the end of the season, the club is planning to continue offering a product of this type at the stadium so that people can enjoy Albacete nights in a different context. On these ideas, which are already being considered for the short term, the director added: “The catering company which currently manages the Palco VIP made us a very interesting proposal to create what would be called ‘La Terraza del Belmonte’, an outdoor area with nice lighting, music, food and drinks. We would like to set it up this summer or at least start a test run.”

All these efforts to offer a greater and improved variety of products to the fans have a clear strategy behind them with two objectives: to increase the average admission ticket to the Estadio Carlos Belmonte, and to provide and create a product that there has been a demand for but that didn’t exist until now.

María José Nicolás continued: “We realised that there are many people who, even if only occasionally, want to experience matches in a different way, perhaps even without being so focused on football and rather viewing it as another leisure activity in the city. We want to reach these people and also reach families through the ‘Family Experience’ programme, which we will launch in the week beginning January 22nd. We will offer the possibility of holding children’s birthday parties at the stadium on matchdays and at the Ciudad Deportiva on non-matchdays.”

The club’s objective from now on is for more and more people to realise that there is another way to experience the stadium. To achieve this, the key will be creativity in the design of these experiences for a setting where, until now, it was only about enjoying the 90 minutes of a football match. “The closeness of the stadium to the city centre is also something that helps us,” concluded María José Nicolás.