Global Fútbol

One of the keys for football clubs to bring in revenue is making use of their stadiums on non-matchdays, something which will play a decisive role in the present and in the future. What this means is that clubs don’t want to view stadiums exclusively as a sporting venue but as multifunctional spaces that can be profitable the rest of the week and thus increase income. It’s all about optimising the services offered by the stadium, through concerts, events, meetings and other activities.

Valencia CF are one of the LALIGA clubs to have already positioned themselves well in this business context, by holding major events at the stadium to already increase revenue on non-matchdays.

When discussing the importance of stadium operation and revenue generation, Valencia CF’s marketing and commercial department stated: “With football forming part of the leisure and entertainment sector, we firmly believe that we cannot base our point of contact with our fans and customers solely around football, as that would mean a stadium could only be productive for 25 days a year. We are trying to expand and improve the offering for fans and visitors so that they can enjoy a more complete and exciting experience with Valencia CF.”

Mestalla, the club’s stadium, recently hosted more than 4,000 people on December 31st for ‘Nochevieja Coliseo Mestalla’ (‘New Year’s Eve Mestalla Coliseum’, in English). This event, organised together with Grupo Memorable, the club’s official entertainment partner, was one of the highest attended New Year’s Eve parties in the city of Valencia. That says it all about how much of a success this leisure and entertainment experience was.

Once that event was over, the club then held their LALIGA EA SPORTS match against Villarreal CF at Mestalla on January 2nd, and this was the fourth-best attended match of the season. With less than 48 hours between one event and another, Valencia CF faced a logistical challenge that was successfully resolved. In record time, taking just eight hours, the club managed to take out all the lighting equipment attached to a structure of over 700 metres, the stage and sound structures, electrical installations added for the event, air regenerators and recuperators, barriers, cloakrooms, chemical toilets, food trucks, bars, fridges and freezers.

Valencia CF have been hosting other events too at Mestalla, with all this a useful test and learning experience for the Nou Mestalla: The club continued: “Our future stadium will be a destination venue, as it has enormous potential and can have activity 365 days a year, segmented for all audiences. We have big plans for the future in this sense, but we have decided to develop this vision and start positioning ourselves on the big events scene now.”

The structure of Mestalla, one of the oldest stadiums in LALIGA due to its more than 100 years of age, isn’t an issue or an excuse for the club. They have decided to work creatively to position themselves as a leading venue, to consolidate relationships with promoters, to explore different formulas, to attract events and to learn lessons for the new stadium, all with the aim of securing increased revenue on non-matchdays. “Mestalla is one of the most iconic venues in the city, as it has different spaces for different experiences and is open to any opportunity,” they added.

In recent months, Mestalla has been the setting for some major corporate events for club sponsors, such as TM Grupo Inmobiliario and Divina Seguros, while the stadium also hosted the first meeting of the LALIGA budget explanation and a congress of the Spanish Association of Football Team Doctors, among other events.

One of the most successful events of the past month was a new one, as Valencia CF opened its doors to host ‘Mestalla, Camp de Nadal’ (‘Mestalla, Christmas Camp’) from December 23rd to 29th. This entailed some fun days around Christmas, attended by 14,000 people, with youngsters and families taking part in various activities and enjoying a special time with Valencia CF. These activities included personalised 360 videos with the ‘Camp de Nadal’ theme, which was sent to families as a souvenir, while there was also a football pitch and bouncy castle, plus a face-painting workshop.

Finally, the Valencia CF marketing and commercial department added that the ‘Mestalla Forever Tour’, which is visited every year by more than 100,000 people, has been enhanced and new initiatives have been launched, such as 'Where is the Copa of 54?', an immersive game, like an escape room, in which visitors can immerse themselves in the club’s past in an exciting way.