iSportconnect Stadium Masterclass – Populous’ Richard Breslin and Nicholas Reynolds
November 13, 2014
Marlins Pool – The Clevelander Bar and swimming pool at Marlins Park offers a unique pitch-side experience.
A common issue raised was that, in striving to offer an excellent premium hospitality service, clubs risked alienating the core fans who buy general admission tickets. In particular, Bill Mannarelli was worried about how any new developments at a stadium with the history and the prestige of Barcelona FC’s Nou Camp could interfere with the revenue generated by tours of the ground, as well as affecting the match day atmosphere.
The public perception of clubs selling out to corporate hospitality is at odds with reality – people like Bill understand that for a team to remain successful, both financially and on the pitch, they need to respect their core supporters above all. This doesn’t just mean in the stadium, either.
In the same way that Alistair looks to extend the PSG brand internationally, Bill looks for ways to bring the Barcelona brand to the huge percentage of fans who will never actually set foot inside the stadium.
During the workshop, we considered the common practice of bringing external brands into the stadium in areas like sponsored bars or boxes, and how this model could be inverted by placing the club’s brand outside the stadium – an Arsenal bar in central London, perhaps, or further afield with branded lounges in airports.
Extensions like these could be linked with loyalty schemes, allowing fans exclusive access to facilities in areas where clubs don’t traditionally have a presence.
Smartphone technology has, unsurprisingly, become a big factor in the way venues interact with their visitors. Smartphones can deliver a more immersive experience, keeping spectators informed about everything that is happening on the field, with in-ear commentaries and access to statistics that would previously be unavailable to them.
Technologies like Under Armour’s smart garments, which deliver biometric data to a sports team’s coaching staff, could be adapted to provide the same information to spectators within the stadium so that they can evaluate an individual player’s performance.
With the advent of technologies like Google Glass we can only expect an increasing desire for information.
Steve Brice, from AEG, suggested how smartphones could be used to offer discounts and instant upgrades to customers in-stadium, tapping into impulse-buying psychology, which is normally difficult to do when tickets are bought days, or weeks, in advance.
Offers like these would bring general admission fans into premium hospitality areas, making them feel less separated from those paying higher admission prices. Utilising the popularity of smartphones is also another way of taking the club’s brand outside of the stadium and could be tied in with the loyalty schemes already mentioned.
Another big issue to consider is how a stadium is used outside of its main function as a sports venue. A football stadium is generally only fully utilised once or twice a fortnight, and even that is limited to the playing season.
Paul de Keerle’s FFR will see the national French rugby team play out even fewer matches at their new Grand Stade when it is completed, which is one of the reasons a retractable pitch has been incorporated into the design.
With the turf removed, the number and diversity of events the stadium can host is greatly increased. Clubs can also look to attract new audiences, not-necessarily affiliated with their team, by incorporating nightclubs and restaurants into their hospitality areas that don’t just support revenue on matchdays, but offer the kind of quality that can attract their own independent client base.
Our time was limited for the workshops – we condensed our usual consultation process into only a couple of hours – but despite those limitations the exercise demonstrated, through the wealth of ideas generated, just how key this kind of discussion with our clients is to our business.
There’s no doubt that it was worthwhile for our guests to see how we work, but also for them to see how others within their sector work as well – the similar problems they face, and the ever-changing nature of the solutions that are available.
Richard Breslin is a Senior Principal at Populous and a Director of the Asian/Pacific office headquartered in Brisbane. Richard also sits on the worldwide strategic Board of Populous. Richard is responsible for all of the firm’s projects in New Zealand and Australia.
In 1997, Richard commenced work with the team on the design of Stadium Australia (now ANZ Stadium), the main venue for the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games. At this time, he also worked on the event overlay for the Games before moving to London where he worked on the design of the 90,000 seat Wembley Stadium, and the design of the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. He was also project leader for Populous’ successful master plan for the London 2012 Olympic Park.
Following the successful delivery of the 2000 Summer Games, Richard worked on the design of the 90,000 seat Wembley Stadium, before leading the design team for two stadia constructed in Portugal (Estadio da Luz in Lisbon and Estadio Algarve in Faro) in preparation for the UEFA Euro 2004 soccer competition.
In 2006, he was Project Leader for the design of the Soccer CIty Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. He was also appointed project leader for Populous’ successful master plan for the London 2012 Olympic Park. Populous designed the main stadium for the London Olympics and was part of the Overlay team for the Olympic Park.
In 2007, Richard immigrated to New Zealand, where he led the teams on Eden Park redevelopment in Auckland and Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin; – both were venues for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Richard is now working on a range of projects in Australia and New Zealand, including the sports hub which is part of the blueprint for the rebuilding of Christchurch, following the earthquakes.
Richard is currently leading the Populous team on the Darling Harbour Live project in Sydney in a HASSELL+ Populous joint venture. The $750M project includes the design of a convention centre, exhibition centre and theatre. He is also Director in charge of the redevelopment of Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne.
Richard’s 
Nicholas is a Senior Principal and a Director of the London office of Populous. He has worked on a diverse portfolio of innovative designs around the world, including sensitive refurbishments of Wimbledon All England Lawn Tennis Club, new performance venues in Shanghai, Abu Dhabi and Copenhagen, and large sports masterplans in the Middle East.
Nicholas was Design Principal for the O2 Arena, a revolutionary scheme involving the construction of a 26,000 capacity arena within the Millennium Dome in London, which was also the first major commission undertaken by Populous Activate, the design studio responsible for the Brand Activation of Populous projects and their sponsors. Nicholas founded Activate to seamlessly integrate partner brands into the design of stadia.
Nicholas’
