Rethinking smaller stadium design to maximise F&B revenue (and save some costs)

With a wave of thinking globally about how to continue to attract fans in a digital streaming age, and in light of the NSW government in Australia looking to build more boutique 20,000 seat stadiums for rugby league, we believe 3 main factors need to influence the design in these stadiums, all of which will maximise F&B revenue and save cost.

With attendances in Australia in decline for every code who use our rectangular stadiums, its time to do what everyone from Airports to office towers has been doing for the past decade and that is to up the game when it comes to F&B.

1.    Premium seating with easy access for in-seat F&B delivery.

It’s a no brainer that we should bring F&B to fans in-seat. We constantly hear the barriers to doing this: staff getting to the patrons in the middle seats, casual staff getting lost, costs too much to deliver, F&B quality declines whilst we run around. The solution is to build it into the design and don’t try to do it for everyone – too many times its failed and it is difficult when some of the above are a reality.

Where you would normally have 3,000 standard stadiums seats, replace them with 2,000 premium seats, a 33% reduction which will give the space needed for service. The seats themselves can be larger, moderately more comfortable and potentially even heated, however most of the space will be used to allow hospitality staff to easily move around ensuring in-seat delivery and therefore F&B revenue are maximised.

These areas will produce up to three times the average F&B spend and can also generate a premium ticketed price recovering most of the loss in lost seating volume. Given the amount of seats, the F&B offer can be anchored by a close proximity ghost kitchen and bar that specifically and solely produces for these seats, ensuring prompt, high quality, strong variety and efficient product and service. Staff running product will easily be able to find the seat and customer even if it's their first day in the stadium as its one specific area that will be well marked from a way-finding perspective. Having the kitchen and bar in close proximity will also make the delivery faster and efficient saving money.

Customers will simply order whenever they choose from a mobile platform that ensures payment and order accuracy, and F&B operators could also charge a small set delivery fee to offset some of the labour costs, certainly time to look into how this fits into new stadium design as a considered approach to driving revenue and fan experience.

It's essentially the type of seating in the below photo that’s slightly more spacious and comfortable compared to normal GA except with 33% more space in front for service staff to easily move through for F&B in-seat delivery. The first three rows are seen here become 2 evenly spaced rows.

A further thought for the space could be similar to how The Jacksonville Jaguars rebranded their field-level areas of the south end zone as the Bud Light End Zone, it’s now a social space that includes five private tables and 21 bar rail seats, again giving complete access for staff to distribute F&B to fans.

2.    Great oversized bars with direct viewing of the playing field at the bookends of the stadium.

The bars would be social spaces first and hardcore fan experience second, these are designed to bring in the occasional fan and provide a ‘night out’ that rivals anything downtown, and it’s critical that the occasional fan is attracted a couple of times a year. 

Even better they should be operated by the best hospitality operators in town and will have an elevated food and bar offer with a huge variety of beers and wine that attract all demographics.

They should almost certainly have an outdoor deck element for an elevated GA experience or as a casual corporate offering. As per the premium seats above this is all about driving F&B revenue and is designed to get average spends up by at least double. I know these type of bars already exist in members areas of stadiums, however, these are designed for GA and to use ‘dead space’ at the bookends that for traditional rectangle stadiums are the hardest to sell (soccer aside). In this instance, you should charge less than a dedicated seat as it will be mainly standing room space – certainly on the deck.

A brilliant example of this is The Rooftop at Coors Field who turned essentially an unused difficult to sell area into one of the best ‘social’ experiences for the casual fan with Amarak reporting that F&B sales have tripled in this new space.

“the Rockies have done at least one thing right this season. The Rooftop, an upper-deck attraction in right field at Coors Field, has become a popular attraction among the millennial set and casual fans looking for a good time in Denver without necessarily paying attention to the game”

 3.    The third initiative is capital and operational cost savings.

Smaller stadiums typically lose economies of scale when it comes to the F&B operations so greater focus needs to come into the most efficient ways to run the F&B program.

With this in mind, the set up of the food and beverage retail outlets will be critical. More central kitchens will provide better economies for the operator. The ‘front of house’ retail offer remains largely unchanged however instead of each retail outlet being essentially standalone with replicated equipment, the retail outlets will be anchored by a large continuous BOH with massive firepower to produce in a more efficient, effective and faster manner.

Fries and burgers for example as a couple of the largest sellers will be centralised and passed through each FOH continuously as needed. This simple design below illustrates the thought and along with the capital savings is a very real operational saving. Once stadium operators make it operationally more efficient for hospitality operators, they make it more desirable a contract and they will certainly see that benefit returned in commissions as the operator will save labour costs and be more profitable.

All these initiatives will need to be part of the design process from the outset as they will generate substantial revenue opportunities over the life of F&B contracts making it more desirable from an F&B tender perspective and its a fact of life now for all stadium owners and sports teams that they must think about developing exceptional ‘social’ spaces to cater to Gen Z and Millennials, including those who are not overly interested in the action on the field.

We have discussed before that how millennials and Gen Z like to consume entertainment and we must fight harder than ever to get their share of wallet.

The opportunity exists for the design of these stadiums to smash any traditional thinking and for growing rugby league and developing new fans for the long term.

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Ground Control is a leading global advisory for airports, stadiums and brands. Spearheaded by Adam Summerville and Kevin Zajax, we develop and implement world-class F&B programs that improve ROI through memorable customer experiences.

Ground Control. Memorable Experiences. Superior Returns.