Venue Management for Events. The Emirates Stadium - Essay Example

? Venue Management for Events Site Visit Introduction The management of venues is very criticalowing to the fact that such venues often host a big number of people. The event industry is continuing to grow both domestically and internationally hence the need to put in place proper mechanisms for both crowd management and control. The Emirates stadium is magnificent and has become a landmark and masterpiece of modern architecture. It is technologically advanced and one of the outstanding buildings that dominate the north London skyline. This piece of architecture represents the future of Arsenal football club and boasts of an array of modern versatile suites with impressive views of the pitch. This paper explores how the stadium was made and what makes it be outstanding among other good pieces of architecture. The Emirates Stadium The Emirates stadium was officially opened in the year 2006 and is the official ground for Arsenal football club. It can hold up to 60,000 people all seated and has an under soil heating system. The stadium is located in North London approximately 7.5 km from the city centre. One can get to the stadium by either road or train and for the motorists there is ample parking space provided by the management (Buraimo, et al 2007). The Emirates Stadium is a 4 tiered bowl that has roofing stands but not over the playing field. It is a modern state of the art stadium equipped with almost everything a good stadium can have. The upper and lower sections of the stadium have standardised seating arrangements. The upper part has 26,646 seats whereas the lower one has 24,425 with ticket prices ranging from ?32 to ?66 for the adults and from ?13 for the junior category (Bulley, 2008,). The price of the tickets is however dependent on the type of match being played. The main middle tier also known as the club level is priced as premium because this is where the box of the director is located. Unlike the other tiers, this one has only 7,139 seats that are normally sold on licences lasting from 1-4 years. The cost for a seat here ranged from ?2,500 to ?4,750 per season for the 2006-2007 season. It should be noted that the above listed prices covers for all home league games. The tier that follows this one consists of 150 boxes that can carry 10, 12 and 15 seats. This tier can carry a total of 2, 222 spectators in total. The box prices start at ?65,000 per year inclusive of V.A.T. and caters for all the home league games and any other played at the Emirates stadium. The Emirates Stadium (Picture courtesy of Arsenal.com) The Diamond Club is the next tier and represents the most exclusive area in the stadium. This is a place that hosts only invited guests and the ticket prices are ?25,000 in advance plus an additional ?25,000 a year. The high demand for tickets in London coupled with the fact that the people living in London are relatively wealthy implies that the ticket sales from the premium seating and the corporate boxes are very high (Chung, & Hwang, 2010). The picture measures 105 by 68 meters with a total grass area of 113 by 76 meters running from north to south. The players’ tunnel and the dugouts are placed on the western side of the pitch just below the main television camera. The away fans are placed in the south- eastern corner of the lower tier. The configuration of the away fans can however be expanded from the current 1,500 seats to about 4,500 depending on the demand. This extension has been provided for by the lower and the upper tiers. This stadium has enough space for the travelling fans as required by the Football Association (FA). An aerial view of the Emirates Stadium (Picture courtesy of Arsenal.com) The upper tier has been contoured in order to leave some open space in the ground corners and the roof is equally inward canted. These features are meant to facilitate the flow of air and sunlight to the pitch. These are very vital elements because both players and fans need a good supply of both light and fresh air. The pitch is fine and stands out as one of the best playing grounds in the world that depicts the skills of the architects that were awarded the contract to make the stadium. The supporters in the upper tier on one side cannot see the ones on the opposite side because of the two giant screens suspended from the roof. The fans in this stadium therefore, have all thy need in order to be comfortable and enjoy their game. The Away Supporters As already indicated earlier in the paper, the travelling or away fans are housed in the lower tier of the South East corner. They are normally allocated around 3,000 tickets but the figure can always be raised depending on the games being played. They have big padded seats with a lot of leg room but the only problem experienced here is that this lower tier is relatively shallow compared to the others. The implication of this is that their view is often not as good as in the other places in the stadium (Garcia-del-barrio & Szymanski, 2009). Entry into the stadium is by a smart ticket whereby the ticket is entered into the ticket reader to gain entry and not giving it to the turnstile operator for admission. This is important because it ensures quick entry into the stadium as almost everything is automated. However, the away fans at times get confused by this because this is something they are still not used to. At the entry point, there are stewards who do the routine security checks before admission and help the fans that don’t know how to use the smart cards. This speeds up the whole process as it becomes easier for the fans to get access into the stadium. The concourse inside the stadium on this wing is equally not that spacious but enough. In terms of service delivery and food supply, there are different types of food on offer. They are a little expensive but tastes good and they include: Fish and chips at ?5.90 Hot Dog at ?3.50 Scottish Cheeseburger at ?4 Roasted Vegetables and Cauliflower Pie ?4 Fosters or John Smiths at ?3.20 per pint The only problem is that at times there is always a scrum around the kiosk with fans struggling to buy whatever is it that they want. This calls for the management of the stadium to put in place a proper queuing system to cater for such problems because this pisses off some fans. In terms of comfort while watching the game, there are many flat screen televisions on the concourse to entertain the fans throughout their stay in the stadium. A Ladbroke betting facility is also available for the gamblers to enjoy (Jewell, 2009). Perhaps one other problem with the Emirates stadium is that the away fans are located pretty close to the home fans and this has the effect of raising the levels of bantering in the stadium which is not good for the game. However the quality in the stadium is purely unquestionable as it is a cut above the rest of the new stadiums built in England. The atmosphere around the stadium is great and has the effect of making the fans yearn for more and more of the same. Environment at Emirates Emirates Stadium is one of the most modern stadia in England and Europe in general having started operation in 2006. Emirates Stadium is in effect ranked the second largest club stadium in England and the fifth largest in Europe. In the city of London, Emirates Stadium is listed as the third all round stadium after Wembley and Twickenham. Emirates Stadium was initially known as the Ashburton Grove, which changed when the management acquired the rights to name it after the Fly Emirates Airline. Emirates Stadium is essentially very attractive thus pitting the Arsenal Club into competition of becoming the best football club, a position currently held by Barcelona. The atmosphere surrounding the Emirates Stadium is very welcoming and soothing thus gaining the preference of fans and players as a viable venue for other non football crucial games like rugby and base ball played within Europe. For instance, during the European’s national friendly football matches, Brazilian national team used Emirates Stadium as the preferred destination that they considered home away from home. The splendorous atmosphere and attractive features at Emirates Stadium led to the naming of the stadium as the preferred destination for conducting the 2015 Rugby World cup games. In addition, Emirates Stadium has got a beautiful clock erected as Highbury and which signifies the process of ‘Arsenalization’ of the stadium. Apart from being used as stage for games, Emirates Stadium has also served as venue for performing particular music concerts. For example, Emirates Stadium has ever hosted music concerts under the performance of Bruce Springsteen with his E Street Band in 2008. In addition, Emirates Stadium hosted Lionel Richie, Blue and Leona Lewis during the summe3rtime ball organized by Capital FM. Emirates Stadium also has conferencing facilities making it a worthwhile venue for holding important and colourful summits and conferences. For example, Emirates Stadium was used to host the meeting between Britain Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French Head of State Mr. Nicholas Sarkozy in 2008. The environment at Emirates Stadium is very eco friendly with beautiful expanse of grass grown on an area of 113m by 76m. The stadium also has three giant televisions set to assists fans in the upper seats to have clear view of the match in progress. The Emirates Stadium is built in tiers that involve upper and lower tiers (Bennett, 2005). The upper tier of the stadium is configured in contours to help create open spaces in the corners and inwardly canted roof to allow free circulation of air and penetration of the natural light from the sun into the stadium. Furthermore, the environment around the Emirates Stadium is well managed especially after dedication of a portion of underground car park for the purpose of recycling tonnes of wastes including papers, cardboards and broken glasses. The Emirates Stadium is well lighted with flood lights surrounding the entire stadium to provide sufficient lighting even for matches played during the night hours. There are also high qualities seats fitted in the stadium most of which are manufactured in Malaysia and made to suit the comfort desired by the fans. Fans are also allowed to a free choice of sitting positions with exemption of the Diamond Park, which is mainly reserved for the top executives. In addition, the stadium is sufficiently installed with high quality Sony television screens that enhance comfort of the fans during the progress of matches. A view of flood lights at THE Emirates Stadium Image; Courtesy of Arsenal.com The interior of Emirates Stadium is highly separated into various versatile suits installed with high tech audio visual infrastructure making the it the best venue for meetings in the UK. In addition, Emirates Stadium provide an excellent venue for prestigious weddings and elegant bouquets. The four suits are very spacious built with glasses from floor to ceiling thereby creating room for penetration of natural lights into the rooms (Alavy et al. 2010). The conference partition has the capability of holding up to 500 delegates and furnished with classic breakout areas for lunch and refreshments. The Dial Square suit is built in a way that it provides magnificent view of the pitch with abundant light providing first class status. Interior view of the Dinner room at Emirates Stadium Image; Couretesy of Sport Experience.com, 2011 An interior view of the Conference hall at Emirates Stadium Image; Courtesy of Stadium Experience.com, 2011 Security issues at Emirates Stadium The surroundings of Emirates Stadium are highly secured with tuff restrictive measures imposed on individuals intending to access the stadium. No individual is ever allowed to drive near the stadium in addition to the strict monitoring of parking around the stadium. The security measures further imposes total ban on movements of vehicles around the stadium just one before the official commencement of any match played in the stadium. Opening of gates of Emirates Stadium for entrance of fans in hold of tickets is usually done just two hours before the start of any match just to ensure thorough scrutiny of any security threats and settling of fans. To ensure easy access to the sitting positions, the stadium is segmented parts namely Orange (North Bank) and Blue (East Stand) both located at the Northern end of the stadium; and Yellow (West Stand) and Green (Clock End), both located at the Southern end of the stadium. Entrance into the stadium requires Arsenal membership cards by the Arsenal club members and off-paper tickets with RFID tag for the non-members of Arsenal football club. A view of Grass layout at Emirates Stadium Image; Courtesy of Arsenal.com Image; Courtesy of Arsenal.com Catering services at Emirates Stadium Emirates Stadium also has good catering facilities having collaborating with the Delaware North catering firm. During games one do not have any reason to starve due hunger may be because of uncertainties about where to find meals. The catering shop has varieties of food substances going at affordable prices ranging from fish and chip going at ?5.90; Scottish Cheeseburger at ?4; hot dog at ?3.50; Balti Pie at ?4; minced beef and onion pie at? 4; roasted vegetables and cauliflower pie at ?4 and slice of pizza at ?2.50. in addition, the food shop also sells alcoholic drinks in the form of Fosters and John Smith, which sells at ?3.20. As aforementioned, Emirates Stadium does not have sufficient parking space or rather parking is never allowed near the stadium for security reasons. In that connection, parking spaces are usually provided at some meter distances away from the stadium. The most preferred parking zone is usually at the Cockfosters station. If one does not want to pay for extra parking fee, the underground railway tunnel provides an alternative link to the stadium with nearest stations at Finsbury and Holloway Railway stations. Conclusion Emirates Stadium is precisely one of the best stadium ever seen Europe and world in general. The topology of the playing field is flat making the pitch attractive and impressive venue for various matches. Apart from the casual football games, Emirates Stadium also has good playfields for games such as rugby and baseball. Emirates Stadium also inbuilt conference holes that accommodates various events like music shows, wedding ceremonies and big meetings (Rosca, 2011). The stadium also well structured roofs that provide shade and shelter to the fans with the centre part left open to allow penetration of sunlight into the pitch. The environment surrounding the stadium is well ventilated as depicted by the contoured walls to provide goods circulation of air. The regions surrounding the stadium are highly secured with security inspection starting at the railway stations before journeying towards the pitch. Entrance of fans is high controlled as the technology system at the gates only allows individuals with smartcards to get access of the stadium during matches. The interior of the Emirates Stadium is highly beautified with green coloured grasses on the pitch and conspicuous red colours dominating the stadium. In addition, the stadium is installed with high tech cameras and big television screens that offer exemplary view for distant fans within the stadium. The stadium also has inbuilt catering section and food shop that provide easy meal to fans at very affordable prices. Accessing the stadium is somehow very easy as can be evidenced by good network of roads and railway lines just passing near the stadium. 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