Best Operations Team
Arena UK & Europe Mass Participation Team
Arena UK & Europe’s Mass Participation team, based in Coventry, operate right across the country as pro-active champions of mass participation sporting events, with high profile clients ranging from London Marathon, British Heart Foundation to Cancer Research UK. Providing reliable and dependable infrastructure to these events, the operations team are set apart from their competitors with their combined experience of over 70 years and acute awareness of the nature of these events, having supplied and worked on over 250.
As an operations team with a ‘can-do’ attitude they have provided unrivalled service to clients, as well as overcoming challenges such as last minute venue and schedule changes and unprecedented volume demands requiring logistical management. The team have applied vast experience and passion to the events they have worked on, with many of these mass sporting occasions providing opportunities for charities to raise significant funds. The team are particularly proud of the longstanding relationship with Cancer Research UK, which has resulted in many successful mass participation sporting events raising valuable money for the charity and encouraging public health through sport.
Emirates Old Trafford – Lancashire County Cricket Club
Following the tragic events at the Manchester Arena on the 22nd May 2017, Emirates Old Trafford, home to Lancashire Cricket Club, hosted Ariana Grande’s ‘One Love Manchester’ benefit concert on the 4 June 2017, with just over a week’s notice.
The stadium welcomed over 50,000 visitors to the special evening, which raised over £2.5million and was viewed by over 14.5 million people on BBC Television – the most watched programme of 2017.
Net ticket proceeds of the show went directly to the ‘We Love Manchester Emergency Fund’ which was set up by the Manchester City Council in partnership with the British Red Cross, in aid of grieving families and victims of the horrific attack.
The benefit show, which included Justin Bieber, Coldplay, Katy Perry and others, called on the flexibility of the stadium, as it arranged the concert just eight days after welcoming The Courteeners, at the heart of a busy cricket season. Before welcoming Radiohead a couple weeks later.
Threshold Sports Operations Team
Threshold believes More Is In You. Our purpose is to help individuals, companies and charities realise their potential through world-class events and challenges.
The events world has a reputation for high pressure, unsociable hours and deadlines met with seconds to spare. However, we want our employees to fulfil their potential alongside our clients.
January 2017 we were faced with our toughest ever season:
” Our first mass participation international event in Germany
” A new mass participation ultra-marathon for HEINEKEN
” Delivery of an existing award-winning portfolio of 4 cycling, walking and running events
” A new multi-day hiking and camping challenge in the Peak District
” A VVIP multi-day challenge with Richard Branson and elite business leaders in Morocco
” Events for Diageo, Bupa, Hiscox, Deloitte
All of this had to be delivered by a core team of 7. 4 of whom were new to Threshold.
We had two clear objectives.
1. 5* Event Quality: Exceed the high standards we had set from previous years
2. 5* Employee Experience: Make Threshold a truly great place to work for all levels
In 12 months we delivered our biggest and best ever season, nurtured a highly engaged team, and laid the foundation to grow revenues by 46% and profits by > 200% in 2018.
Levy UK team at Aston Villa
Levy UK, the official catering partner at Villa Park, mobilised an expert operations team that was tasked to develop the catering and hospitality strategy and create concepts at the stadium through a tiered approach, ensuring packages directly answers the clients specific business needs.
The team challenged the traditional style of stadium hospitality delivering new high street dining concepts and new informal food styles.
A portfolio of concepts were created by the operations team, each with an individual and unique identity, from a contemporary sports lounge to executive suites and a Directors Lounge.
Menus feature, where possible, ingredients that are seasonally sourced from local producers. Stadium hospitality can facilitate up to 2,000 guests and all food is freshly made on site each match day.
The catering is mirrored with Villa Park Hospitality’s match experiences, such as live in-room Q&A’s with ex-players and quizzes.
Working in partnership with the stadium an enhanced guest experience was created reinforcing Villa Park as a leader in match day hospitality and catering, and delivering strong financial returns.
The results speak for themselves: 97% hospitality bookings renewal rate, increase of customer satisfaction to 96% Net promoter score year on year, and budget increase by 25%.
World Darts Championship
The Professional Darts Corporation’s World Darts Championship has become synonymous with Christmas in the UK either as compulsive television viewing or a must-do Christmas night out for friends, family and work colleagues.
Over the course of 15 days from mid-December, over 65,000 fans climb the hill to Alexandra Palace in north London to see the 72 best dart players in the world battle it out for the sport’s most coveted prize in 22 sessions of play.
And whilst those fans, many of whom are decked out in all manner of fancy dress, all have the same intention – to have a great Christmas party – behind them is a team of hundreds of staff who put the event together and ensure it all runs smoothly.
As the event has grown over the years, so has its infrastructure, and the PDC as event promoter brings together the key stakeholders to deliver a world class sporting occasion that allows fans to have a great time and stay safe.
