Fan Zone Builds: Maximising Revenue, and Stadium ROI

Hospitality is driving the biggest infrastructure change in stadiums right now. If you get it right, these spaces pay for themselves in 18 months and start to generate increased stadium income for the club. That's why we are seeing lots of clubs adding multiple levels of premium hospitality inside the stadium, as they are a profitable investment.

Moving Hospitality Outdoors

But what about outside of the stadium?

Forward-thinking venues are also investing in modern fan zones outside of the stadium. Surprisingly, these free-to-enter areas can deliver a similar return on investment if you get them right.

What Is a Fan Zone?

It seems like a simple question, but across the UK, no two are the same. It is simply a large space designed to bring fans together using entertainment, food, and drink. Here is how different clubs are doing it.

Manchester City are leaders in UK stadium hospitality. While most fan zones are outdoors, City did something very clever by transforming an underutilised indoor space. The South Stand concourse, affectionately called the M-Gate by fans, used to be a large, empty concrete section that people just walked through on their way to their seats.

This empty space was transformed into a vibrant indoor fan hub, fully branded in City's colours with a premium finish. Structural "goalpost" with digital displays were installed to entertain fans and keep the energy high. Down one side, versatile seating, including poser-height tables, was added to get as many people into the space as possible. On the right, a brand-new kiosk area serves hot food and drinks, creating a perfect meeting point before the game and a place to celebrate after.

Leisurely pre-game drinks are great, but this space was specifically placed with half-time rush in mind. To capture revenue that is usually lost to long queues, these kiosks are built for pure speed. The space features 10 serving bays, each designed for 2 staff members to work side-by-side, maximising service efficiency during that tight 15-minute window.

Non-Matchday ROI

Now covered with high-class finishes, kiosks, displays, and seating, this has become a highly versatile area. It is perfect for small events and displays, and it has recently been used as a core meeting point for stadium tours. It also increases sales when stadium shows are hosted at the arena.

Rain kills sales. Traditional pop-up fan zones rely entirely on good weather. If it rains, fans that would normally meet in these areas stay in local pubs or arrive last-minute, resulting in huge missed revenue opportunities.

This is why lots of stadiums are moving towards more permanent, weather-proof fan zones. Building a dedicated, fixed structure ensures that your fan dwell time, engagement, and retail matchday income are completely protected from the elements, giving fans a reason to arrive hours early regardless of the forecast.

A great example of this is the festival-style fan zone at Birmingham City Football Club.

This huge compound was built using custom containers, keeping construction costs incredibly low compared to brick-and-mortar structures of a similar size, while still delivering a massive, high-capacity space to house thousands of people.

It features a giant, cinema-style main screen and a massive stage at the front big enough for live performances. Below the all-weather fabric structure, the ground floor space is filled with solid wooden tables, built tough enough to be stood on when the crowd is celebrating during the good times.

To improve sales efficiency and keep queues moving, the operations are split. On the left-hand side, two containers house four tills dedicated entirely to serving food. On the right-hand side, two containers with four stations handle the standard bar drinks. A separate, quieter area around the side also provides food and drink options.

Because wet sales are the biggest part of matchday, the upper levels feature two self-serve beer walls on the left and right balconies. These are becoming more popular in all sections of stadiums and it’s easy to see why. In this setup, there are four terminals on either side, and each individual terminal can serve up to 240 drinks per hour with zero staff pouring. This is just one of many benefits of a self-serve drinks wall.

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Some clubs who don't have billionaire owners but are looking for a highly effective, semi-permanent setup on a sensible budget, Burton Albion is the perfect example.

This space uses three 40-foot shipping containers arranged in a U-shape, fitted with a curved roof over the top to create a sheltered courtyard. The containers turned up as blank units and were cut and converted directly on-site.

The left-hand container was transformed and fully fitted out into a self-contained food kiosk, featuring 2 hatches that can be opened up for improved efficiency depending on demand. The same idea was applied to the right-hand container, where all drinks are dispensed. Separating the food and drink helps improve queue management and serving speeds.

The end container was turned into a stage area capable of hosting small live performances as well as other live events. Once completed, Our client manager for the project Antonia attended a networking event held right in the space, which proved to be a huge success, even though the heavens opened.

This simple, permanent structure holds hundreds of fans on matchdays and is easily utilised for club promotional events during the week. Best of all, because it's modular, it can be completely moved in the future if the club redevelops the land.

Manchester City are about to open Medlock Square as part of their new North Stand redevelopment, and it will likely be the best fan zone in the UK. This isn’t just a normal fan zone build, this is part of a plan that has been years in the making, with multiple factors that will contribute to its potential success.

This massive space is designed to hold up to 3,000 people. It is physically framed by the new Medlock Hotel building on the left, a commercial spaces building on the right, and the North Stand at the front, all linked together by a massive framework roof.

It will feature dozens of food and drink outlets, plus, sitting right on the other side of the wall is City Hall, the club's newest and largest premium hospitality space. Rain or shine, it will create a massive matchday party atmosphere that fans will enjoy for hours before and after a game.

The real brilliance of Medlock Square is that it isn't just for football matches. It is open to the public 365 days a year:

• Event Space: With an all-weather design and space for 3,000 people, this area can hold concerts as well as other mainstream, large-scale events. With the Co-op and Etihad's large car parks, this is going to become a popular event space within the city.
• Everyday Foot Traffic: The hotel, commercial buildings, and several food vendors will operate 7 days a week. Combined with local canal renovations, it will draw people out of the city centre on sunny days even when there's no football.
• The Co-op Live Effect: The square sits just 200 yards from the UK's largest indoor arena, the Co-op Live. Whenever there is a concert or show on, thousands of gig-goers will gather in Medlock Square to spend money before and after the events, cashing in on the dwell time of another venue.

Whether you need to unlock hidden indoor concourse space (M-Gate), build a massive all-weather festival park out of custom containers (Birmingham), deploy a cost-effective modular courtyard (Burton), or build a 365-day commercial precinct (Medlock Square), the goal is the same. A strategic fan zone speeds up service, keeps fans on-site longer, and drives massive secondary matchday revenue.

Looking to maximise your stadium's footprint?

We specialise in the design, layout optimisation, and commercial fit-out of stadium fan zones and premium hospitality. Contact our team today to discuss how we can turn your space into a high-yield revenue asset.