The Lower Grounds Matchday experience

[OutByEaster?]

4 hours ago, cheltenham_villa said:

I think you can safely say it's making more money else the club would have done something different. 

I'm not sure it's completely safe to say that - but I suspect it probably is making more on the top line. Once you take out the programme, the food, the drink and so on I suspect it probably isn't particularly profitable at the moment, but top line matters. It's certainly not making the money it should be making and there are rumours that as many as half of the people in there aren't paying on some of the quieter matchdays, but there are reasons behind that.

Ultimately, the development happened very quickly, it was an opportunity that Heck saw and put in place without much time to nail the detail. The development of the Terrace View caused some damage to the ceilings and made the room unusable for a while, that meant that the club needed to spend money to fix the room up and took the opportunity to completely refurb and try to put something in place that would raise more revenue - all of that happened in just a couple of months at a time when there was also a focus on getting Terrace View done and get ready for the upcoming season both on and off the pitch with a brand new management team. It perhaps impacted some of the work they've now done in making the Upper Holte concourses a little better, which didn't help it's reception.

This summer, the club will have a chance to review what they've done and find the right way to sell what is a really good space, a really nice opportunity for supporters looking for a special occasion and a facility that should ultimately be popular with fans and profitable - if they get that right then perhaps the booing will stop and we'll have something that sits more comfortably in the minds of Villa fans.

[cheltenham_villa]

3 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

I'm not sure it's completely safe to say that - but I suspect it probably is making more on the top line. Once you take out the programme, the food, the drink and so on I suspect it probably isn't particularly profitable at the moment, but top line matters. It's certainly not making the money it should be making and there are rumours that as many as half of the people in there aren't paying on some of the quieter matchdays, but there are reasons behind that.

Ultimately, the development happened very quickly, it was an opportunity that Heck saw and put in place without much time to nail the detail. The development of the Terrace View caused some damage to the ceilings and made the room unusable for a while, that meant that the club needed to spend money to fix the room up and took the opportunity to completely refurb and try to put something in place that would raise more revenue - all of that happened in just a couple of months at a time when there was also a focus on getting Terrace View done and get ready for the upcoming season both on and off the pitch with a brand new management team. It perhaps impacted some of the work they've now done in making the Upper Holte concourses a little better, which didn't help it's reception.

This summer, the club will have a chance to review what they've done and find the right way to sell what is a really good space, a really nice opportunity for supporters looking for a special occasion and a facility that should ultimately be popular with fans and profitable - if they get that right then perhaps the booing will stop and we'll have something that sits more comfortably in the minds of Villa fans.

I'm not sure about that, the Cost of food, programs and drink is very small I suspect.  I'd be very surprised if the club is spending more than £6-7 per person on that.

We don't really know the cost of all the refurb that went into it, even with a third of the previous capacity though I think the club are comfortable 

[DeepDish]

I am planning to bring my father to the Chelsea game, and use the Lower Ground experience. We are coming from Norway and as such have limited history (my last game at Villa Park was in January 2020 against Watford). I tried to buy two tickets from the web page, but was not allowed. Is there a lot of hassle to get tickets to family and friends? Or am I just a muppet who does not understand the things to do?

[mikeyp102]

8 minutes ago, DeepDish said:

I am planning to bring my father to the Chelsea game, and use the Lower Ground experience. We are coming from Norway and as such have limited history (my last game at Villa Park was in January 2020 against Watford). I tried to buy two tickets from the web page, but was not allowed. Is there a lot of hassle to get tickets to family and friends? Or am I just a muppet who does not understand the things to do?

I don’t know about the Terrace View specifically, but everyone getting a ticket in the ground does need a client reference, so you may need to add one for your dad.

[T-Dog]

A mate of mine was asking about getting tickets for a game before the end of the season for a couple of his mates. 

I mentioned a few options to him and then I thought about Lower Grounds and didn't really know how to describe it. Ended up calling it a 'medium priced hospitality experience' - I'm not if that's true as I've never been, but when I read the term back I thought 'oh that sounds good'. But also, **** the Lower Grounds. 

[ender4]

Quote

At Villa Park one afternoon, I went with Edens to visit the Lower Grounds, the all-you-can-eat dining area.

Chris Heck, the club’s chief executive who formerly worked for the N.B.A.’s 76ers, suggested the idea for it shortly after he arrived in Birmingham last August.

Touring the stadium, he stumbled on a decrepit ballroom-size space where ticket holders were permitted to gather. During the first game that the new venture was open for business, Heck says someone approached him on the concourse and took a swing at him — “because I took away the free space where he used to come and eat his sandwich.”

After hearing how unpopular it was among supporters, I expected a dreary scene of a few people sitting at otherwise empty tables. Instead, the area was filled to capacity with some 800 fans. They were eating and drinking while a game played on several large screens. They certainly appeared to be enjoying themselves. According to Heck, the club would make 80,000 British pounds, or about $100,000, that afternoon. “We fill it up every game, so multiply that by 23,” he says.

Full article is paywalled, but this part concerns Villa.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/04/magazine/english-soccer-american-owners.html

Making almost £2 million from the Lower Grounds apparently.

[spiezels]

40 minutes ago, ender4 said:

Full article is paywalled, but this part concerns Villa.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/04/magazine/english-soccer-american-owners.html

Making almost £2 million from the Lower Grounds apparently.

Well there ya go. Jesus. With all the shit we’re reading about upcoming PSR stuff sadly thats the way its got to go.

LOL at someone taking a swing. Can imagine it tbf. Does sound like bullshit tbf

[MrBlack]

1 hour ago, spiezels said:

Well there ya go. Jesus. With all the shit we’re reading about upcoming PSR stuff sadly thats the way its got to go.

LOL at someone taking a swing. Can imagine it tbf. Does sound like bullshit tbf

Maybe a metaphorical swing rather than a physical one. 

[ender4]

2 hours ago, ender4 said:

At Villa Park one afternoon, I went with Edens to visit the Lower Grounds, the all-you-can-eat dining area.

Chris Heck, the club’s chief executive who formerly worked for the N.B.A.’s 76ers, suggested the idea for it shortly after he arrived in Birmingham last August.

Touring the stadium, he stumbled on a decrepit ballroom-size space where ticket holders were permitted to gather. During the first game that the new venture was open for business, Heck says someone approached him on the concourse and took a swing at him — “because I took away the free space where he used to come and eat his sandwich.”

After hearing how unpopular it was among supporters, I expected a dreary scene of a few people sitting at otherwise empty tables. Instead, the area was filled to capacity with some 800 fans. They were eating and drinking while a game played on several large screens. They certainly appeared to be enjoying themselves. According to Heck, the club would make 80,000 British pounds, or about $100,000, that afternoon. “We fill it up every game, so multiply that by 23,” he says.

Interesting that it was Heck's idea after all.  Must have been very last minute.

Also, is there actually 800 people capacity for Lower Grounds?  Or is that the journalist exaggerating a bit?

 

 

Edited May 7 by ender4

[Buffs]

I was in the Lower grounds for the Olympiakos game.  A few of my takeaways:

• It was rammed (to the point I felt it was over capacity)
• Given the amount of people it was slow to get food, drinks not too bad.
• no where to sit as all seating was full.

I felt it was not worth the money for the service/experience, but even though I’m a member it was the only way to get a ticket.  

it certainly felt like more than 800 people, but either way, I felt at least I was helping generate the club more cash.

 

[OutByEaster?]

8 hours ago, ender4 said:

At Villa Park one afternoon, I went with Edens to visit the Lower Grounds, the all-you-can-eat dining area.

Chris Heck, the club’s chief executive who formerly worked for the N.B.A.’s 76ers, suggested the idea for it shortly after he arrived in Birmingham last August. 

Touring the stadium, he stumbled on a decrepit ballroom-size space where ticket holders were permitted to gather. During the first game that the new venture was open for business, Heck says someone approached him on the concourse and took a swing at him — “because I took away the free space where he used to come and eat his sandwich.”

After hearing how unpopular it was among supporters, I expected a dreary scene of a few people sitting at otherwise empty tables. Instead, the area was filled to capacity with some 800 fans. They were eating and drinking while a game played on several large screens. They certainly appeared to be enjoying themselves. According to Heck, the club would make 80,000 British pounds, or about $100,000, that afternoon. “We fill it up every game, so multiply that by 23,” he says

File under comedy. There are a good eight or nine errors just in that section. It's a fairytale.

[Folski]

6 hours ago, Buffs said:

I was in the Lower grounds for the Olympiakos game.  A few of my takeaways:

• It was rammed (to the point I felt it was over capacity)
• Given the amount of people it was slow to get food, drinks not too bad.
• no where to sit as all seating was full.

I felt it was not worth the money for the service/experience, but even though I’m a member it was the only way to get a ticket.  

it certainly felt like more than 800 people, but either way, I felt at least I was helping generate the club more cash.

 

One person at the food counter at half time even though I’d preordered, no rush on. I thought they’d be firing food out.

[Captain_Townsend]

38 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

File under comedy. There are a good eight or nine errors just in that section. It's a fairytale.

Can you elaborate a little? Which bits?

 

[OutByEaster?]

2 hours ago, Captain_Townsend said:

Can you elaborate a little? Which bits?

Pick just about anything - Chris Heck isn't CEO, Chris Heck didn't arrive in August, he didn't stumble upon a decrepit ballroom like some sort of Indiana Jones figure brushing cobwebs away from his face, the club held its end of season award dinner in the Holte Suite at the end of May - I suspect Chris Heck attended. The whole thing reads like a kids story, it's propoganda - snd in fairness, not propoganda aimed at us - it's a piece written in the NY Times about forward thinking Americans dragging a backward nation into the 21st century. From our perspective I don't think it carries any value whatsoever.

 

 

[Captain_Townsend]

Much appreciated  

[thabucks]

4 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

File under comedy. There are a good eight or nine errors just in that section. It's a fairytale.

Who cares it’s the £££ that matters surely - that’s all I took away from the article. 

[Jbvilla909]

20 hours ago, Buffs said:

I was in the Lower grounds for the Olympiakos game.  A few of my takeaways:

• It was rammed (to the point I felt it was over capacity)
• Given the amount of people it was slow to get food, drinks not too bad.
• no where to sit as all seating was full.

I felt it was not worth the money for the service/experience, but even though I’m a member it was the only way to get a ticket.  

it certainly felt like more than 800 people, but either way, I felt at least I was helping generate the club more cash.

 

I echo this, we were also there for the Olympiakos game. Was perched on the end of one of the benches for a seat. Food choices weren't great and the ques for anything half decent were ridiculous. 

For the price of the ticket I don't think it was to bad, I'd spend more than that in the pubs pre match. My lad doesn't really drink so, he didn't get the full value. 

Good concept that needs refining. 

[OutByEaster?]

9 hours ago, Jbvilla909 said:

 Good concept that needs refining. 

And this is the thing with it for me - it's a really nice facility, and there's lots that works really well with it, but it seems like it doesn't quite know what it wants to be - the experience doesn't really justify the hospitality price, but it's not really as man-of-the-people as it wants to be either - I think with a bit of a think in the summer it could come back as either more expensive and a better experience or cheaper and a better experience, but I don't think the all-you-can-eat concourse food works as either. 

I'm not quite sure what the solution is, but as the noise dies down I think there's an opportunity for the club to get more from this area.

 

[sidcow]

The GA+ thing does make sense to me. 

Before you were a regular punter in pretty shit basic facilities in your jeans and joggers. 

Or you were in corporate with VERY expensive tickets, plush surroundings, sit down meal, having to mind your P's and Q's, pretty sterile atmosphere, whispered business conversations. 

GA+ makes real sense for someone still wanting casual dress, casual food and casual lively atmosphere. Personally if I was doing corporate entertainment I'd definitely take GA+ over full corporate unless you're really trying to impress someone used to the finer things.  Especially as it's a ton cheaper. 

I've been in the Chelsea heated seats zone and the areas in the concourse aren't a patch on Terrace View. 

It seems most of these GA+ areas will be for occasional fans on rare visits, people for special occasions, groups of friends and family who just want somewhere nicer than the concourses and can afford to do that. 

I don't see them lacking an identity, I see them very much fulfilling a previously overlooked group of people. 

The danger for me is that outside of London and Mega Clubs there will only be so many people who fulfil this criteria.