Gloucester are set to take on Leicester Tigers at Villa Park in Birmingham. The Cherry and Whites are trading Kingsholm for Villa Park on Saturday. The match is scheduled for 13:00 GMT.
A Drive for Revenue and Growth
The idea to host a showpiece game has been in the pipeline for a number of years. A visit to Aston Villa’s home last year confirmed it was the right place to try, according to chief executive Alex Brown.
Brown told BBC Sport that they were impressed by the level of experience delivered for football fans. Sacrificing a home game to move the team and fans to another location comes with challenges. Kingsholm has a capacity of about 16,000, while Villa Park is almost three times bigger at 45,000.
There are commercial opportunities to generate more money, which is a big driver for a modest-sized club such as Gloucester. Harlequins sell out 82,000 at Twickenham, which is a massive commercial revenue line for them, and Gloucester want the same. Brown added that he doesn’t think they’re going to sell out in year two or maybe not even year three, but they’ve got to start somewhere and make the sport financially sustainable.
The goal is to use the extra revenue from this game to reinvest into the squad.
Learning from Other Clubs
Gloucester have lent on Harlequins, Saracens, and Bristol to learn from their experiences in hosting these games. Club leaders meet monthly where initiatives that can benefit everyone are often up for discussion.
Brown said they’ve definitely learned a lot from Quins, who are the masters of this, doing two big games a year. Bristol were very open with what they did last year at Cardiff, and Saracens were the same. Brown also noted that there is a collaborative working group driving this big game initiative and he suspects more clubs will go down this route as time goes by.
Additional Factors Behind the Match
- The match aims to grow revenue.
- It also seeks to grow the fanbase.
- Gloucester hope the game will help grow the talent pool.
Changes to Premiership academy boundaries two years ago meant that Gloucester’s catchment area now stretches further. Gloucester come into the game off the back of a win against Harlequins last weekend.