CSKA has figured out how to lure wealthy fans to the VEB Arena

by time news

On Wednesday, September 27, football club (FC) CSKA will play their first home match of the Champions League group stage against English Manchester United. On the eve of the start of the tournament, Russian CSKA tried to attract the attention of wealthy fans to it. For the last at least 10 days, the club has been selling tickets in the VIP-boxes at the home stadium “VEB Arena” for the promotion “three matches for the price of two.” A cashier at FC CSKA in a conversation with a Vedomosti correspondent, who introduced himself as a buyer, confirmed the holding of such an advertising campaign in Moscow. A CSKA spokesman declined to comment.

In the summer of this year, the president of the CSKA football club Evgeny Giner told at a lecture at the RMA business school that it is possible to earn money at the stadium only if the VIP boxes are fully loaded. “In this case, he will bring us somewhere in the region of $ 18 million per season,” Giner said. True, according to him, so far it has not been possible to make money: “People are looking closely, asking the price, sales are going on, but we, of course, would like more.”

The cost of a box for wealthy clients for three CSKA home games in the Champions League, according to a cashier, varies from 900,000 to about 2 million rubles. Before only one match the box cost from 800,000 rubles., He noted.

Over the past three years, four new football stadiums have opened in Russia: Otkritie Arena of the football club Spartak (September 2014), VEB Arena CSKA (September 2016), Krasnodar of the team of the same name (October 2016). ) and “St. Petersburg” of the football club “Zenith” (April 2017). Of all these arenas near the CSKA home stadium, the VIP boxes have the largest share of the total number of seats – 10% versus 1-2% for the rest.

VEB Arena was built on the principle of many new European stadiums – with a large number of VIP boxes, which are sold in Europe ahead for several years or seasons, confirms RMA CEO Kirill Kulakov. However, according to him, a large number of boxes in stadiums is an advantage with the right sales technology: ideally, ticket sales in boxes account for 30-40% of the stadium’s total revenue per game day. At European stadiums, the income per unit of space in VIP boxes is much higher than in ordinary seats, agrees Deloitte partner Sharif Galeev, since boxes are not only expensive seats, but also catering, alcohol sales during a match with a large mark-up and the opportunity to establish business -relations.

In Russia, unlike in Europe, one-time sales for a match or several matches are still more in demand, notes Kulakov, since the football culture of cheering in modern stadiums is just beginning to develop. He believes that CSKA is trying to attract more wealthy fans with such promotions. With the right marketing strategy, such a culture can be instilled in 2-3 years, the expert predicts.

At the box office of the Otkrytie Arena stadium, an employee said that all the VIP boxes had been sold by the end of the season. Representatives of Spartak, Krasnodar and Zenit did not respond to Vedomosti’s inquiries for several days.

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