Add-to-Kart: Tottenham redefine multi-purpose stadia with latest F1 partnership 🏟
Spurs' latest announcement with Formula One epitomises the need for stadium owners to embrace brave ideas in order to maximise the usage and appeal outside of match days
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Ahead of the Formula 1 season opener in Bahrain this weekend, Tottenham Hotspur made a surprising announcement alongside the global racing series, revealing a 15-year strategic partnership.
The agreement will see the delivery of the world’s first-in stadium electric karting facility and London’s longest indoor track implemented below the football club’s state-of-the-art stadium.
The high-tech facility will have separate tracks for adults and juniors, both accredited by the National Karting Association – making it a potential future venue for national karting championship races.
Set to open later this year, the venue will also host interactive motorsport activities and food and beverage outlets.
The result is yet another major attraction coming to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – which now uniquely hosts Premier League, NFL, F1, rugby, boxing, and big-name concerts such as Beyonce.
Spurs also boast London’s No.1 outdoor attraction on TripAdvisor, the Dare Skywalk – an opportunity to scale the stadium and take in panoramic views of the Capital.
This move away from being a football stadium and towards being a 365-entertainment destination all fits into the ambition of Tottenham’s Chairman, Daniel Levy.
“Since building this stadium our ambition has always been to see how far we can push the boundaries in delivering world-class experiences that will attract people from around the world all year round,” Levy exclaimed within Spurs’ official press release.
According to stadia expert Eric Solem, Commercial Director at WeTrack, with these entertainment features, as well as their hosting of conferencing, Spurs are “certainly the best in England, possibly in Europe for [transitioning their stadium into] a full use building.”
Solem also points to the recent openings in America like the Allegiant Stadium in Vegas and SoFi Stadium in California for other examples of employing a 365 model. “For everyone that’s building new buildings or refurbishing, it’s [all about] what can you do to create movement beyond match day, because the match day becomes the easy bit.”
This shouldn’t be an entirely unfamiliar concept for clubs.
However, to-date, thinking has rarely ventured beyond the hosting of concerts and perhaps some conferencing activities. This, Solem points out, is often capped as “normal stadiums only have a window from about the end of May to the end of June to do a concert series because you've got to relay the pitch in July and let it fit in.”
In contrast, for Spurs and these new builds in the US, there is additional flexibility due to the nature of the playing surface. Both the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Allegiant Stadium have retractable pitches, whilst SoFi Stadium has artificial matrix turf, giving them opportunities to host events and concerts during the season without destroying the playing surface.
What is therefore most interesting about this recent innovation with Tottenham and F1 is that the multi-purpose ambition goes beyond what is possible with just the playing surface – instead taking place below the South Stand.
“It’s important to have brave ideas around how you maximise the usage of the building,” says Solem.
“I've seen a project now where they’re using holograms to do multiple shows per week - these kinds of things [are great],” explains Solem. “Who's going to figure out how to do the Prince show with him as a hologram somewhere? Can you put that in the stadium on a Saturday when the team are not playing?”
Alternatively, there are even simpler ways to bring people together to congregate around a stadium.
“The F1 season is from March to November so you've got all those summer weekends where you could open up the building, charge people whatever and potentially have a whole kind of engagement situation around karting and then show the F1 on the big screens or in and around the building.”
Go-karting may be out of reach but, in theory, there is no reason other stadiums couldn’t host their own events, movie premieres, or watch-a-longs of popular sporting events. The Masters, Wimbledon, The Ashes, and the Women’s FIFA World Cup are all happening over the coming months. Stadiums could act as ‘fan hubs’ for those living away from the action.
Mastering this sort of alternative thinking is going to be especially important for clubs who are in the process of building now as, “it's a different model than it was just a few years ago when interest rates were so cheap,” explains Solem.
“If you're putting a bunch of cement and steel up which is going to have spaces to do stuff, anyone modelling that out is going to have to take into consideration how to maximise their ability to generate revenue from those spaces.”
In turn, the management teams of stadia should really consider the kinds of people that they need to bring in. “If you're a football club building a new stadium, you might need to bring in someone from Cirque du Soleil to help you figure out how you're going to operate the stadium rather than someone who's been working in football for 30 years.”
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