PA Life sat down with Allianz Stadium’s Business Development Manager Vincent Coles to learn about the recent changes to the home of England rugby stadium since it’s re-naming to Allianz Stadium, and what sets this iconic sporting venue apart from other stadiums…
Let’s start with the rebranding of the world-famous stadium and the Home of England Rugby.
How will the partnership between Allianz and the England Rugby Union benefit the stadium?
The rebrand from Twickenham Stadium to Allianz Stadium is exciting and a great step for rugby. This relationship will further benefit investment into the England Men’s and Women’s team along with the community and significant support to the grassroots game.
How do you use the venue to create truly unique events?
With 34 dedicated event spaces across all four stands of the stadium, all offering their own personality, we have the benefit of being creative with our spaces to deliver truly memorable events, all with an inspirational backdrop of course. Our clients are able to seamlessly deliver multiple elements of an event, all while staying in one venue; whether it’s an auditorium for a conference, pitch-side for a summer barbecue or a large space for an exhibition, Allianz Stadium has so much to offer.
What sets events at the Allianz Stadium apart from other sporting venues?
The south stand of the stadium was purpose built for the conference and events market, not just for matchday; and to this day our state-of-the-art Live Room auditorium is increasingly in high demand. With each stand being so different in design, look and feel, guests can return and have a very different experience or use multiple spaces for different audiences. We are also home to The World Rugby Museum which houses the largest collection of rugby memorabilia in the world. This is a great unique experience for dinner or receptions offering an interactive experience, moreover we have fantastic connections to inspiration speakers from the rugby world to bring the value of being at the home of England Rugby to life.
Can you tell us about your corporate hospitality options
We provide world class hospitality here at The Home of England Rugby. We have a variety of all-inclusive packages available from informal urban street food with live music in our lively roof terrace, to fine dining with Michelin star chefs such as Tom Kerridge in our pitch view suites. Each suite offers an unforgettable experience with suite to seat access and Q&A’s with some of the biggest legends in rugby. Next up at Allianz Stadium is the Autumn Nations Series, with four back-to-back weekends throughout November we will welcome New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Japan. Further information can be found here.
Team building days are increasingly in demand and PAs are looking for fresh ideas.
What are your most popular teambuilding activities? Can anyone take part in these?
As you can imagine, Teamwork is an integral value at a sporting venue, so we love working with clients on adding teambuilding to their day. We can arrange a range of activities for anyone to take part in and we work with outstanding teambuilding companies to help clients achieve their goals. Learning the HAKA by the side of the pitch is by far our most popular, plus our new gameshow activities such as Team Traitors and Quid Games.
Is the Allianz Stadium event team available to advise and help a PA needing to offload their teambuilding day organising to you?
At Allianz Stadium, we will work with you throughout the whole process. We have a planning team who will help with the final arrangements, to our duty team who would be your point of contact and carry out the event on the day. Having all areas of the process in-house and working closely together will certainly help take much of the pressure off the event organiser and it’s something we absolutely pride ourselves on.
Any advice to PAs who are new to events?
My advice would be, think outside the box and be open minded. A lot has changed since COVID, and the world of events has moved on from just having a traditional meeting space. We have unique event spaces that can offer a different feel. Why not have your meeting in our Union Ale House which is offers an informal ultimate pub experience or have a large conference in our Stadium Bowl seating overlooking the pitch! These are truly unforgettable spaces that will ensure they leave lasting memories with your guests.
