Mixin’ it up

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region has the opportunity to develop broader attractive and sustainable commercial offers at sport venues. Traditionally the regional sports venue operators (e.g. sports clubs and sport governing bodies) have focused their efforts on customary sporting events. The region has recently started to explore other commercial opportunities not related to sporting events such as business and cultural events, restaurants facilities, rental of commercial spaces and other retail opportunities.

Operators are facing significant challenges to exploit these new commercial opportunities. The common challenges include operational and logistical complexities, lack of suitably qualified and experienced professionals and incompatibility of traditional European approaches to supplemental revenue generation with local factors such as climatic conditions and cultural norms. Early selection and planning of the commercial uses are key to address some of these challenges.