A manager overseeing the redevelopment of the £850m Tottenham Hotspur football stadium and surrounding area, has explained how the north London club aims to replicate the “all-day” stadium experience of America.
Tony Davison, commercial manager for Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, said his club aspired to make the new 61,559-seat stadium, which is due to open in August 2018, “at least as good as the Americans’ and certainly the best in Europe”.
He said: “We spent a lot of time asking fans what they wanted and they were not ambitious enough. The average footballer simply wants to go to the toilet without a queue and get a beer and a pie. But we thought, ‘Let’s think bigger. We’ve been to Dallas and Orlando. We’ve seen the stadiums they’re delivering over there and they do it so well.’ We’ve learned from the best.
“This redevelopment is not just about selling 90 minutes of football. It’s about selling a full-day’s experience so that corporate clients, fans and members, from home and away, will turn up hours before the game, stay for hours after, and really get involved with the area and everything around it.
“Why should fans settle for a pie? Why can’t it be a lamb flatbread, and food inspired by the local community? There will be a micro brewery on site. Why can’t we sell our own brand beer, or Tottenham Hotspur gin? This area is well known for its gin production.”
The new stadium is the centrepiece of a wider regeneration of the area led by Haringey Council, and supported to the tune of £62m by the mayor of London, including an improved White Hart Lane Station and Tottenham High Road.
In September Haringey Council chose LendLease as the preferred developer for the area known as High Road West, including new homes, a library, community hub, civic square, a new industrial hub at Peacock Industrial Estate and green spaces.
In addition to hosting English Premier League football, the new stadium will host American NFL games, concerts and other sports events.
CBRE Hotels is courting operators on behalf of the club for the 180-bedroom hotel element of the project, which will include a restaurant, rooftop bar, swimming pool and private members’ room.
At MIPIM UK, Davison said creative thinking had gone into the rebuild, which will include a “sky walk” so people can walk on the roof of the stadium, and there will be WiFi throughout the stadium.
“When fans come in, their jaws are going to hit the ground because they’re going to be amazed by everything we’re going to deliver for them,” he said.
Describing Tottenham Hotspur has a “property company that happens to do football”, he explained that the redevelopment was critical to the longevity of the club.
“Ultimately, any penny we earn ends up back on the pitch, and every seat will help towards buying a new centre forward, or a new full back or centre half. We want Harry Kane to keep scoring goals for us. And if we can use our redevelopment and construction to deliver that, then excellent.”
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