The Leisure Industry.

Millennium and
Twickenham stadiums. Compare and
contrast
Comparison business report by Boni Bonev

Introduction

This report will explore the trends in a leisure industry by examining two
sporting facilities within the same sport activity. This will be done by
comparing and contrasting Millennium stadium in Cardiff (Wales) and
Twickenham stadium in London (England). The report will include their
geographical location, development, growth or change in market and
customers’ demands and the factors that have influenced the sport and leisure
industry. It will compare both facilities in terms of participation rates, revenue
and financial turnover.
“The Department for Culture, Media and Sports (DCMS) is here to help make
Britain the world’s most creative and exciting place to live, visit and do
business. We protect and promote our cultural and artistic heritage and help
businesses and communities to grow by investing in innovation and
highlighting Britain as a fantastic place to visit. Alongside this, we protect our
deeply held beliefs in freedom and equality. We help to give the UK a unique
advantage in the global race for economic success.” (DCMS,2015). The
Department for Culture, Media and Sport is supported by 41 agencies and
public bodies, Including Sports England, The Sport Grounds Safety Authority
and the English Institute of Sport (DCMS,2015).

This report will define what leisure is and explore the different leisure
sectors. It will also identify in which sector the examined facilities fall and
their importance on local, national and international level. It will also outline
the structure of the leisure industry and local and national examples will be
given in relation to the two facilities. Definitions of the scale of the economy
will be provided, leading to discussion of the economic importance of leisure
pursuit (home fans will attend games at Twickenham or Millennium stadiums
as a local example and the away fans are the national example).
As discussed the first facility examine will be Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
This report will describe how the facility fits into the leisure industry. There
will be critical analysis of participation rates, attendance, employment figures,
local importance and financial turnover. The same will be done for
Twickenham Stadium in London. The scale and economic importance for both
facilities will be compared and contrasted. Conclusion will be made, leading in
to adequate and advised recommendation.

Leisure Industry

There are many different opinions about what leisure is. However, as
Anderson(2011) suggests there are three major ways of describing leisure:
leisure as time, leisure as activity and leisure as a state of mind. Leisure as
time is the time free of duties and everyday tasks needed for survival. This is
our free time in which we have no engagements what so ever, but to do the
things we enjoy. Leisure as a state of mind depends on each other’s own
perception, therefore is difficult to define. These can be experience that gives
us satisfaction and happiness, motivations and feelings
(Torkildsen,2005).Leisure as activity includes all the actions we take part in in
our free time, such as sports, outdoor activities, reading for pleasure, drawing,
skating, cycling etc. (Anderson,2011).
The leisure as industry can be divided in three main sectors. The voluntary
sector is the biggest one of the three, also known as “non-profit” or/and “non-
governmental organisations” (Roberts,2004 page 24). It has also been
described as the “grassroots” sector and its volunteers mostly work for free or
for very small amount of money. The voluntary sector generally relies on the
public sector to provide the venues and equipment for their events, while on
other hand depends on the private sector for funding and sponsorship.
The public sector is usually funded by the local authorities, councils and
taxes and its general aim is to get more people involved in physical activity
without necessarily looking for profit. Usually this sector provides affordable
service for everyone. Local authorities provide a range of facilities for the
public to have access to. Facilities such as parks, beaches, picnic areas,
playgrounds and libraries are accessible without direct payment, while
indirect the public pay for these through rates and taxes (Torkildsen,2005).
The private sector aims to deliver quality service in order to make profit out
of it. For example these can be venues organising sport activities, concerts or
any other events (Wembley Arena, O2 Arena in London). This sector can also
have major influence on the business in the particular area and helps the local
communities due to a number of visitors (Blair,2012).
All three sectors rely on each other to succeed and could not exist separately.
Local examples of leisure are gyms, parks, sports grounds etc., because these
facilities are being used mainly from the local residents. This is the way they
contribute to the local community. The money stays in the local private sector,
so they can later on invest them in better facilities or improve their service,
either public or private (Sports England,2009).
National examples can be stadiums or venues hosting major national and
international events, which take part in the big cities where the visitors would
not all be local citizens. This contributes great amount of money to the local
economy in terms of turnover, jobs, taxes etc. (Torkildsen,2004). International
customers visiting local event means different currencies and usually
economic boost not only for the venue itself, but also for the local community.
This can be in terms of jobs, taxes paid and money spend on hotels, travel,
parking, petrol stations, bars, souvenirs etc. (Blair,2012).
The current economic scale in the leisure industry has recently increased
gradually. Retailers sell millions of sport equipment every year, professional
sport wear and foot wear is in high demand now and is more accessible than
ever (BBC,2009). Massive money from television contracts benefits the sport
industry in general. For example Sky and BT are paying GBP 5.14 billion to
Premier League clubs for broadcasting 168 live games per season over the
period of three years. This means a bit more than GBP 10 million per game
(The Guardian,2015).Another example of the big money involved nowadays in
sport is the USD 300 million boxing fighter Floyd Mayweather earned, which
gave him the top spot in Forbes' 2015 list of the world’s highest-paid athletes
(Forbes,2015).
As we mentioned above, this report will look closely into two facilities
within the same sporting industry. In our case these will be Millennium
stadium in Cardiff (Wales) and Twickenham stadium in London (England). As
both stadiums are home for their national Rugby teams contemporary
examples would be given about tournaments and competitive games which
took place recently. Description of the leisure sector they fit in and deep
analysis will outline their advantages and disadvantages. Conclusion would be
made due to comparing and contrasting both facilities.

Millennium Stadium

Millennium stadium in Cardiff (Wales) was built for about 30 months

between 1996 and 1999. It was funded by the Government through the
National Lottery, which gives the stadium a place in the leisure’s
public/private sector. It cost GBP 114 million and since opening in June 1999,
Millennium stadium has welcomed, on average, over 1.3 million visitors per
year. The stadium was built on the place of the old National Stadium (designed
in 1962). The capacity in the old National Stadium was 53 000 (including 11
000 standing in the East Terrace) and with the new safety regulations this
meant further reduction for the attendance. A higher demand for a new and
modern home of Welsh Rugby was at place, a multi-purpose venue which was
to be used not only for sport competitions but for concerts and other
entertaining events. There were key criteria factors the stadium project had to
meet in order to qualify for the Government funding: public transport,
substantial contribution to the local community and mark a significant
movement in the history (Millenniumstadium.com,2015).
Situated in the famous Cardiff Arms Park Millennium Stadium has a capacity
of 74 500 spectators. The stadium has a fully retractable roof, which can be
opened in 20 minutes and is being held up by four 90-metre high towers .It is
located in the city centre which makes the access easy by car, bike, walk and
any kind of public transport. The venue has 112 private hospitality suits, 7
lounges, over 50 public bars and food and beverage outlets covered roughly
by 900 people catering staff (Millenniumstadium.com,2015).
The 74 500-capacity Millennium Stadium hosted the FA Cup final, League
Cup final, Community Shield and Football League play-offs from 2001 to 2006.
Olympic football games were played there in 2012 (BBC,2015). Although
being named host of the Rugby World Cup only once (1999) the stadium saw
games played on the pitch in four World Cups so far. In 2007 at a tournament
originally hosted by France, four games were played in Cardiff, including two
group games which Wales played against Australia and Japan
(Telegraph,2015).The major city centre venue in the Welsh capital also hosted
eight 2015 Rugby World Cup matches (Rugbyworld.com,2015).Due to qualify
hosting these games Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) spend GBP 3,1 million for
new artificial turf (Jones 2012,p11). Describing this process as one of the most
important transformations the pitch had since opening in 1999, that also
meant better protection for the turf when non-pitch events take place, such as
concerts and motorsports (WRU,2014).
As it is a multipurpose venue, and in order to gain additional commercial
revenue Millennuim Stadium is used also for events and concerts. The
American band R.E.M. and U2 played at the stadium in 2005, as the tickets for
the Irish group ranged GBP 100 to GBP 300(BBC,2005). The list of artists also
futures the British band “The Pollice” in 2007 (BBC,2007) and Madonna in
2008, with the tickets for the pop icon gig priced GBP 65 to GBP 160
(Telegraph,2008).
For the financial year ending in June 2014 the stadium reached GBP 11.568
million of turnover, which is approximately GBP 1.5 million decrease
compared to the year before. And even lower numbers are shown in the
Keynote report for the financial year ending June 2015. A further decrease of
GBP 3,6 million, compared to the 2014 figures is the lowest level in last 5
years of GBP 7,95 million(Keynote.co.uk).
In June 2015 UEFA confirmed Millennium Stadium as the venue for the 2017
Champions League finals, both men’s and women’s (DCMS,2015). Football
Association of Wales chief executive Jonathan Ford welcomed the
announcement by European football's governing body by saying:
"We believe that staging both the 2017 Uefa Champions League final and 2017
Uefa Women's Champions League final will have a positive and long-lasting
effect on Welsh football. Today's announcement is the culmination of two
years of hard work and I'd like to thank all those who've helped the FAW fulfil
its ambition."(BBC,2015)
 The Welsh capital has a history of hosting major international sporting
events, including the final of the 1999 Rugby World Cup and the 2014 UEFA
Super Cup final between Sevilla and Real Madrid (Independent,2014).
Football is the most popular and participated sport in Wales(FAW,2015).

Twickenham Stadium

Back in 1907 the Rugby Football Union (RFU), the governing body for rugby
in England, purchased the land at Twickenham and converted what was a
cabbage field back then in to a rugby playing pitch (ESPN,2016). Only 2 years
later the stadium hosted its first official game and its first international test
was in 1910 (Smith,2006).On 15-th of January 1910 England played Wales
and run out 11-6 winners (Independent,2010). Since then it has undergone
constant development to become the venue we know nowadays. The stadia
has recently expanded its capacity to the impressive 82 500 spectators as well
as developing a Marriot hotel complex at the south stand. It has over a 7,000
square meters of conference space which offers a number of modern facilities,
not usually associated with the stadium. It is a 365 days per year venue able to
accommodate all different kind of events, from half day meetings to a four day
residential conference (Virtual Venue Visit,2011).
Situated in the western edge of metropolitan London and only 6 miles away
from London Heatrow Airport the Twickenham Stadium is the biggest rugby
dedicated stadium in the world. It benefits from over 2000 onside parking
spaces and an easy access by train, air and road. Twickenham Stadium is a
versatile venue, hosting not only rugby competitions but also many concerts.
U2, R.E.M., Bon Jovi and The Rolling Stones have been performing there in
recent years (Englandrugby.com,2015). The last two selling VIP tickets for
their events priced up to GBP 500 and GBP 575 each in 2008 and 2006
respectively (The Guardian,2008; The Guardian,2006).
Twickenham Stadium is part of national heritage and has a major role in the
tourism as well. Sightseeing tours are offered all year round (excluding match
days and Mondays) three times per day Tuesday to Friday, four times on
Saturday and twice on Sundays. The price for the tour is GBP 20 for adults,
GBP 15 for concessions, GBP 12 for children (aged 5 to 15) and GBP 50 for a
family ticket which include access for 2 adults and up to 3 children
(Englandrugby.com,2015). It takes approximately 1 h and 15 min to visit all
the interesting places inside, including the Museum of Rugby. Between 2005
and 2007, around 21 000 visitors per year took the tour (Simmons, 2008 cited
in Ramshow and Gammon,2010). As Ramshow and Gammon (2010) suggests
we can describe the venue as a home in three different ways:
“Twickenham Stadium as home of the English National Rugby team, as a
“spiritual home of rugby” and as home of national identity and a sense of
Englishness.” (Ramshaw and Gammon,2010)
The venue is home of England’s rugby national team. It frequently hosts RBS
6 Nations rugby championship games, both man’s and women’s, Aviva
Premiership games and just recently the World Cup in
2015(Rbs6nations.com,2015) at which the tickets for the crucial game
between England and Wales were at prices starting from GBP 75
(Independent,2014) but reach over GBP 1200 on the secondary market
.England Rugby Travel was another way of purchasing match-day tickets for
the World Cup in 2015. This includes two nights at Twickenham Marriot Hotel
at prices between GBP 1999 and GBP 2999 for the games between England
and Wales and the final game respectively (Telegraph,2015). A total of 950
000 tickets were sold on general sale a year before the World Cup for a period
of two weeks. With England Rugby receiving over 5 million applications that
lead to demand exceeding supply by far for 23 of the 48 matches
(Englandrugby.com,2014).
In 2013 the RFU has underpinned its status as the world’s richest rugby
union with their last financial year revenue of GBP 153, 5 million, a rise of
over GBP 40 million, compared to the numbers in 2011/2012. In comparison
The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) reached just GBP 61 million for the same year.
That allowed The RFU’s “profit and loss” reserve to hit GBP 20 million
(Telegraph,2013).And in 2015 The RFU announced a record turnover of more
than GBP 200 million for first time in their history (Telegraph,2015).

Future development

The RFU’s board just declined hosting Six Nations games at Twickenham on
Friday nights. Due to its concerns about the traffic flow from London city on
the weekdays Millennium Stadium in Cardiff will host the next two
championships openers (Telegraph,2015). UEFA’s Champions League finals
will also take place at the 74 500-capacity venue in 2017 (BBC,2015). From
January 2016 Millennium Stadium will be renamed the Principality Stadium in
a 10 years deal between WRU and Principality Building Society
(Principality.co.uk,2015). WRU’s chairman said both parties were comfortable
with the arrangement, however financial information was not disclose. The
WRU’s financial accounts in 2014 showed its debt stood at GBP 15 million, as
that figure was once GBP 75 million as a result of the stadium’s construction
costs (BBC,2015).
In December 2015 the RFU announced their plans to invest GBP 53.5 million
to improve their corporate hospitality facilities at the East Stand at
Twickenham only couple of months after spending GBP 75 million on a major
facelift upgrade just before the World Cup took place in September and
October 2015.This information came shortly after the report of their GBP 200
million record turnover last financial year (Telegraph,2015). The RFU also
announced a deal with the NFL for the home of English rugby to host a
minimum of three regular-season NFL games over a three year period of time
(BBC,2015).
 Conclusion

The scale and economic importance for both facilities is huge. Twickenham
is well recognised rugby venue around the world. Although participation rates
are high there is also higher customer demand regarding tickets availability.
The revenue and profit numbers are increasing every year, therefore the RFU
can afford improving the facilities at their venue. Establishing themselves as
the world’s wealthiest rugby association put them in a very strong position in
the market and Twickenham Stadium in private, with its convenient location,
modern facilities and range of events throughout the year remains very
popular destination not only for local but for international customers and
businesses.
Although Millennium Stadium does not generate as much revenue as
Twickenham does, it is improving businesslike with new sponsorship deal for
its name rights. Reducing the WRU’s debt gradually since building the stadium
in 1999 means they are going in the right direction, but on other side their
profit for the last 3 years is decreasing. However WRU benefits from the stadia
as the Welsh National Rugby team have the privilege to play almost every
third international game on home soil, in front of home fans. Champions
League finals will be played at which will be Principality Stadium then in 2017
and this is another step forward to establishing the venue as one of the most
exciting places to visit.

Recommendations

Due to keep the same levels of profit or even increase them, the RFU need to
work with the local Councils regarding the traffic issues in TW area on match
days.
In order to increase the revenue at Millennium Stadium the WRU may work
together with the FAW to get football back in the stadium’s calendar and try to
increase attendance numbers at the games, as football is the most participated
and watched sport in Wales.
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