Following a record-breaking year for Wembley Stadium – which saw the home of football host heavyweight boxing, Harry Styles and England heroics in the Women’s Euros Final – we caught up with Club Wembley Head of Hospitality, Paul Scannell, to hear what makes the ‘Club Wembley experience’ so special, and to explore the upcoming calendar.
“It’s a dream job,” says Paul Scannell, Head of Hospitality at Club Wembley, a position he took up in 2022 after almost six years as Head of Hospitality at the FA.
“My new role still incorporates looking after FA hospitality, but now what I’ve done is take it on in its entirety. From the sales through to the account management, through its membership service and in the marketing of the product.
“To look at where we were 12 months ago, compared to where we are today. We have a full, incredibly robust, and experienced team that delivered a record-breaking year and we’re heading into an equally successful year ahead.”
Having grown up in the shadow of the old Wembley Stadium, Scannell’s new overarching role is a holistic position that, given his personal and professional background, he’s perfectly suited for.
“I spent my late teens, early twenties working here,” he explains. “I worked on one of the last events here before the stadium got knocked down as well, so I’ve seen the old stadium grow into the new stadium.”
In addition to drawing upon a lifetime of local knowledge, Scannell’s resume also includes several years as Director Hospitality Operations at the Singapore Sports Hub and he regularly tours other international venues to get a sense of what’s being done elsewhere, particularly in the US.
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“It’s really important to learn from your competitors. There are some incredible products out there but they’re not necessarily suitable for football. What you would deliver for a football event and what you deliver for NFL is worlds apart and a completely different customer base.
“Sometimes you have to look outside the sports and entertainment industry as well,” he continues. “What’s happening in fashion? What’s happening in interior design? What’s happening in architecture? All that helps with the overall look and feel of what’s happening in your product as well.”
Speaking in January 2023, Scannell describes how, having spent the winter planning and getting the stadium ready – “refreshing hospitality areas, introducing new products, looking at the concourses” – there’s a real sense of excitement around the stadium ahead of Manchester United and Newcastle United’s Carabao Cup Final on 26th February.
“You can go to a football match in any stadium, but when you come to Wembley Stadium for a final, the whole event experience is elevated,” he says. “Whether it’s someone in GA coming through the turnstiles, to those lucky enough to have a club Wembley membership and being able to afford a premium experience. For us, it’s all about Wembley being the best of the best and creating memories.”
Indeed, for many fans, they’ll be lucky to see their team play at Wembley once in their lives. With the ability to further heighten the experience further through one of six Club Wembley memberships, the product on offer, though pricy, is undoubtedly a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Pressed for an event he is particularly looking forward to, Scannell, whose background is in catering, points to the FA Cup Final as the cherry on top of a mouth-watering sporting calendar. “This stadium was built for the FA Cup Final,” he says. “For me, growing up in Wembley, there was always a real buzz in the area on FA Cup Final day. And, from an FA and Wembley perspective, the FA Cup is when the whole of the stadium really comes together with one objective. The FA Cup Final is where everybody wants to be. It’s the hot ticket.”
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Outside of sport, the stadium also hosts some of the biggest music acts in the world. “Wembley is the home of football, but it is an entertainment venue as well,” says Scannell before going on to recall some of the acts that have played under the arches in the last year alone. Those include a series of spellbinding gigs from Coldplay and performances from man-of-the-moment Harry Styles who, fresh from winning four Brit Awards, will once again take to the stage in June for three nights, all of which are sure to sell out if they haven’t already.
“Last year showed what a multi-event stadium we are. From football to rugby to boxing and then the wide-ranging concerts that we’re doing. There are not many other stadiums that can do that wide breadth of entertainment and sport,” says Scannell of last year’s incredible lineup, the quality of which is set to be more than matched in 2023.
And, despite putting on in the region of 40 events last year, with similar ambitions over the next 12 months, Scannell says that the calendar still isn’t necessarily complete, with “three of four more major concerts” set to be announced and space still available for last minute events that the venue is able to put on with just three- or four-weeks’ notice.
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“That’s the beauty of Wembley,” he explains. “The greatest artists in the world want to play here. Every footballer wants to play on the pitch and every musician wants to play on the stage.”
It’s that level of performer coupled with the hospitality experience that, in Scannell’s mind, makes Club Wembley membership so attractive to corporates and individuals alike. “As a member, you know that you will have access to Coldplay, all of those concerts, those sell-out events. And, if you want to have the best available seats, ultimately the only way to do that is by being a club member. We always have the first seats available, and we always have seats available 24 to 48 hours before they go on sale. So, I think that’s a huge bonus to our membership.”
Given the opportunity to sum up the Club Wembley experience in a nutshell, Scannell finishes by saying, “If you want to see the greatest sporting events, the greatest artists. If you want to make lifetimes of memories. Wembley is the place to come and experience it.”
For us, it’s all about Wembley being the best of the best and creating memories.
