The Stadium Events & Hospitality Awards 2024 – The Nominations

Stadium Experience is pleased to announce that 79 football, rugby and cricket clubs across the UK have received nominations for awards in The Stadium Events & Hospitality Awards 2024. The awards, sponsored by Global Payments, will hosted at Elland Road, home of Leeds United FC on Thursday 4^th July.  Around 400 guests from 50+ clubs will experience fine dining, awards ceremony, followed by an exclusive onsite after party until 4am.  2024 will be the 17^th annual awards event organised by Stadium Experience.

The prestigious event recognises the efforts and dedication shown by the catering, conference and events teams at every football, rugby and cricket stadium across the UK.  There will be a total of 14 different award categories, with a Bronze, Silver and Winner award for each presented on the evening.  This means there are at least 42 awards up for grabs in 2024.  This year’s categories include:

*NEW* Above & Beyond Recognition Award – Sponsored by Taste Beverages

This award recognises those individuals or teams who are simply outstanding at what they do, and continuously shine. This can be something as part of their regular duties, or perhaps focusing on supporting the local community or business recovery from challenging times. 

*NEW* Stadium Event of the Year Award – Sponsored by Rational

This award recognises the very best stadium event held in the last year. Judges are specifically looking for a stadium venue which has displayed exceptional venue facilities and outstanding guest experiences. 

Best Retail Catering Award – Sponsored by Rollover Hotdogs

This award recognises the best retail catering teams at stadia across the UK.  This team will demonstrate commercial growth, high quality food offerings or proactive sustainability improvements. 

Matchday Sales Team of the Year Award – Sponsored by iVvy Venues

This award recognises the very best matchday sales team in UK stadium venues.  Entries will demonstrate strategies for growth, brave new ideas, and overcoming challenges. 

Non-Matchday Sales Team of the Year Award – Sponsored by Special Occasion Linen

This award recognises the very best non-matchday sales team in UK stadium venues.  Entries will demonstrate strategies for growth, new ideas for unique and different events, creative use of their spaces, and overcoming challenges.

Non-Matchday Mystery Shopper Award – Sponsored by Chefs & Events Staffing

This award is based on a mystery shopper corporate/business event sales enquiry call and follow up, which will be made during Spring 2024 by our new judges from VCA Consulting UK. 

Operations Team of the Year Award – Sponsored by Braehead Foods

This award recognises the often unseen behind-the-scenes teams that make stadium events run so smoothly, going above and beyond the call of duty to provide the very best service to customers. 

Chef Team of the Year Award – Sponsored by Chef Works UK & Bragard

A live theatre chef competition at the HRC Event. Chef teams have one hour to prepare, cook and present a three-course menu suitable for their Club Chairman to entertain the Head of the FA or RFU to dinner. 

Visiting Directors Awards – Football & Rugby – Sponsored by FC Business & Get Pica

The Visiting Directors Award categories are voted for by Directors at each club. They are asked to nominate the club where they had the best away experience when travelling with their team. They are specifically asked to consider the welcome, service and catering when casting their votes.  There will be an award for both rugby and football venues. 

Matchday Hospitality Awards – Sponsored by Heineken, Dr Oetker & Acme

Experienced chef and hospitality experts attend each venue to try out their matchday offering. Each element is carefully considered and scored against strict criteria. This award is split into 3 categories (small, medium and large) based on the number of hospitality seats on a matchday to compare similar sized operations: 

Matchday Hospitality Award – Small Stadium (up to 1000 hospitality seats)

Matchday Hospitality Award – Medium Stadium (1001 – 2000 hospitality seats)

Matchday Hospitality Award – Large Stadium (2001+ hospitality seats) 

Overall Matchday Hospitality Award – Presented by Global Payments Inc.

This award pitches all sized clubs against all, to announce the overall winning UK stadium that provides the very best matchday hospitality experience.

Independent Awards Judging

Each award category is independently judged (Stadium Experience does not judge any of the awards).  Some categories are voted for by stadium directors, VCA Consulting UK judges the Non-Matchday Mystery Shopper Award, Salon Culinaire judge the Chef Team of the Year Award, and others are decided by teams of experts with many years of experience in their fields.  Read more about who judges The Stadium Events & Hospitality Awards.

Stadium Experience Chair Person, Collette Salmon, commented: “Stadium teams work tirelessly, striving to bring excellence in their venues for both matchday hospitality and non-matchday events.  These awards aim to recognise and celebrate all of this hard work and commitment.  Congratulations and best of luck to all of this year’s award nominees – We look forward to announcing the results at Leeds United FC on 4^th July!”

Book Tickets

Tickets are available from just £110 each (discounted member rate).  Tickets include; drinks reception, gala dinner, live entertainment, awards ceremony, and onsite after party until 4am.  Book your tickets here.

The 2024 Nominees:

The 2024 award nominations are (in alphabetical order):

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• The Stadium Events & Hospitality Awards 2024 – Meet The Judges
• Stadium Experience Teams Up With VCA Consulting UK
• Stadium Events & Hospitality Awards 2024 – Enter Now!
• The Stadium Events & Hospitality Awards 2024 to be hosted in Leeds