From Foo Fighters and International Cricket to Major Business Events: Destination Emirates Old Trafford Becomes Manchester’s New Events Powerhouse
One year after completing a 15-year, £75 million redevelopment project, Destination Emirates Old Trafford’s Sales Director, Angela Hodson, talks about record revenues, the Foo Fighters and Green Day playing at the venue this summer, and why she loves working in events.
I joined Emirates Old Trafford 11 years ago… when the original redevelopment of the venue was underway, particularly with our event facilities, such as The Point. There was a strong ambition to grow the conference, events, and hotel side to create a more sustainable business and become a world-class multi-purpose venue. The change has been phenomenal.
Collectively, we should deliver around £13 million from conferences and events… in the hotel side of the business this year, which is a real step change from where it was 13 years ago. Last year we launched our hotel extension to create ‘Destination Emirates Old Trafford’ as a brand, positioning our iconic venue as a complete destination with a premium hotel, modern meetings, and events facilities, exciting corporate hospitality and unique experiences, plenty of outdoor space and car parking, a media centre, TV studio etc. We are also close to the airport with a tram on our doorstep. There are many different opportunities for organisers to deliver events and many overlook the stadium itself, giving a real sense of place and heritage. A common misconception among event organisers is viewing us merely as a cricket club, without realising the full scale of what we can offer.
My biggest challenge was… opening the new development on time, while still operating as a business. In the final part of the project, the Hilton Garden Inn Hotel was extended and now offers 250 bedrooms - many with pitch-facing balconies offering unique and memorable viewing experiences for cricket and concerts. The extension has enabled us to host large-scale residential events, driving major M&E growth.
One of my proudest moments is… achieving record revenues this year. The conference and events business has grown significantly, contributing £4.1m in revenue in 12 months. The Hilton Garden Inn has seen impressive growth, recording revenues of £6.5m, an increase of over £1m. These achievements on the business side enable us to re-invest into cricket and the facilities at Emirates Old Trafford.. For example, I’m particularly proud of what Lancashire Cricket is doing to advance the women’s game, both on and off the field
A stand-out moment was… this summer when we hosted two Foo Fighters concerts and one for Green Day – each with 50,000 spectators – plus a T20 Blast cricket competition and corporate hospitality – all within three weeks. The massive transformation required was a huge operational challenge. It was incredible to see the team deliver something like that. Business events for 10 people, or 100, are equally important, however. We can scale up and scale down. We’re lucky to have an experienced team and the capability to do that.
What I love most about my job is… that it's tough and challenging day-to-day. When you work in a sporting environment you’ve got to balance what happens in the season with multiple types of cricket matches, concerts, and business events. I love the people here, too – they have such an energy and passion for what they do. We really do have an incredible team of people here at Emirates Old Trafford
We never stand still. Future developments include… a new Heritage Centre and trail, and potential investment in the fan village area, so watch this space!