Auckland’s Eden Park and Manchester’s Emirates Old Trafford have joined forces to curate what they claim is an industry-leading exchange programme between the two stadia.
As part of both venues’ commitment to continual learning and knowledge sharing, one staff member will visit the other venue to spend three to five weeks immersed in their operations.
The annual initiative between the venues will see the candidates work across a variety of departments including commercial, operations, marketing and turf, to gain a holistic view of each respective work stream.
The announcement groups together two winners at TheStadiumBusiness Awards 2019. Eden Park CEO, Nick Sautner, was named Executive of the Year while his counterpart at Lancashire Cricket Club, Daniel Gidney, was presented with the Outstanding Achievement Award. The awards were announced as part of TheStadiumBusiness Summit 2019, where the exchange programme was formulated.
Commenting on the tie-up between the two venues, Sautner said it’s a priority for New Zealand’s national stadium to stay ahead of the game and continue to upskill, and retain, its versatile workforce.
He added: “We are committed to furthering the Eden Park team’s education and business acumen through our relationship with 159-year-old Emirates Old Trafford. This enables us to offer our staff the rare chance to learn off one of the United Kingdom’s most prestigious cricket clubs.”
Gidney said: “Some of the most memorable international cricket and rugby heart-stoppers in the Southern Hemisphere have been played at Eden Park so it’s a prime opportunity for Lancashire Cricket to collaborate and share knowledge with another stadium leader.”
This year’s exchange programme at Emirates Old Trafford has offered an opportunity to work across events such as the Vitality Blast and women’s Kia Super League fixtures as well as the fourth Specsavers Ashes Test match between England and Australia, which gets underway today (Wednesday).
Eden Park will open its doors in early 2020 for the reciprocal candidate to experience a summer of domestic and international cricket including appearances from New Zealand’s men’s and women’s teams, plus the touring India and South Africa sides.
Image: Eden Park
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