Featured image credit: Aston Villa
Aston Villa has unveiled plans to create the “fan experience zone of the future”, while fellow Premier League club Leicester City is set to debut a new fan zone offering at King Power Stadium.
Expected to go live Christmas 2025, Villa’s new project includes the launch of The Warehouse, a new multi-use venue set to become a centrepiece of the matchday experience and a hub for year-round entertainment, along with a new ticketing office, improved plaza in the North Grounds, and expanded footprint of the club shop.
Admission to The Warehouse, a project that has been in the works for over a year, will be free for ticketed supporters on matchdays, when Villa said it will become the largest beer hall in the Premier League.
Beyond matchdays, the club said its ambition for The Warehouse is for it to become the Midlands region’s premier concert venue and event space. The 3,500-seat venue will host world-class performances, from live music and sporting events to community activities, creating a versatile space for audiences of all kinds.
Designed to bring the Aston and Birmingham communities together, it will also serve as a platform for local and global talent.
Completing the vision is an expanded plaza in the North Grounds, designed to amplify the matchday atmosphere. This space will host player receptions that will be bigger than ever before. The plaza will connect Villa Park stadium with The Warehouse and the new club shop that opened earlier this season.
Villa said the significant redevelopment project of the North Grounds is intended to generate additional revenue streams enhancing the club’s ability to comply with the Premier League’s financial control regulations, while “ultimately solidifying its position as a powerhouse capable of continually competing and winning at the highest level”.
Today’s (Wednesday’s) news comes after the club in May announced plans to move forward with the development of Villa Park.
As part of plans to provide a “first-class supporter experience”, Villa moved to install new rail seating and additional seats in the stadium bowl to increase capacity for fans. New hospitality areas were also added across a range of price points. The work took place over the summer ahead of Villa’s first-ever season in the UEFA Champions League.
Villa has been planning to expand the capacity of Villa Park from 42,785 to over 50,000, but in December last year the club’s president of business operations, Chris Heck, said it would be a “bad idea” to rebuild the North Stand and reduce the stadium’s capacity for two seasons.
Birmingham City Council approved revised plans for the Villa Park project in October 2023, and the capacity had been due to be upgraded in the lead-up to UEFA Euro 2028, when Villa Park will be a host venue.
Speaking today, Heck said: “This is a transformational project, well on its way to completion for next season.
“We want to create the best matchday experience possible in the Premier League, so we’re giving our fans an open space to do what fans do best–come together to celebrate the players, the game and the lifeblood of this community. And the strategic decision to utilise this space as a world-class entertainment venue adds another pivotal piece to climbing the financial fair play mountain.
“Everything we do is designed to make this club one of the best in the world, on and off the pitch.”
A trial run
Meanwhile, Leicester has said it will trial a new fan zone concept at selected men’s home first team fixtures for the remainder of the 2024-25 season, beginning with Sunday’s Premier League match against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Located opposite the Foxes Fanstore, the new pop-up space intends to incentivise fans to arrive early and stay late, offering live music, food and drinks, a big screen and stage, and special appearances.
The Fan Zone will operate from three hours before kick-off and one hour post-match. It will cater to fans with a valid home ticket.
Leicester City chief executive, Susan Whelan, said: “The introduction of a regular matchday Fan Zone to enhance and diversify our matchday experience is a topic on which we have received consistent feedback from fans in recent seasons.
“Having explored that feedback in further depth in our Fan Engagement Framework this season, we’re pleased to be able to introduce a Fan Zone trial from which we hope to learn a great deal.
“It’s our intention to use the remainder of this season to build a greater understanding of the demand for such a facility, what our fans want to see from it and how best we can develop that into a permanent solution that becomes part of supporters’ matchday routine.”
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