Video: Brighton FC's world class facilities
THE WORLD Cup may be in South Africa, but world class football facilities are coming to Sussex.
Brighton and Hove Albion's Community Stadium is one year from completion and businesses are now joining the exclusive 1901 Club.
Business Matters was invited to visit the 93M project at Falmer, where the 22,500 seat state-of-the-art venue is being built at the rate of 200,000 a day.
"Our brilliantly designed stadium will be one of the finest, most beautiful and spectacular football grounds in the country," said Tony Bloom, Albion chairman.
The club recently began selling seats for the 1901 Club, which is heralded as a world-class business opportunity. The match day hospitality for the 1901 Club aims to rival any Premiership club, with luxurious hospitality and the best seats reserved for club members.
Chief executive Martin Perry, who has been with the club through all of the 13 years of planning and approval for Falmer told Business Matters: "It is very, very exciting. We are just thrilled to be in this position and feel so lucky that we can put the seats on the market. They are fantastic facilities that present opportunities to businesses to be able to promote their own companies but also reward themselves and have a lot of fun.
"They are flexible – they don't have to eat if they don't want to, tickets can be passed to staff or to customers. They can also be used as incentives, so it is a great offer, a great product and a great way to use our new business facility here.
"However, there's just 700 left from more than 2000, so if people are interested, they need to get down here quickly and book up their seats."
Among the first to sign up were Albion's celebrity fans, Des Lynam and Norman Cook. Many local businessmen have now followed suit, including Bruce Hayter, managing partner of Rix and Kay Solicitors with offices in Brighton, Uckfield, Heathfield and Seaford, and Tony Bingham, sales director of Dane Europe Technologies Limited from Peacehaven.
"It is going to be fantastic," said Bruce. "The networking opportunities will be excellent because the 1901 Club has been focused at businesses."
Tony agreed urging other businesses to sign up. "This stadium will be the most technologically advanced of any stadium of its type in the whole of the UK," he said. "I hope all businesses and the fans get behind the scheme, because everyone will benefit. It will be fantastic for Sussex and the South East generally."
Jeremy Taylor, chief executive of the Gatwick Diamond Business Association, was also impressed when 50 CADIA members took the tour. "The stadium is the most exciting construction project happening in the region and our members were thrilled at the prospect of having such top quality business facilities locally," he said.
"The 1901 Club matchday hospitality offer is so good, with quality rivalling any Premiership Club, that lots of our members snapped up seats right away and I suspect others will be going back to book theirs soon."
Flexible packages are offered with the joining fee cost 500 per seat for five years (plus VAT) or a lifetime joining fee is 1,000. The subscription payment (season ticket) is then 76 per month for five years (plus VAT), fixed until 2016.
For more information contact the 1901 Club team at 1901@bhafc.co.uk, or call 0845 5041901.
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Weather for West Sussex
Saturday 19 May 2012
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