From biometrics and diversification to designing adaptable spaces and future-proofing, modern sports venues are finding ways to redefine – and optimize – revenue streams, says Chris DeVolder, director of sports + recreation + entertainment with HOK
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Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium serves many purposes. While its main tenants are the NFL’s Falcons and the MLS’s Atlanta United, the venue adapts throughout the year. College football championships, international soccer matches, concerts, business meetings and community gatherings all find a home here.
Under the management of AMB Sports and Entertainment, the stadium exemplifies how a modern venue can stay busy and profitable year-round. In 2024, it hosted 50 major events and more than 200 smaller ones. Each sport brings its own pace of play, fan behavior and sponsorship opportunities. These factors influence everything from premium seating design
to food service.
Regional differences also matter. European venues often feature larger permanent team stores that serve multiple roles, acting as year-round fan destinations, creating welcoming stadium entrances and housing broadcast operations. English soccer rules banning alcohol consumption in the seating bowl require specialized concourse designs for halftime crowds.
Read the article in full in the digital edition of March’s Stadia Magazine
Modern venues rely on four main revenue streams, each requiring distinct strategic approaches and design considerations. While kit sponsorship traditionally leads revenue in European football, facility naming rights are gaining prominence as venues follow the American model, where building sponsorship commands top value.
1. Facility naming rights
Naming rights are the most valuable sponsorship asset in American sports venues, and European facilities are starting to follow suit (e.g., Atlético Madrid’s Riyadh Air Metropolitano and FC Barcelona’s Spotify Camp Nou). These deals typically last 15-20 years and can fetch hundreds of millions of dollars.
Today’s partnerships go deeper than putting a name on the building. They also weave the sponsor’s brand throughout the facility, from digital screens and VIP areas to fan gathering spots. All this enables the brand to reach both in-person spectators and TV audiences.
2. Kit and jersey sponsorships
Long a staple in European football, kit sponsorship is gaining traction in American sports. The New York Yankees recently raised the bar, landing $25 million yearly from Starr Insurance through 2031, MLB’s richest uniform deal.
With For Soccer’s research showing that 56% of fans notice brand logos on jerseys more than any other sponsorship placement, these deals offer tremendous visibility on the global stage.
3. Premium seating and hospitality
Premium seating generates 80% of a venue’s ticketing revenue despite making up only 20% of the capacity. Today’s stadiums offer diverse premium options, from traditional suites to loge boxes and field-level clubs, targeting various fan demographics.
4. Secondary sponsorship portfolio
Beyond naming rights and jerseys, venues create additional revenue through founding partner deals, gate naming rights and technology agreements. When integrated throughout the facility, these sponsorships form a significant revenue stream.
Of these revenue streams, premium seating and hospitality spaces demand the most intensive architectural consideration during initial design. A venue’s long-term earning potential is shaped by early decisions about how people move through the building, shell space allocation, and vertical transportation systems. These choices will greatly impact what premium experiences the venue can accommodate and, ultimately, how much revenue it can generate.
Premium spaces
Premium seating has evolved beyond simple suites and clubs into sophisticated, multi-tiered offerings that target different fan demographics. Modern venues recognize that ‘premium’ varies by audience – from C-suite executives seeking luxury hospitality to young professionals wanting social spaces with Instagram-worthy views.
New York City FC’s Etihad Park, opening for the 2027 MLS season, shows this new thinking at work. The design incorporates a range of premium offerings from City Suites to Pitchside Lounges.
Areas rethought
Even corner sections, once hard to sell in sports with rectangular playing areas like soccer and basketball, are finding new life. Venues are rethinking these areas by integrating club experiences and dedicated hospitality zones. The most recent update to Energizer Park, home to MLS’ St. Louis City soccer team, is Energizer Edge, a new premium seating area located in a corner at the top of the lower bowl. And field-level spaces – once considered too close to the action – can become ultra-premium clubs where fans can watch players in the tunnels and warm-up areas.
European venues are moving toward the American model of more varied premium spaces. While European stadiums historically focused on basic suites, they now are introducing different levels of luxury and comfort. The best venues treat premium spaces like evolving assets, continuously refining finishes, adding amenities and reimagining entire sections based on what research shows the fans want.
Food and beverage revenue
Technology now drives revenue in ways that go far beyond basic operations, creating new opportunities while improving the fan experience. Its impact is especially clear in food and beverage service.
“Soccer venues face the unique challenge of navigating extremely tight windows for food and beverage purchases,” says Sandeep Satish, chief commercial officer at Levy. “Technology is a key differentiator for new and renovated soccer stadiums to drive efficiency and maximize these purchase windows. Leveraging insights from E15, Levy’s analytics subsidiary, we know nearly 90% of consumption occurs before kick-off or during half-time.”
Working in conjunction with venue and architect partners, Levy are embedding new technology such as frictionless markets, kiosk ordering and self-checkouts at strategic locations to enhance the guest experience and drive per capita spending.
At Energizer Park, this strategy comes to life through Zippin-powered stores that shorten transaction times and increase fan spending.
Expanding sponsorship
Venues are maximizing sponsorship inventory with digital displays. According to For Soccer, 68% of fans recall sponsorships from TV broadcasts, while 65% cite social media as a key driver of brand awareness.
Staggered ribbon board designs that appear as single displays on broadcasts while maintaining separate advertising surfaces in the venue increase sponsorship without disrupting the in-game experience. Strategic placement of LED displays throughout concourses – from columns to corridors – creates more sponsorship touchpoints. At Rogers Place in Edmonton, programmable LED surfaces transform the arena’s exterior into a dynamic sponsorship platform.
AI and biometrics
The next wave of innovation focuses on hyper-personalization and frictionless experiences. According to the Stadium Connectivity Outlook survey, nearly half of surveyed stadiums and live event venues consider biometrics a top initiative for 2025. Many venues are adopting facial recognition for ticketing, VIP areas and concession purchases. At the Intuit Dome, home of the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers, fans can use facial recognition for all their purchases.
Ticketing technology itself is also being redefined as an interactive, intelligent system that benefits both fans and event operators.
A local identity
Venues can further boost revenue by embedding themselves in their communities through partnerships with local businesses, hosting neighborhood events and activating spaces beyond game days.
Energizer Park demonstrates this model through a 100% local food program, shaped by input from over 10,000 fans. The result: partnerships with James Beard Award-winner Gerard Craft and 25 St. Louis-area restaurants, transforming matchdays into an authentic culinary experience.
“When we designed our 100% local food program at Energizer Park, we wanted it to feel like a St. Louis food festival every match,” says Matt Sebek, St. Louis City SC’s chief experience officer. “Our top seller across the entire stadium is the beef kebab from Balkan Treat Box, a nod to our city’s rich Bosnian community and culture. The strategy has paid off. Our fans have among the earliest arrival times in all of MLS because they want to try different options and enjoy food in-stadium.”
Physical design plays a role in maximizing community-driven revenue. Public plazas and gathering spaces can capture event and daily foot traffic, activating stadium districts year-round. These spaces can support diverse programming, ranging from community fitness classes to corporate functions and concerts. The Home Depot Backyard is an 11-acre green space adjacent to Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium. In 2024, more than 200 free programs – from hip-hop yoga to pottery workshops – brought life to this downtown site.
Turning a profit on obligation
Sustainability and inclusivity, once treated as obligations, have become profitable strategies.
Smart resource management – from rainwater collection to solar panels to comprehensive recycling – reduces daily costs while attracting like-minded business partners. As a LEED platinum-certified venue, Mercedes-Benz Stadium has attracted partnerships with Coca-Cola, Georgia Power, Waste Management and Kimberly Clark.
Beyond environmental initiatives, gender-inclusive design opens new revenue streams as women’s sports grow. The Kansas City Current’s CPKC Stadium exemplifies this opportunity. Built specifically for the National Women’s Soccer League team, the stadium sold out every home game in its inaugural season and has since attracted the 2025 NCAA National Women’s Championship. Its success shows how venues designed with equal quality spaces for all athletes naturally draw more events, fans and sponsors.
Future-proofing revenue
US and European venues are learning from each other’s approaches, blending the best of both markets to maximize revenue.
The venues of the future must be designed with built-in flexibility. By integrating flexible shell space, venues can adapt to changing demands without costly structural overhauls. Instead of attempting to anticipate every future need during the design, they can have unfinished but infrastructure-ready spaces that can be developed as needed.
The key is positioning shell space where it can serve multiple uses – near premium and general admission areas, along main walking routes and with direct exterior access for non-event use.
The winning venues of the future will be those that fully leverage both their physical spaces and event programming, creating compelling experiences whether or not there’s a game.
