Nominations For The Stadium Events & Hospitality Awards 2023
Stadium Experience is pleased to announce that 78 football, rugby and cricket clubs across the UK have been nominated for awards in The Stadium Events & Hospitality Awards 2023. The awards, sponsored by Global Payments & Hungrrr, will take place at St. Mary’s Stadium, home to Southampton Football Club on Thursday 8th June 2023. Around 350 guests from over 40 clubs will experience a fine dining three course menu, awards ceremony, followed by an exclusive onsite after party until 4am. 2023 will be the 16th annual awards event organised by Stadium Experience.
The prestigious event recognises the efforts and dedication shown by the catering, conference and events teams at every football, rugby and cricket stadium across the UK. There will be a total of 14 different award categories, with a Bronze, Silver and Winner award for each presented on the evening. This means there are at least 42 awards up for grabs in 2023. This year’s categories include:
Outstanding Contribution Award
Sponsored by Taste Beverages
This award recognises those individuals who are simply outstanding at what they do, and continuously shine. This may be someone at the start of their career, making great strides in their roles, or someone in a more senior role leading the way in excellence.
Best Retail Catering Award
Sponsored by Rollover Hotdogs
This award recognises the best retail catering teams at stadia across the UK. This team will demonstrate commercial growth, high quality food offerings or proactive sustainability improvements.
Matchday Sales Team of the Year Award
Sponsored by iVvy Venues
This award recognises the best matchday sales team in stadium venues across the UK. Judges are specifically looking for teams demonstrating consistent growth and using new ideas to drive sales and cross-selling.
Non-Matchday Sales Team of the Year Award
Sponsored by Special Occasion Linen
This award recognises the best non-matchday sales team in stadium venues across the UK. Judges are specifically looking for teams demonstrating consistent growth, using new ideas to create unique and different events, whilst also providing value for money and overcoming any challenges.
Non-Matchday Mystery Shopper Award
Sponsored by Hi-Impact Media
Judged by HGEM, this award is based on a mystery shopper corporate/business event sales enquiry call and follow up email correspondence.
Best Stadium Events Venue Award
Sponsored by Rational UK
This award recognises the very best stadium events venue within the UK. Judges are specifically looking for a stadium venue which consistently displays exceptional venue facilities and outstanding guest experiences.
Operations Team of the Year Award
Sponsored by Braehead Foods
This award recognises the often unseen behind-the-scenes teams that make stadium events run so smoothly. Judges are looking for teams which go above and beyond the call of duty to provide the very best service to customers.
Chef Team of the Year Award
Sponsored by Chef Works & Bragard
This award is judged by Salon Culinaire chefs as part of the live kitchen event at the HRC Event at ExCel in London. Chefs teams had one hour to prepare, cook and present a three-course menu suitable for their Club Chairman to entertain the Head of the FA or RFU to dinner.
Visiting Directors Awards – Football & Rugby
Sponsored by FC Business & Conference News
The Visiting Directors Award categories are voted for by Directors at each club. They are asked to nominate the club where they had the best away experience when travelling with their team. They are specifically asked to consider the welcome, service and catering when casting their votes. There will be an award for both rugby and football venues.
Matchday Hospitality Award
Sponsored by Chefs & Events Staffing
Reported by professional Salon Culinaire chef judges who experience hospitality at UK clubs this year using strict criteria. This is divided by size of hospitality offering with an award for:
Matchday Hospitality Award – Small Stadium (up to 1000 hospitality seats)
Matchday Hospitality Award – Medium Stadium (1001 – 2000 hospitality seats)
Matchday Hospitality Award – Large Stadium (2001+ hospitality seats)
Overall Matchday Hospitality Award
Presented by headline sponsors, Global Payments & Hungrrr
This award pitches all sized clubs against all, to announce the overall winning UK stadium.
Stadium Experience Chair Person, Collette Salmon, commented: “Stadium teams work tirelessly, striving to bring excellence in their venues for both matchday hospitality and non-matchday events. These awards recognise and celebrate all of this hard work and commitment. This will be the 16th annual awards we have organised, and will now include cricket venues for the first time reflecting our growing membership. Congratulations and best of luck to all of this year’s award nominees – We look forward to announcing the results at St. Mary’s Stadium in Southampton on 8th June!”
Independent Awards Judging
Each award category is independently judged (Stadium Experience does not judge any of the awards). Some categories are voted for by stadium directors, HGEM judge the Non-Matchday Mystery Shopper Award, Salon Culinaire judge the Chef Team of the Year Award, and others are decided by teams of experts with many years experience in their fields. Read more about the independent judging.
Book Tickets
Tickets are available from just £105 each (discounted member rate), and you can book your awards tickets here. This years tickets will be digital, provided by Tixserve.
Get Involved
If you would like to promote your business and support this event with sponsorship or supplying a particular product or service, please view more details on sponsorship opportunities or contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
The 2023 Award Nominees Are:
Aberdeen Football Club ● AFC Bournemouth ● AFC Wimbledon ● Arsenal Football Club ● Aston Villa Football Club ● Blackburn Rovers Football Club ● Bolton Wanderers Football Club ● Bradford City AFC ● Brentford Football Club ● Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club ● Bristol City Football Club / Bristol Bears Rugby Club ● Bristol Rovers Football Club ● Burton Albion Football Club ● Cardiff City Football Club ● Celtic Football Club ● Chelsea Football Club ● Coventry Building Society Arena ● Crewe Alexandra Football Club ● Crystal Palace Football Club ● Derby County Football Club ● Doncaster Rovers Football Club ● Everton Football Club ● Hampden Park Stadium ● Hampshire Cricket ● Harlequins Rugby Club ● Harrogate Town Football Club ● Hartlepool Football Club ● Heart of Midlothian Football Club ● Hibernian Football Club ● Huddersfield Giants Rugby Club / Huddersfield Town Football Club ● Hull City Football Club / Hull Football Club ● Ipswich Town Football Club ● Kilmarnock Football Club ● Leeds United Football Club ● Leeds Rhinos Rugby Club / Headingley Stadium ● Leicester City Football Club ● Leicester Tigers Rugby Club ● Leyton Orient Football Club ● Lincoln Football Club ● Liverpool Football Club ● London Irish Rugby Club ● Manchester City Football Club ● Middlesbrough Football Club ● Millwall Football Club ● MK Dons Football Club ● Morecambe Football Club ● Newcastle Falcons Rugby Club ● Newcastle United Football Club ● Newport County Football Club ● Norwich City Football Club ● Peterborough United Football Club ● Plymouth Argyle Football Club ● Portsmouth Football Club ● Preston North End Football Club ● Principality Stadium ● Port Vale Football Club ● Queens Park Rangers Football Club ● Reading Football Club ● Rotherham United Football Club ● Sale Sharks Rugby Club ● Saracens Rugby Club ● Sheffield United Football Club ● Shrewbury Town Football Club ● Stockport County Football Club ● Stoke City Football Club ● St. Helens Rugby Club ● Southampton Football Club ● Tottenham Hotspur Football Club ● Walsall Football Club ● Watford Football Club ● West Bromwich Albion Football Club ● West Ham United Football Club / London Stadium ● Wigan Athletic Football Club / Wigan Warriors Rugby Club / DW Stadium ● Wycombe Wanderers Football Club.
