West Brom fanzone ‘hit by finances’
Albion chief commercial officer Simon King said ‘hard realities of finance’ were the reason why the club’s fanzone has been closed for midweek fixtures.
The Baggies chief was asked at a meeting of the Albion Assembly why the facility for supporters had been ‘downgraded’.
And King revealed cutbacks were made to the fanzone to save money following Albion’s relegation from the Premier League.
Mr King said ‘hard realities of finance were at the heart of changes’ after confirming the club spent around £200,000 a year on the fanzone.
That money was spent not for commercial gain but to improve the supporter experience.
And he revealed instead of closing the fanzone due to financial pressures, the club were ‘delighted’ to keep it open after a sponsorship offer from event and real ale firm Blind Monkey – who are a partner of The Albion Foundation.
King said the main ‘downgrade’ of the fanzone had been it’s closure for midweek fixtures, when visitors were lower compared with weekend games.
A stage and live music has also been scrapped – with those two things not possible, despite the Blind Monkey sponsorship deal.
King confirmed a big screen will remain with the stage returning for more high-profile fixtures on a game-by-game basis.
He added the club and sponsors were still fine-tuning the service inside the fanzone and improvements had been made on the speed of service and the number of outlets.
