Fighting for fans
What : World heavyweight championship boxing match between Anthony Joshua and Kubrat Pulev Where : The SSE Arena , Wembley When : 12 December Photo : Mark Robinson / Matchroom Boxing
On December 12 the 11,500-capacity The SSE Arena , Wembley opened its doors for its first event with an audience since Morrissey played there on 14 March .
The Unified Heavyweight Championship fight between Anthony Joshua and Kubrat Pulev was attended by 1,000 boxing fans . Mobile-only digital ticketing was handled by AXS , with fans required to download and share their tickets digitally through the venue ’ s mobile app , powered by Realife Tech . The app was also used to enable in-seat ordering of food and beverages .
The ASM Global operated venue had not been entirely dormant in the hiatus between audiences – behind-closed-doors activity included the venue being used for the filming of TV productions such as BBC One gameshow The Wall , while Matchroom Boxing took over the arena for a four-event , six-week , residency from October .
For SSE Arena , Wembley general manager & VP John Drury , getting an audience back in the venue for the first time in nine months was a major , and very welcome , step .
He says , “ It felt really good to be running the venue , even if it was in a completely new way , and having fans back in . We have been one of the few arenas to be able to do it , so we were very fortunate .”
Operationally , Drury says it was like opening a new venue : “ You ’ ve got to rewrite all the plans , we had new processes in place across the board , including really severely enhanced cleaning regimes , that are all included within the ASM Global Venue Shield protocols . There is so much to consider when looking to open a building at a time like this time . It really felt like it was like a new venue opening , and we certainly did that much work to prepare it .”
With government guidelines allowing venues in Tier 1 and Tier 2 areas to stage events with a maximum audience of 50 % capacity or 1,000 , whichever is lower , it means smaller venues have a distinct advantage over arenas , when it comes to the struggle to make reduced-capacity events profitable . For Wembley it meant operating at 9 % of its saleable capacity .
Despite the challenges involved , Drury says it was great to get audiences in and receive hugely positive feedback from attendees and staff alike : “ We are doing what we can to put on some events that bring back audiences , some of our team and some of the supply chain . If nothing else it is good for morale , it is good for the welfare of everybody involved .”
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