WINTER | FEATURE
The Ryder Cup
Paul Dunstan
experiences has been robust and the past year has been one of the venue ’ s strongest to date , with it welcoming more than 1.2 million people through the doors .
In line with Drury ’ s experience in London , McWilliams says offering value-added event packages has become an increasingly important revenue stream : “ Since the return of live , we ’ ve noticed an increased demand for elevated fan experiences , and this is a huge opportunity for the industry . We ’ ve also noticed a shift from the desire for intimate suites to shared social experiences . To meet the demand , we ’ ve recently revamped our Hydro members offering with our new-look dining and drinks space , with a second opening this month .”
“ The challenge is how the industry can maintain this momentum and continue the growth .”
Sportainment For Ryder Cup operations director Paul Dunstan , 2023 was the successful culmination of eight years of hard work by him and his European Tour team in the build-up to the 44th Ryder Cup . The event took place at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club near Rome from 29 September – 1 October . Team Europe took the trophy , but the event also benefitted many major event suppliers including GL Events and Arena Group .
Like all event operators , Dunstan says the impact of soaring inflation has meant paying more for products and services this year : “ It seems to have had a huge domino effect regardless of which way we look at it – we ’ re asking to pay less for more , and on the other side businesses are asking for more to deliver less , which will be passed on to subcontractors , transport companies and so on . In parallel to this we ’ re speaking with our sponsors who are challenging us to deliver bigger and better , so it ’ s been a bit of a juggling act .”
There has been a widespread move across the industry to enhance the event experience for attendees by including additional facilities and forms of entertainment . In many cases that means combining live entertainment with elite sporting endeavour , which has given rise to the term ‘ sportainment ’. Dunstan believes that it remains vitally important to focus on the core offering and not get carried away with peripheral activity : “ I ’ d be really interested to see how the post-Covid growth in events plays out . Everyone seems to be busier than ever which is great , with more events on a bigger scale , and larger live attendances . The challenge is how the industry can maintain this momentum and continue the growth . I would fall on the side of caution and suggest that we don ’ t lose the reason people attend a live event , and generally the core reason is the sport , music , performance itself rather than all the side entertainment . The extras are absolutely brilliant but can sometimes distract from delivering a brilliant core product .”
Production agency LS Events works across live music , sports and major ceremonies . Its key summer music events include AEG Presents ’ BST Hyde Park and All Points East ; with its team at the latter show this year impressively reacting to football fever to rapidly mobilise the delivery of a 10,000-capacity fan experience that provided a free screening of the FIFA Women ’ s World Cup Final .
Laura Armstrong , senior projects manager at LS Events , says among the other highlights of 2023 was delivering FIA Formula E events around the world .
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