Matthew Leek, the sales & business development director at sth group, will be speaking at the next edition of ALSD International – europe’s leading event for the premium seat and sports hospitality sector – being held at the home of Liverpool Football Club, Anfield stadium, TBC, 2021.
He will be speaking on a panel session entitled “The Future of Premium Seating” following the success STH had at Rugby World Cup 2019 with a new premium seating package for the Japanese audience.
The package provided customers a top category seat, bento box with food and drink plus an exclusive event souvenir. The success of this product has led to STH launching a similar “Premium” package at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
ALSD International’s Executive Director, Katie McIntyre, said: “We are absolutely delighted to welcome STH Group on board. I know for a fact that attendees are going to be extremely interested in hearing insights on the trends the company has been witnessing across the Premium Seating sector worldwide, and where they feel the industry will go from here, especially after the success of their new premium product for the Japanese audience during the 2019 Rugby World Cup.”
STH Group is proud to be an exhibiting sponsor of the event and will be highlighting the continued expansion of the company despite the challenges that have emerged this year because of the COVID-19 global pandemic.
STH are contracted to deliver the exclusive in-venue official hospitality programme at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, now postponed until 2021. STH is also managing the official global travel programme for the ICC Cricket Global Events. The T20 World Cup due to be held in Australia in 2020 has now been postponed until 2022. The next edition of the T20 World Cup will now take place in India in 2021.
“We’ve been able to pivot extremely quickly and efficiently to reduce the impact of postponed sporting events and also focus on growth and business development opportunities,” said Simon Jefford, the CEO of STH Group.
“During the COVID-19 crisis, we have taken the bold step of opening our fourth worldwide office in Australia and we are delighted by our recent appointment as Official Travel provider to Rugby Australia. We’ve diversified our business in Japan, launched new products in New Zealand and have exhibited at the World Football Summit resulting in many exciting conversations with organisations looking to the future.”
STH Japan is now expanding activity to offer global sport travel services in addition to the domestic hospitality services provided at Rugby World Cup 2019.
With international travel severely restricted, the team at STH have had to be creative to fill the gap left for customers hoping to travel to major sporting events. The STH team in New Zealand have launched an innovative and unique golf weekend within the space of a few weeks. All Blacks rugby fans will have the opportunity to travel to Queenstown to play golf and attend socially distanced events with former All-Black Izzy Dagg.
Following the enthusiastic reaction from customers, similar events are now being planned in Japan, UK and Australia to give fans once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
STH Australia has successfully launched the new brand Wallabies Travel, which will provide Australian rugby fans with ticket-inclusive travel tours to follow the team at home and away. The initial launch has seen more than 6,000 fans sign up and plans are underway for packages to go on sale as soon as travel and rugby fixtures resume.
STH Group is also proud to be shortlisted for the Sports Business Awards 2020 in the Best Sports Event category for its work operating the official hospitality programme at Rugby World Cup 2019.
STH Group CEO, Simon Jefford concludes: “I am very proud of the way the STH team have approached the last six months, not just from an operational point of view working remotely but coping with the ever-changing and sometimes uncertain landscape of global sports. Our people are our greatest asset and we remain ready to serve the global sports industry.”