Big Events Don’t Make You Money. How You Run Them Does.

At ETC, we see this every year across the sites we support - a major event lands, and suddenly performance shifts overnight. Every operator knows it.

Whether it's the FIFA World Cup, the Euros, Wimbledon, or another high-profile event, demand often rises almost overnight. This summer alone, major sporting events are expected to generate £900 million in hospitality spending across the UK.

Places will be full. Pints will fly.

But being busy isn’t the same as making money.

Where it goes right

A well-run event can be incredibly profitable. It:

• Brings in guests who are ready to spend

• Extends dwell time as people stay for the full match and post-game celebrations

• Gives customers a reason to choose your venue over watching at home

In the right environment, you can generate an entire day's worth of revenue in just a few hours.

That's the opportunity.

Where it breaks

The reality is most venues don’t fully run the event - they simply host it. So you get:

• Everyone turning up at once

• Kitchens getting smashed

• Too many staff early, not enough later

• And margins disappearing somewhere between extra labour and poor prep

Add alcohol consumption, extended trading hours, packed venues, and emotionally charged environments, and operators must also consider:

• Crowd management

• Guest behaviour

• Safety and security

• Team wellbeing

• Compliance requirements

The bigger the event, the greater the consequences of poor planning.

The Customers Everyone Forgets

One of the most overlooked aspects of major sporting events is that not everybody wants to watch sport. While operators focus on attracting fans, they often unintentionally exclude other customer groups. Families, couples, leisure guests, and visitors seeking a quieter experience may choose to stay away altogether.

This creates an unnecessary loss of revenue.

Successful operators recognise that sporting events should expand their audience rather than narrow it.

Simple adjustments can make a significant difference:

• Designate non-sport viewing areas

• Create quieter dining spaces

• Introduce alternative entertainment

• Develop food-led experiences that appeal beyond the match itself

The objective isn't simply attracting more customers. It's attracting different types of customers at the same time.

The difference at scale (and why it matters to me)

Large-scale operations such as resorts, holiday parks, and destination venues often have a significant advantage during major events. Rather than relying on a single space or customer type, they can create multiple experiences simultaneously.

·       One area may focus on live sport.

·       Another may cater to families.

·       Elsewhere, guests can enjoy dining experiences, entertainment programmes, or quieter social spaces.

The result is a broader audience, stronger revenue diversification, and fewer missed opportunities. Success comes from understanding how different customer groups behave and designing experiences that allow them to coexist within the same operation.

Final Thoughts

Major sporting events don't guarantee success. They simply provide a larger stage on which existing operations perform.

For businesses with strong planning, effective labour management, clear customer strategies, and operational discipline, these events can become highly profitable trading periods.

For those without them, the result is often the same story: busier venues, harder-working teams, and disappointing margins.

The event itself isn't the deciding factor. How you run it is.

The World Cup doesn’t make a venue successful. It just gives you a bigger version of your normal operation for a few weeks.

If that operation is tight, you win big. If it isn’t, you just get busier… and wonder where the profit went.

Need support this sporting season? Get in touch at lana@etcfinance.co.uk to discuss how ETC can help your venue maximise performance, profitability, and operational efficiency during peak trading periods.