Fulham Premier League hospitality: Margaritas, caviar and £20,000 season tickets
Fulham FC’s Riverside Stand features a new Sky Deck offering over three floors. City PM took a look around to see what it was all about. Worth the price tag? You decide.
One of the newest features adjacent to the stretch of the River Thames between Putney Bridge and London’s famous River Cafe soars into the air and curves around the banks of the capital’s waterway in an inch-perfect manner.
On one floor you can spend hours enjoying a fine dining experience, and on a series of three further ascending stories you can lose yourself in a Soho House-style lounge, Orient Express-level opulence or in an LA-like rooftop beach club – complete with pool.
But left to wander around the vast expanse of square footage, with the Thames washing up against the river walk directly below, it may have been the fourth complimentary margarita before a football pitch came into view.
This wasn’t some wild vision of football for the future, but of Fulham FC in the here and now. And their Sky Deck is like nothing else on the market.
One senior figure involved in its construction said the plan was always to lure casual fans from the nearby Stamford Bridge – home of Chelsea – and towards Craven Cottage.
“At other clubs you hear the c-word – here the c-words are champagne and caviar,” Fulham chief executive Alistair Mackintosh said at the launch of the Sky Deck.
Inside Fulham’s Riverside Stand
Hefty price point
And the arrogance of the aforementioned statement is, to his credit, backed up. In a match which didn’t mean anything for either the top-five race or relegation battle, Tequila Enemigo cocktails flowed alongside nibbles before canapes in the mirror-clad middle floor. To finish, a selection of small plates at an intimate table ahead of kick-off.
The near-30,000 capacity stadium feels like anything but a hospitality venture during the all-important 90 minutes, rightly so, and footballing traditions such as mini pies found their way into this world away from football.
It will have its critics. Some fans will say it takes away from the atmosphere, having a huge corporate focus similar to stadiums like rugby’s Allianz Stadium. Others will notice the empty seats at the start of the second half akin to those spotted on Wembley’s halfway line.
Others, maybe with the income to afford a membership in the Sky Deck – Fulham’s season hospitality options range from £2,708+VAT to £20,000+VAT – will bemoan that the rooftop pool won’t be open until November, according to architects Populous.
“We are immensely proud to fully open the Riverside Stand to the public,” Mackintosh told City PM. “It’s important that the club has a matchday offering befitting its iconic Thameside location, which we believe has been achieved.
“The redevelopment secures our future at Craven Cottage, while representing a new era that allows us to provide the very best hospitality in sport.”
Flirting Fulham
Fulham flirted with leaving Craven Cottage before – having ground-shared with QPR while previous work was done – but those plans were abandoned.
The club would be silly to give up their prime location, and in regenerating the Riverside they’ve been able to keep the famous Johnny Haynes Stand opposite and the infamous Craven Cottage cornerstone.
The Sky Deck and wider Fulham project is a lesson in how to maximise what you’ve got without rolling a bulldozer through your history.
The reality of modern football is the £20,000 season ticket, and that’ll never change. At least the Cottagers aren’t trying to disguise that like some others.
The Sky Deck is a beautiful homage to what sporting hospitality can look like, and it is a feat of the modern sports landscape. Now, another margarita please!