BIRMINGHAM, UK (CelebrityAccess) — UK-based venue management company NEC Group announced it has joined Oak View Group’s International Venue Alliance.
In joining, the NEC Group becomes the second founding member of OVG’s IVA, following on the heels of the racetrack Silverstone Circuit, which was announced last week.
The alliance, modeled on OVG’s Arena and Stadium Alliance in North America, is a membership-only partnership of arenas that positions independent venues to be able to better compete for bookings, sponsorship opportunities, and achieve efficiency of scale.
NEC Group venues participating in the OVG alliance include the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, along with the four other venues: the ICC, The Vox, Resorts World Arena and Arena Birmingham.
“It’s very exciting to have NEC on board. We’ll be partnering with them as an extension to their talented sales team to find the right naming rights partner for the NEC and Arena Birmingham. We will also help them maximize new and unique commercial opportunities and additional revenue through driving content and leveraging our platform,” said Sam Piccione, OVG’s International President.
“The NEC Group is a 1st class organization with strong leadership and plays a vital role in hosting the very best events in the UK across their portfolio of leading venues. As the Venue Alliance grows, we’ll continue to help our members in areas that are important to them and the overall business, which will extend to everything from ticketing and premium hospitality strategy, event scheduling, and unique sponsorship opportunities,” Piccione continued.
“The NEC Group really recognises the mutual benefits of the Venue Alliance and will be putting plans in place to work in true partnership from the start. As a first step, we’re looking forward to dovetailing our NEC Group commercial team with the Venue Alliance team to extend the reach and resource applied to commercial rights sales. We are equally optimistic that further value will be added to our events programming through the Venue Alliance,” added NEC’s Phil Mead.
