The King Abdulaziz Equestrian Fields is a beautiful racecourse – in essence built for one person – The King. The track was already world-class and a new turf track was also commissioned for the festival. Operationally it was a tough venue to operate as it was not designed for thousands of people – and there was not an established event infrastructure in place to run a global event.

The primary objectives were:

1. Put together an operational infrastructure to run the inaugural event
2. Help develop the racecourse to be operational for thousands of guests
3. Develop a platform upon which future Saudi Cups could be staged 

Strategic Approach:

International Venue Management (IVM) brought together a team of experts across 13 different workstreams to run and manage the event. This included FM, soft & hard operations, marketing, sponsorship, ticketing, VIP guest management, concierge services, hospitality, F&B, health & safety, security, technology and guest entertainment.

Action Steps: 

• For each of the workstreams it was from a standing start. Each area had to be created from scratch
• A venue supply chain needed to be created to deliver the event and supplier relationships contracted
• New revenue streams needed to be created (sponsors and tickets) which the club had never previously enjoyed

Quantitative Outcomes:
‍14,000 guests over 2 days. Over 2,000 hospitality covers per day. 7 new sponsors for the event delivering $m’s in new revenue.

Qualitative Outcomes:
‍A new race created in the global calendar which formally became a Group 1 race ahead of the 2022 festival. Unprecedented in global horseracing.