We can cash in on concerts. We can host NFL, UFC or even darts. But football? Perhaps not... Williamson determined to boost the Murrayfield coffers, although he draws the line at the round-ball game

Daily Mail​

3 hours ago

Alex Williamson expects Scottish Rugby to slash its losses for the next financial year thanks mainly to the increase in the number of concerts being hosted at Murrayfield.
The chief executive revealed the governing body is in line to post a loss of £3.8million for 2024/25, a massive reduction from the £11.3m loss made in the last financial year.
Williamson puts that largely down to increasing the number of concerts at the national stadium from three to 12 a year, with the likes of Oasis and AC/ DC set to play there over the coming months.
The former Goodwood Estate CEO would like to see Murrayfield used more for non-rugby events including hosting NFL matches and major boxing matches.
He said: 'For 2024/25, I think we've talked in the past about getting to about a loss of £3.8m, so I'm really confident that we'll deliver that.
'Obviously that'll come out in our annual report and accounts but we're in a good place.
Murrayfield has hosted the likes of Taylor Swift in recent years, with the US star playing three nights in Edinburgh in 2024
'The year prior to that we lost £11m and the year prior to that we lost £10.5m, I think. So it's a material shift in the right direction and we will see a further improvement going into 2025-26 and then again in 2026-27.
'Scottish Rugby can be sustainably profitable, absolutely no question of that. Our challenge is broadening the depth of our revenues.
'At the moment we continue to be pretty heavily predicated on rugby. We need continued to have extended use of Murrayfield and so investments in the stadium need to be to turn this into a world-class sports and entertainment environment.
'The changes we made, after quite a short period of time of me being here, around the extension to our licence is a really important first step. So we now have the licence to have 12 concerts here as opposed to three.
'If we think about how we're going to improve in 2025-26, that improvement is because we've got three Oasis concerts and an AC/DC concert in comparison with one Robbie Williams concert.
'So even in a period where we've got only two Six Nations games, we will see revenue growth. That's a big step in the right direction but it's not enough, we've got to do more.
'When I say that I'd like us to be an entertainment centre there's absolutely no reason in my mind why we wouldn't be hosting other sporting events, let's say NFL as an example. But, equally, why wouldn't we have boxing, UFC or major darts events?
'We shouldn't limit ourselves to anything — it ultimately just needs to suit the bowl. There aren't many better viewing experiences than here and the acoustic experience is really good so we're available for pretty much anyone.
'Where we will fall short is where our facility doesn't hit the right straps. If you compare us to Tottenham, we cannot pretend that we've got anything like the same quality of facility. We have to find a way of investing rapidly in the stadium.
'I spent a couple of days down in London last week with people who've been involved in major regeneration programs and I'm absolutely certain that we can get after the regeneration of Murrayfield as a whole campus, but we're only at the start of that process.
'We've had a number of goes at identifying a way of refurbishing the stadium and got frightened by the number. We can't afford to get frightened by the number anymore. We've got to get on with it.'
Williamson, though, downplayed the prospect of more glamorous football friendlies being staged at Murrayfield — believing the local residents aren't keen on the idea.
He added: 'There are some challenges with hosting football here for sure. I'm not totally certain as to whether that's a long-term commitment for us.
'Some of those challenges are that I don't think the city particularly enjoys hosting football and we want to be great partners with the city.
'The other thing is it does change the way we use the infrastructure, for instance lots of the fencing is brought in to create segregation. I would prefer this to feel like a much more open environment.'
Williamson revealed around £6.5m will be spent on sprucing up Murrayfield, with a new surface currently being laid and £2m being sunk into improving the woeful toilet facilities.
He added: 'We're making investments, we're being careful and we're trying to touch a number of buckets. So, stuff around playing, stuff around safety and all the sort of well-being angles, and then stuff around customer experience.
'So we're spending about £2m on an entirely new surface in the bowl, including the lights that go alongside that.
'We're putting a new PA and emergency lighting systems to support the safety and security, but also some of the customer experience points.
'And we're spending about £1.5m on hospitality environments and just under £2m on loos. All of that will make an impact in the places it touches, but it's by no means going to solve all of the issues.
'There's plenty of them and we'll get after them in a measured way as our finances allow us to.'