Summary
Premier League matchday hospitality usually combines your match seat, jump to Where will you sit? with access to a lounge or restaurant. Food, jump to What food is included? might be served informally or as a seated meal. Some options include a set number of drinks, jump to What drinks are included?, while others include a bar service before and after the match. Cannon Club Level at Arsenal and Blues Dining at Chelsea show how those arrangements change the day.
A sit-down meal gives you time with your guests before kick-off. Informal food suits a group who would rather arrive, eat and move through to their seats without a set meal service. Both can work for clients or friends, depending on how much of the day you want to spend around a table.
Two ways a hospitality day can work
- Cannon Club Level at Arsenal's Emirates StadiumA padded seat in the stadium's middle tier comes with pre-match food and a set number of drinks. This suits you if the match is the priority and you'd like food and drinks without a seated restaurant meal.
- Blues Dining at Chelsea's Stamford BridgeYou have pre-match dining in the stadium's hotel complex and a match seat in the West Stand's lower tier. It's a good fit when sitting down to eat with your guests is part of the reason for going.
Where do you watch the match?
Your match seat and your hospitality space are separate parts of the day. With both of these options, you spend time in the hospitality area around the game and watch the football from a seat in the stands.
At Emirates Stadium, Club Level is the name of the stadium's middle tier. Cannon Club Level gives you access to its food and drink facilities as well as a padded match seat.
With Blues Dining, you move from the hotel complex into Block WL1 in the West Stand's lower tier, opposite the penalty area.
What food is included?
Cannon Club Level includes pre-match food from the Club Level outlets. It suits you if you'd like food before the game without a seated restaurant meal.
Blues Dining at Stamford Bridge includes a three-course meal in the 55 Restaurant or Mears Suite. For an early kick-off, brunch replaces the three courses. If you're bringing clients and want time to talk over a meal, this gives you that seated dining format.
Does hospitality mean an open bar?
Cannon Club Level includes four drinks and a separate drink at half-time.
Blues Dining's included bar serves beer, wine and soft drinks before and after the game. Champagne and spirits aren't listed among its inclusions.
For client entertaining, an included bar can make the meal easier to host. If you mainly want to watch the football and have a drink at half-time, Cannon Club Level may suit the day you have in mind.
How long do you have before and after the game?
Cannon Club Level opens two and a half hours before kick-off and closes one hour after the final whistle.
Blues Dining opens two and a half hours before kick-off, or at 10.30am for lunchtime matches. Its hospitality areas close one hour after full-time in a standard 90-minute match. The club also says a full three-course meal cannot be guaranteed for guests arriving less than an hour before kick-off.
Fixture dates can move for television coverage or changes elsewhere in the football calendar. Your matchday timings follow the confirmed kick-off time.
What extras come with the day?
A matchday programme is included with both options above. Cannon Club Level also includes a visit to the Arsenal museum on a matchday or a stadium tour on a non-matchday. The stadium tour takes place on a separate day from the football.
Blues Dining can include a question-and-answer session with a former Chelsea player, subject to availability.
What should you wear?
Blues Dining follows Chelsea's smart-casual code, which allows smart jeans and smart trainers. Cannon Club Level has a casual code. Both prohibit away colours, and Chelsea treats its hospitality facilities and match seats as home areas. Guests there can't openly support the opposition.
If you'd like to talk through Premier League hospitality, tell us who you'd like to watch and who you're bringing. We can explain the available seats, food and lounge arrangements for that match.
Chloe Burchell
Event Manager
Event Manager at Imperial Corporate Events. She’s hosted clients at everything from the Six Nations to the Eastern & Oriental Express, and she’s good company on the day.
