MolcaWorld weaves magic in MRSOOL Park

The 25,000-capacity MRSOOL Park is a football stadium located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Until November 2020, the name of the stadium was King Saud University Stadium. In September 2020, Saudi Media Company won the management rights for operating the stadium. On October 26^th, 2020 the Saudi Media Company struck a deal with the Saudi Arabian football club Al-Nassr FC for the Mrsool Park to become their home.

Mrsool Park went through a renovation at the end of 2020 and this will continue going forward to transform it into a young and family- friendly destination with fan zones and entertainment areas for everyone to put their hair down.

Javier Martínez, Founder, JMTZ Sports & Entertainment, Spain, brings to sharp focus in an exclusive to ‘Coliseum’ at the recently held Coliseum Online Week MENA the dynamic role of Spanish branding project company MolcaWorld who have put in the most state-of-the-art features in the revamp work of Mrsool Park and that too while working remote due to the COVID-19 threat which still hangs like the Damocle’s sword worldwide.

Javier Martínez terms MRSOOL Park as “fabulous” – “It’s a relaunch on an existing venue. We have been appointed by the Saudi Media Company in Riyadh to relaunch it and also to structure the hall, the strategic plan and the restyling.”

The Saudi Media Company has struck a deal with the University and aims to convert the facility into a cultural and sporting nerve center for the country. The venue takes a page out of the great stadia of the world, such as the Wembley Stadium in London. MRSOOL, a shipping company, will sponsor the naming rights of the revitalized stadium. Schedules and costs of the renovation have not been published yet.

Says Martínez, “In 2020, my main focus was the relaunch of MRSOOL Park. MRSOOL Park was earlier named King Saud University Stadium. It boasts around 25,000 attendance capacity and the Saudi Media Company is one of the strongest players in the region from a commercial standpoint, on advertising and also in outdoors and everything related to sponsorship. They acquired the rights to exploit this asset for long periods. They needed international expertise for this project which is why I was appointed as the Director of the whole development – to develop the concept for the vision, how this will work and I chose some partners basically in three main areas – rebranding and restyling of the project which is what we are going to focus mainly in this presentation which is MolcaWorld.”

He added, “The digital expertise is being lent by Globant, a software development company which operates in several countries around the world. The Germany-based global strategy consulting firm Simon-Kucher is working on the pricing, commercials and marketing strategy of the project. We have adopted a holistic approach and have chalked out a five-year plan as regards going about the restyling of MRSOOL Park. Though COVID-19 is the biggest challenge before us, but, this is the right time to put everything in place to reshape, to reinvent this traditional football venue into a 365 sports and entertainment destination.”
 

Areas of strategic focus

 

Fans first mantra

• Full focus on the fans and the goal is to deliver the best experience ever;
• Seamless ticketing platform;
• Full digital ecosystem;
• Vibrant ambience;
• Personalized experiences; and
• A family destination and youth-friendly venue.

 
He further informed, “We focused on the venue as it was a traditional football stadium in Riyadh but we want to reconvert it into a 365 destination not only for sports but also for events or hold the MICE segments.”
 

Destination unto itself

• Multievent capabilities;
• Cashless for fans’ ease;
• Seamless ingress and high on health safety; and
• Fit for epicure facilities.

 
Martínez maintained, “For business we need to create a platform that will be organic growth sustainable at other levels not only about having sponsorships for events but also facilitating working by creating futuristic hospitality facilities and business activities.”
 

Business blitz

• Avant-garde facilities;
• VIP hospitality and experiences;
• Unique corporate activities/networking facilities; and
• Private and collective spaces.

 

MolcaWorld magic

Valencia (Spain)-based MolcaWorld is a leading company with more than 20 years of experience in the market, working in the areas of marketing, visual communication and in branding projects and tactical implementations for companies and sports clubs.

Singing paeans of praise for MolcaWorld, he added, “MolcaWorld weaves magic in whatever project they undertake. They are a company with the Midas touch. One of their very successful projects is the 87,523-capacity iconic Aztec Stadium in Mexico. So deft is their work that the company can transform worn out stadia into spiffy facilities. This is why I took them on board for the MRSOOL Park repurposing work.”
 

Al-Nassr FC

The Saudi Arabian football club Al-Nassr FC are the new tenants of MRSOOL Park. When MRSOOL Park was King Saud University Stadium, then it served as the residence of the Saudi professional multisports club Al Hilal SFC.
 

Retaining the pristine sheen

Martínez further added, “The stadium in its traditional form – before the revamp – also looked impressive. The best part is that due to the COVID-19 menace globally, remote work has become the buzzword and we are doing the branding part of the venue in the remote mode. We are putting people together from everywhere around the world because the digital guys they have people maybe in India or maybe in Argentina. Be it Simon-Kucher or MolcaWorld employees, everybody is working remotely and still coming out with brilliant ideas.”

Once the stadium revamp is over, there will be a total digital mesh around the stadium. However, the Saudi culture will be kept alive which will get mirrored in the expansive facility and the pristine sheen of the venue will be retained.
 

VIP space

The space for the VIP guests is just near the tunnel through which the players go out to the pitch. The players cannot see the guests, but the VIP visitors can munch delectable and watch the players go out to fight the pitch battle.

Informed Martínez, “We changed the content of the LED screens so that once fans are allowed into the stadium fold they can send messages to the players before the players go out to try their luck at the pitch battleground. The VIP guests can also catch a glimpse of the pressers from the comfort of their seats and we have also made very stylish locker rooms for the players with all digital tools.”

On the pitch, the name of the commercial naming rights partner MRSOOL Park and the team Al Nasr FC will be highlighted. MRSOOL Park will be the commercial name for the otherwise Victory Arena. Victory is linked also to Al Nasr’s name though basically everything is aligned.

He continued, “In the Royal box, the Royal family members will be present. MolcaWorld has totally changed the perception and experience of this space. All boxes can be personalized and can be tailormade according to the brand of the owner’s will. Overall, revamping MRSOOL Park is a fabulous experience.”

Martínez concluded with a word of praise for MolcaWorld again, “Not a single official from MolcaWorld went to Riyadh in person due to the coronavirus curse. But, the best part about the company is they can operate very complex projects through remote working. And, this is not science fiction, but reality.”

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• Tags »
• Javier Martínez
• JMTZ Sports & Entertainment
• Mrsool Park
• Riyadh
• Saudi Arabia

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