This season, Gloucester moved one of their home games from Kingsholm to Villa Park in Birmingham – home to Aston Villa Football Club – for the first time.
The aim was to open the club up to new fans and also, by playing in a stadium with a larger capacity, bring in more money.
On the field, the game was a disappointment for the Cherry and Whites – as they conceded four early tries to Leicester and quickly fell to a 36-17 defeat.
About 24,500 tickets were sold which St Quinton described as an “excellent start” but the game did not bring in any additional income than if they had stayed at Kingsholm.
Yet the plan is to return in 2026-27 and in years to come, while fixing “mistakes” St Quinton said they made to make it a “first-class day out”.
“The kick-off time wasn’t right – we were made to kick off at one o’clock, which is too early. Some of the transport wasn’t good enough, we’re going to dramatically improve that next year,” he said.
“We’re going to learn some lessons from the Villa experience, but we’re very much hoping to get over 30,000 next year and over 40,000 a year after that.”
