Christopher BarrettAhead of a record year for concerts at The FA-owned venue, Wembley Stadium director Mark Lynch tells Access how recent investments and enhancements to the facility are paying dividends.
What are your highlights and key learnings since you took on the role at Wembley last August?
It’s been busy, very busy. We’ve already delivered 21 events, including international and domestic football, world title heavyweight boxing, NFL, AEW Wrestling and, of course, the Taylor Swift shows.
I never underestimated the scale of the job but everything at Wembley is amplified – the variety of events and the different audiences they attract, the frequency and significance of our events on a global stage. That is what makes Wembley so special, we create moments that matter more.
I truly believe I have the best job in the world. The amazing stadium team deliver something different each week, and I still pinch myself every day walking up Olympic Way towards the stadium.
There have been so many highlights, but I think the Taylor Swift tour was a particular standout moment. There was a lot of hype and expectancy for those shows and it didn’t disappoint. The atmosphere and excitement generated by her fans before, during and after the shows will remain in all of our memories for a very long time.
The Sidemen event we hosted this year was also very interesting. It was a new event and a new audience. The traction it generated on social media was like no other event and it has already been watched by over 18 million people on YouTube.
As with any role there’s a period of learning and understanding how a new venue, team and wider local area operates.
Wembley is a huge and complex stadium in an area that has seen significant transformation in recent years. The Wembley Park estate is now a thriving neighbourhood with a large number of residents, business and retail offerings.
That brings massive benefits to our business and to the borough of Brent but also presents challenges for a Stadium that delivers so many major events a year. When I arrived, it was critical to know that we have excellent relationships with our local stakeholders, without their support we couldn’t deliver what we do.
As a stadium we always strive for operational excellence and setting new benchmarks for ourselves and the industry. I firmly believe the Wembley team are the very best in the business.
How is the 2025 event season shaping up?
It will be my first full summer at Wembley and I can’t wait. We have an expanded concert season this year, which runs right through until the end of September. We expect to see more than 2 million guests at the stadium during that time, which will be a record number for the concert season.
I think everyone is excited about Oasis. It’s one of those special bands that everyone has been wanting to happen for years. For me personally it will be my highlight of the year having seen them nearly 30 years ago. We also have huge shows from Linkin Park, BLACKPINK and Guns n Roses to enjoy, while Coldplay will also be doing 10 nights which is set to break a host of records at the stadium.
I’m also looking forward to welcoming Dua Lipa and Lana Del Rey who will be headlining at shows at Wembley for the first time. This time though they will be headlining on their own, to sold out audiences, and it’s great to see that progression in the industry.
2025 will be the venue’s busiest ever year for concerts. How challenging is that? Has it meant any changes to the facilities or team, and where do you go from here?
There will be challenges but we are well prepared. We have a really experienced team who are well versed in running multiple events back-to-back with short transition timelines.
We have invested heavily in all areas of the stadium over the last few years and our Lay and Play pitch system means we can now put on more concerts around sporting fixtures. This year we’ve got six days between Oasis and the Community Sheild football match, needing to de-rig a show, lay a new grass pitch and covert the stadium back into sport mode.
We’ve then got four days to go back into the BLACKPINK concerts after the match. It really is staggering when you see the operations required to deliver the lay and play system in such a short period of time. It has been a game changer for us and now means we can put on a record number of concerts in 2025.
We’ve also been working with our partners at Brent Council to raise the number of events we can deliver, which has now been extended from 46 major events to 54. This will give us a bigger concert calendar to attract more global superstars over the next few years.
What investments have been made in and around the stadium recently? Are there any other planned upgrades?
We are constantly investing in the stadium. We have an annual capex programme for upgrades and have just come out of a winter programme of works which saw improvements to lifts and escalators so people can move around the stadium more easily. We upgraded all of our ticket readers, improved our turnstile queuing, and made improvements to hospitality spaces, the stage area and dressing rooms.
Prior to the Champions League last year, we replaced our two in-bowl scoreboards and spent more than £5 million improving safety and security.
Wembley now provides the ultimate, unforgettable, fan experience and we will continue to develop it each year to improve that experience.
In the coming year we will also be setting our long term 2040 vision for the stadium, ensuring that we continue to evolve, invest and remain a truly world class venue.
Security enhancements were made in advance of Champions League Final last summer. What is the success and legacy of that?
The success is that after all the years of planning, testing and implementation everything worked as it should on the night.
I watched the final at home as I hadn’t started at Wembley, and I thought it looked it spectacular. I know from speaking to the team how much work and planning went into that one event and it is to their credit, and everyone else who was involved, how good the stadium looked and operated that night.
Many of the security enhancements that were put in place prior to the final, came on the back of the Baroness Casey report following the disorder at EURO 2020.
There was a series of phased works that took place in and around the stadium that began in 2022. This included improving turnstiles and accessibility entrances, upgrading locks on permitter doors, installing a new perimeter fence and more CCTV cameras. In total, more than £5 million was spent on improving the safety infrastructure in and around the stadium.
We also looked at what could be done externally. We worked with all our key stakeholders and in 2023 Brent Council introduced a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) to clampdown on anti-social behaviour. This included a ban on all street drinking in the surrounding areas of Wembley Stadium on all event days. This has been a real game-changer and there has been a noticeable drop in the amount of anti-social behaviour on event days.
The legacy is that all the measures we have implemented, both physical and tactical, have all worked. Wembley is now a safer and more secure place to visit for all of our guests.
In November 2023 Baroness Casey published an updated stocktake report which praised the significant financial investment and improvements made, and we will continue to build on developments in this area in the run up to EURO 2028.
What does the renewed partnership with EE mean for Wembley and everyone who attends?
The partnership renewal is testament to EE’s commitment to enhance the fan experience at Wembley Stadium, and together we are very excited for the future.
Over the last 10 years, EE has continuously invested in developments across the stadium including the 5G network and our two sensory rooms.
They recently introduced a new 5G Standalone network at Wembley making us the first stadium in the UK to have its own standalone network. It means more fans can benefit from more reliable mobile internet, faster loading speeds, and improved video calls – even in busy areas and during major events.
The partnership means Wembley is one of the best-connected stadia in the world, ensuring more and more people can share iconic moments at the stadium over the next five years.
The stadium concert business is booming at present, why do you think that is?
The stadium live music scene is very healthy at the moment and there are some huge acts putting on shows this summer. Personally, I think it’s down to a number of factors.
Firstly, there is still a bit of a backlog from the pandemic when so many shows were cancelled.
The biggest artists are now also wanting multi-night shows or residencies in a single venue, like we have seen with Taylor Swift, Oasis and Coldplay at Wembley. This is a trend we expect to continue over the next few years.
I also think there has been a cultural shift post pandemic. More people are now looking to attend the biggest shows, one off events or experiences.
We recognise this and focus on delivering great sofa to seat experiences, creating memorable moments and ultimately delivering the best entertainment possible at Wembley Stadium.