Nottingham Rugby

Name

Nottingham Rugby

Legal name

Nottingham Rugby Football Club

Website

https://nottinghamrugby.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1877

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Nottingham Rugby is a professional rugby union club founded in 1877 and based at The Bay in West Bridgford, Nottingham, competing in the RFU Championship (England's second tier). It serves local fans, corporate sponsors, and event customers via matchday tickets, hospitality, sponsorship, merchandise, and venue hire.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Professional Sports Club / Rugby Union Entertainment

NAICS

Sports Teams and Clubs (711211), Spectator Sports (71121)

SIC

Services-Membership Sports & Recreation Clubs (7997)

akta.pro primary industry

Rugby (Union & League) Leagues (MPAKAAAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Team Sports Matches (Club & National) (MPAGAMAB), Intercollegiate Athletics (Varsity Sports Programs) (EDALAIAA)

Keywords

• Professional rugby club
• Rugby matchday tickets
• Sports venue hire
• Rugby academy programs
• Sports sponsorship

Headquarters

HQ city

West Bridgford

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Matchday Revenue: Revenue from ticket sales for Championship league matches, friendly games, and RFU Championship fixtures. Tickets sold through TicketCo platform.
2. Hospitality: Matchday hospitality packages offering premium experiences at The Bay venue including catering, licensed bar, and premium seating.
3. Sponsorship: Tiered sponsorship program with Headline, Platinum, Gold, and Partner levels. Includes Ideagen as headline sponsor, Peter James Homes with 15+ year partnership, The Park Hospital as healthcare partner, and various local businesses.
4. Venue Hire: The Bay venue available for hire for conferences, corporate events, awards nights, sporting dinners, exhibitions, team building events, and community activities. Catering from 100 to 500 people.
5. Merchandise: Online merchandise shop (nottinghamrugbydirect.co.uk) selling club merchandise and apparel.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Nottingham Rugby is a professional rugby union football club that competes in the RFU Championship at The Bay stadium in West Bridgford, Nottingham. It sells match tickets, season tickets, matchday hospitality, and merchandise to fans, while generating additional revenue from corporate sponsorships and venue hire of The Bay for conferences and events. The club also operates an academy, community rugby programmes, and a Nottingham Trent University partnership providing a pathway from university to professional rugby.

Product overview

Nottingham Rugby is a Championship-level professional rugby football club offering a unified portfolio of match day and event products. The core offering consists of Match Tickets and Season Tickets for RFU Championship fixtures at The Bay stadium. The club supplements match day revenue with Matchday Hospitality packages and Venue Hire services at The Bay (a 40m x 12m multi-purpose marquee facility). The NTU Performance Rugby Programme provides a structured student-to-professional pathway in partnership with Nottingham Trent University. Additional offerings include the Academy (youth development), Community Rugby initiatives, and a merchandise store. The portfolio operates as a single unified offering around live sports entertainment rather than a modular software platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• The Bay: The club's home venue at Nottingham Sports Club, Lady Bay, West Bridgford, used for matches, conferences, and events

Products and services

• Match Tickets Individual match day tickets for Nottingham Rugby home games at The Bay stadium, sold through the TicketCo online platform and on-site box office, including Friday night fixtures marketed as 'Friday night lights at The Bay'.
• Season Tickets Season ticket packages for the 2026-2027 season providing access to all regular home league matches at The Bay, purchased via TicketCo on an annual subscription basis.
• Matchday Hospitality Premium matchday experience at The Bay including hospitality packages, corporate entertaining, VIP seating, catering, and licensed bar — quote-based pricing via enquiry.
• The Bay Venue Hire Hire of The Bay (Nottingham Sports Club) for conferences, banqueting, corporate events, awards nights, sporting dinners, exhibitions, and team building. The 40m x 12m marquee accommodates 100-500 guests with catering and licensed bar facilities.
• Matchday Merchandise Store Online and on-site merchandise shop at nottinghamrugbydirect.co.uk selling Nottingham Rugby branded apparel, kit, and memorabilia.
• Corporate Sponsorship Packages Tiered sponsorship programme with Headline, Platinum, Gold, and Partner levels offering brand visibility, hospitality, and community association to corporate partners including Ideagen, Peter James Homes, The Park Hospital, Thomas Bow, McDonald's, Amptron, Circle Health Group, Playerlayer, and Eleiko.

Quantifiable outcome

• 150 years of continuous operation since 1877
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core, headline, flagship, support and platinum.

• Nottingham Trent University (NTU)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLong-established partnership between Nottingham Rugby and Nottingham Trent University. Partnership creates a performance rugby programme providing a talent pathway from university rugby through to Championship level. Has produced hundreds of players who developed through the NTU/Nottingham pathway. David Ross serves as Assistant Coach at Nottingham Rugby and Head of Rugby at NTU.
• IdeagenheadlineOthersHeadline sponsor of Nottingham Rugby. Ideagen is a regulatory and compliance software company.
• Peter James HomesflagshipOthersSponsoring Nottingham Rugby for more than 15 years, primarily to give back to the local community. Infrastructure partner J McCann also involved. Simon Gardiner played as amateur and tradition continued with his son and John McCann's son at junior level.
• The Park HospitalcoreOthersOfficial healthcare partner of Nottingham Rugby for another year. Has been key provider of private healthcare across the city for 40 years and is hospital of choice for local sportsmen and women. Services help players stay in peak condition throughout season.
• EleikosupportOthersHigh performance training equipment sponsor. Newly refurbished Nottingham Rugby gym provides world-class environment for players to maximize potential on and off pitch. 'Raising the Bar' for high performance training.
• Thomas BowplatinumOthersPlatinum sponsor of Nottingham Rugby. Construction and infrastructure company.
• McDonald'splatinumOthersPlatinum sponsor of Nottingham Rugby.
• AmptronplatinumOthersPlatinum sponsor of Nottingham Rugby. Technical/engineering company.
• Circle Health GroupplatinumOthersPlatinum sponsor of Nottingham Rugby. Healthcare provider.
• PlayerlayerplatinumOthersPlatinum sponsor of Nottingham Rugby. Sports apparel/player equipment brand.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Doncaster Knights: Doncaster Knights are a direct competitor in the RFU Championship, the same Tier 2 league Nottingham Rugby plays in. The clubs share fixture schedules, comparable stadium capacities, and similar commercial models anchored on matchday, hospitality, and regional sponsorship.
• Ealing Trailfinders: Ealing Trailfinders are a Championship peer competing for promotion to the Premiership. They share a similar commercial model with venue hire, hospitality, and academy pathways, and are a direct on-pitch competitor to Nottingham Rugby.
• Coventry Rugby: Coventry is a fellow RFU Championship club with a similar heritage-driven identity and Midlands/East-Midlands catchment. They compete for the same regional sponsorship pools and face similar Premiership promotion economics.
• Jersey Reds: Jersey Reds competed in the RFU Championship and share the same semi-professional operating profile, sponsorship-driven revenue, and academy/community focus as Nottingham Rugby. Direct league peer.
• Bedford Blues: Bedford Blues compete in the RFU Championship and operate a comparable community-based, matchday-and-hospitality-led commercial model. They are a direct league-level peer to Nottingham Rugby.
• Cornish Pirates: Cornish Pirates are a Championship club with a comparable semi-professional/community operating model and similar reliance on regional sponsorship and matchday income. Direct peer in the same league.
• Ampthill Rugby: Ampthill is a direct Championship-level peer, competing against Nottingham Rugby in the same RFU Championship fixtures. Both clubs operate with comparable headcount, community-driven identity, and reliance on matchday and regional sponsorship revenue.
• Hartpury College RFC: Hartpury is a Championship side with a strong university-linked player development pathway similar to Nottingham Rugby's NTU partnership. They are a direct peer in the Championship and a comparable talent-pipeline model.

Broad incumbents

• Leicester Tigers: Leicester Tigers are a Premiership Rugby club in the East Midlands with a much larger commercial operation, stadium, and fanbase. They are a nearby incumbent competitor for elite regional rugby talent, sponsorship spend, and fan attention in the East Midlands.

Others

• Nottingham Forest Football Club: Nottingham Forest is a Premier League football club geographically adjacent to The Bay at Lady Bay. While not a rugby competitor, they compete for local sports sponsorship, hospitality, and entertainment spend in the same Nottinghamshire catchment.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/nottinghamrugby
• Facebookfacebook.com/NottinghamRugby
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/nottinghamrugby
• Instagraminstagram.com/nottinghamrugby

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Nottingham Rugby