US-based ticketing operator Sports Illustrated Tickets (SIT) has revealed its latest fan-engagement-focused partnership in the UK soccer market, announcing a 12-year-long agreement with English Premier League side Aston Villa.
This deal sees SIT named the club’s official fan experience partner, beginning with the upcoming 2026-27 campaign, covering all home games at the 42,000-capacity Villa Park Stadium, as well as concerts and other events held at the venue.
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SIT will receive in-stadium branding presence at Villa Park, and will also feature across Aston Villa’s social media and digital platforms.
The agreement extends to Aston Villa’s recently opened 3,500-capacity events space adjacent to Villa Park, now dubbed the Sports Illustrated Warehouse, for which SIT will be the official ticketing partner spanning all events at that venue.
Like many of Sports Illustrated’s other commercial partnerships in the space, this deal will be focused on galvanizing fan engagement.
SIT will also gain access to hospitality space at Villa Park, debuting two new offerings: Club SI (SIT’s premium hospitality area brand) and Sports Illustrated Tickets Plaza fan zone.
This is the second current English Premier League side SIT has tied up with, after agreeing a similar long-term agreement with Tottenham Hotspur in 2025.
Speaking to Sportcal (GlobalData Sport), SIT chief executive David Lane explained of the firm’s strategy: “What we're looking for in our partners is the quality of the organization, focusing on the fans, and then the performance and level of competition that can help introduce Sports Illustrated to an entire audience that has heard of us but never really experienced who we are and what we represent, and the type of things that we can do.
“We look at this in two different ways. How can we help our partner? And how can they help us? They want to reach a US North America audience. They want to expand their fan base, just like we want to as well. So here comes Sports Illustrated, with 50 million fans moving through our ecosystem every month.”
Adrian Filby, Aston Villa chief commercial officer, also discussed the partnership, which is the first major agreement struck for the Warehouse venue. Aston Villa have made a major push to enhance the facilities around Villa Park (the North Stand of the stadium will be renovated across the 2026-27 campaign).
They have not yet, however, engaged in a range of sponsorships around the area, on which Filby explained: “We've been quite targeted. [We want] the right brands, the right time and the right partnership, rather than a plethora of brands everywhere and a bit of noisy clutter.”
On the prospect of a 12-year runway through which to activate the deal, he continued: “When you're looking at naming a venue, or naming a part of a venue, however you want to position it, if you look in general, you don't want to be changing that [name] every two or three years. So you're looking for something that has longevity.
“The best way for a partnership to be win-win is to build longevity into it. It gives us security around the venue. And in a world of financial fair play [regulations], where we've got to grow the revenue base of the club, it gives us security that we’ve got this anchor venue that they're going to be able to really invest in and market and drive with authentic, innovative fan experience ideas.”
