Theo Judges Premier League Enterprise Challenge Finals 2019
On 18th March, Theo once again was a judge at the Premier League Enterprise Challenge Finals supported by Sport Relief, alongside Peta Bistany, Executive Office Director, Premier League and Alex Scott, TV Pundit and ex-footballer for Arsenal and England Women.
The Challenge is an annual, national competition providing secondary school aged pupils with the opportunity to pitch their solutions to real life football business challenges, representing their school and professional club.
The final, held at the EY offices in Central London saw 6 teams battle it out to become champions. This year’s finalists were:
Stoke City FC (Ormiston Meridian Academy)
Newcastle United FC (Joseph Swan Academy)
QPR (Preston Manor School)
Brighton & Hove Albion (Felpham Community College)
Swansea City (Llangatwg Community School)
Blackpool (Baines School)
34 Premier League and English Football League clubs participated, engaging with 150 schools and 1100 young people who have all gained skills that will help them both at school and later in life.
The schools were tasked with helping to solve the prevalent issue in the Premier League that under 5% of Premier League club season ticket holders are 18-23 year olds.
All six teams put on highly competitive performances and ideas that were thoroughly thought through and broken down.
However, the judges had to pick a winner and this year the champions were Ormiston Meridian Academy from Stoke City FC. Their research had been second to none, they had gone out and spoken to young people and found out the key issues from the Head of Finance for the club, finding out exactly what young people wanted and what the barriers were. They came up with a multi-year plan which saw Bronze, Silver and Gold packages as the years go by, incentivising people to buy a season tickets.
Congratulations to all the entrants for their hard work and excellent presentations.