Sport is the catalyst. The real prize is the place

Thursday 4 March 2027 | The Lower Grounds, Aston Villa Football Club

In 2026, the Centre for the New Midlands brought together leaders from across the region to explore the growing power of sport to drive regeneration.  In 2027, we return to the key concept and ask how sports led regeneration is going Beyond the Sport.

The region’s sports-led regeneration story

The Midlands is entering an extraordinary period of sports-led investment.

Across Birmingham, Coventry and the wider region, major projects are transforming sporting assets and the places around them.

The proposed Birmingham Sports Quarter. Aston Villa’s ambitious plans around Villa Park and the wider Aston area. The continued transformation of Edgbaston. Coventry’s established experience of using a major sporting venue as a catalyst for wider development. The growth of elite sporting and training facilities. Community sports hubs. And the infrastructure, housing, hospitality, employment and investment that can develop around them.

These are not isolated sports projects.  We can also turn our attention to the vast expansion plans being delivered at Nottingham Forest FC or the planned relocation of Leamington Brakes into the town centre to see how sports led regeneration is helping to transform communities.

The 2027 conference will bring the region’s leading projects and decision-makers together under one roof to ask a simple but fundamental question:

Beyond the Sport: what is the legacy?

We will ask the difficult but important questions:

Are these projects creating better places to live?

Are local communities benefiting?

Are they creating jobs, skills and economic opportunity?

Are they attracting investment and improving connectivity?

And are they making the West Midlands a stronger, healthier and more prosperous region?

Because a successful sporting venue is about more than what happens on matchday.

The real test is what happens beyond it.

Join us at The Lower Grounds, Aston Villa Football Club, on Thursday 4 March 2027 for a day of insight, challenge and debate about how the West Midlands can turn its sporting ambition into lasting regional benefit.

Bringing together sports leaders, urban planners, investors, policymakers, community organisations, and academics, this event will showcase the West Midlands as a living laboratory for sport-led regeneration.  Make sure you join us for the day!

 

Early Bird tickets for this event will go on sale from 1st November until 31st December 2026, priced at just £125 + VAT.

From 1st January, prices will increase to £175 + VAT.

Members of our Reimagining the Regino entwork receive two complimentary tickets to attend – which MUST – be claimed by 31st December.