Leicester Tigers are defying the harsh economic climate and enjoying a financial boom from sales of the their new corporate facilities.

The new Caterpillar Stand will not only increase capacity to 24,000 at Welford Road but at its heart will be a 1,000-seater conference and banqueting suite.

Two-thirds of that area has already been sold out for the 2009/10 season. The huge area can be partitioned off in various segments.

With £3million worth of season ticket sales already in the bank, the Guinness Premiership champions are proving a huge hit with supporters and businesses alike, despite the credit crunch. It is a fact that has delighted the club's managing director, David Clayton.

"Two-thirds of our function rooms are already sold out," he said of an area that has not even been completed yet.

"Before the fixtures were released, we had sold £700,000 worth of corporate match-day hospitality.

"There are 1,000 additional hospitality places at Welford Road now and the conference and banqueting suite is split into three. Two of those rooms are already sold out for the whole season. The third is specifically for match-to-match hospitality and they are selling well, too.

"It's the biggest conference and banqueting suite in the East Midlands and we are delighted with the response there has been to it."

With local rivals Northampton Saints recently claiming they had sold £2m worth of season tickets, Clayton said he was delighted that Tigers had attracted an additional £1m worth of sales on top of the figures from Franklin's Gardens.

"We have broken the £3m mark for ticket sales and it going to be fascinating to see how many season tickets we sell," he said.

"To have broken our season ticket sales record (13,100) a couple of months before the new season starts is really encouraging and reflects the demand there is out there.

"It is a demand which we can now satisfy given the extra capacity that is coming on with the new Caterpillar Stand.

"We are already at a stage where 90 per cent of our diamond seats are sold out and our gold and silver category seats are selling extremely well too."