Etihad Campus, Stadium and Collar Site Development Thread

[sboroMCFC]

I might be overly cynical but the club might view this as the perfect situation. Demand currently outstrips supply in most games so they can quite comfortably charge stupid prices for one-off matchday tickets. The outlay involved in building a new stand with cheap tickets might not be seen as worthwhile.

 

[moomba]

I think the club could consider 5 game season tickets, give a good discount but you get into games on a first come first served basis.

One off tickets are shocking.

I also think the club doesnt make much of an effort with non cityzens. Not sure if there is any sort of mailing list or work done attracting non cityzens to buy tickets.

 

[SPIDERBOY]

I think the club could consider 5 game season tickets, give a good discount but you get into games on a first come first served basis.

One off tickets are shocking.

I also think the club doesnt make much of an effort with non cityzens. Not sure if there is any sort of mailing list or work done attracting non cityzens to buy tickets.

I agree with the "one off tickets are shocking".........to upgrade my lads ticket(16/17yo,93:20) for the Spurs game it was £77.27,which works out more than double for my own seat.

 

[BluessinceHydeRoad]

For me the debate shouldn't be about building the stand, it should be about finding ways to fill it.

This has given one nail one almighty clout on the head and has gone right to the heart of the attitude those running our club have taken to so many of the issues facing the game and its fans today. On finance our club reject the view that money can only come into one club at the expense of the others. Our club doesn't take the view that if one club "breaks into" the Chinese market all the others might as well stay out. Our club doesn't take the view that "the elite" find it hard to sell tat in the USA, Australia or Japan so we're wasting our time trying to do anything in these areas. Our club's attitude is that the demand for football has a potential for enormous growth if we find new, imaginative and inventive ways of stimulating and meeting it. Looking at what CFG has managed to do in the USA, Australia, Japan and now more recently in China I don't think filling a 65000 seater stadium in Manchester counts as any challenge at all. So, as someone said, if we don't build it they can't come. If we do build it there might not be the demand all the time. If we build it and some of the bright young people working at our club get cracking on creating the demand we'll be expanding the capacity again in another ten years.

 

[YaYa's Left Peg]

This has given one nail one almighty clout on the head and has gone right to the heart of the attitude those running our club have taken to so many of the issues facing the game and its fans today. On finance our club reject the view that money can only come into one club at the expense of the others. Our club doesn't take the view that if one club "breaks into" the Chinese market all the others might as well stay out. Our club doesn't take the view that "the elite" find it hard to sell tat in the USA, Australia or Japan so we're wasting our time trying to do anything in these areas. Our club's attitude is that the demand for football has a potential for enormous growth if we find new, imaginative and inventive ways of stimulating and meeting it. Looking at what CFG has managed to do in the USA, Australia, Japan and now more recently in China I don't think filling a 65000 seater stadium in Manchester counts as any challenge at all. So, as someone said, if we don't build it they can't come. If we do build it there might not be the demand all the time. If we build it and some of the bright young people working at our club get cracking on creating the demand we'll be expanding the capacity again in another ten years.

Spot on. That's basically what I meant when I said if we don't build it, they can't come....

 

[blueparrot]

I think the club could consider 5 game season tickets, give a good discount but you get into games on a first come first served basis.

One off tickets are shocking.

I also think the club doesnt make much of an effort with non cityzens. Not sure if there is any sort of mailing list or work done attracting non cityzens to buy tickets.

It's an idea I suggested to the club in the consultation for the original expansion , though mine was for 8 games the idea being you got to pick the games as soon as TV confirmed the KO time and before they went on sale to cityzens. The club would have to limit the number sold probably, as everybody with a mini s/c would probably want to attend the same games. Still think it's a good idea.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

We should get on and build it. Design it in such a way that the top tier can be screened off for cup ties, so that no empty seats are seen. That way we make a statement that its open for League games but never designed for cup games so that no one can laugh. Then when a cup game demands the extra it gets opened up and is a positive - City have such high demand they've opened up an area designed exclusively for PL games!

We get hung up on empty seats. If we'd have been hung up about capacity in 1920s we'd have stayed at cramped Hyde Rd and never built the best club ground in England with a capacity of more than double our old capacity. In the 60s players like Lee had clauses/bonus payments listed in their contracts where they would be paid extra per 1,000 crowd above a set figure. Lee & co said that gave them a desire to entertain, not just win, so that fans would want to be there and see it in the flesh. Okay it might not be so easy now, but why not have bonus payments for all ticketing staff and playing staff for crowds above 60k, or for cup crowds of more than 50k?

For me the debate shouldn't be about building the stand, it should be about finding ways to fill it. Initiatives are needed that get people in and make them dedicated fans. People criticise the Family Stand, but the truth is that this is generating a new generation of fans that will, hopefully, help to fill the stadium with their own families in ten/twenty years. We suffered with our restricted capacity in 90s, and lost a generation. We can't let that happen again. Build the stand, give special deals to fans living within say 2 miles of the stadium (some of which is traditionally red territory), encourage new arrivals in the city, give enormous discounts to children and parents, and basically build the fan base. Colonise new areas - most of West Yorkshire is within 1 hour drive and also has good railway links to the Etihad area, so let's target that areas well as our Mancunian strongholds.

Every new housing estate/development in east Manchester should offer special deals. Major employers, special deals etc.

Build it, they will come, but only if we work hard in making it easy for them, then once they've got the habit the fan base will grow further and we'll be talking about building a 84,569plus capacity venue!

Excellent post Gary.

I sorted tickets for a dad to take his 9 year old daughter to her first game on Sunday who loved it (despite the result). Many thousands more will get the bug if they can get to games.

I've noticed more fans coming to the midweek games from West Yorkshire. I think this partly because some Leeds fans can watch our Champs League games without feeling disloyal because they are not competing with us. Likewise I've noticed a number of Scousers coming to just get an extra game in. Maybe we can do some promotion with the train companies for people living within 50 miles of the Etihad.

I wouldn't bother screening off the top tier for cup games. Empty seats are not an issue for most of us. I am just surprised that a minority of season card holders miss quite a few games and leave their seats empty but everyone's circumstances are different.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

Picking up on one or two points posters have mentioned about getting the kids into ground, are there any incentives that the club offers to school children?

We live pretty much in the middle of Swansea and Cardiff, and my sons school, in fact, quite a lot of the schools in our borough are invited to Swansea and Cardiff for stadium tours. My son has been to both grounds and for weeks after thats all hes talked about.

Yes. The Club do cheap deals with schools. My mate is a teacher in Leeds and has brought a group of School kids to the Champs League games.

 

[adr2.8i]

Yes. The Club do cheap deals with schools. My mate is a teacher in Leeds and has brought a group of School kids to the Champs League games.

Brilliant, thanks for the reply :-)

 

[Jacko1956]

Yes. The Club do cheap deals with schools. My mate is a teacher in Leeds and has brought a
group of School kids to the Champs League games.

Bit of subject but does anybody know how many are on the current waiting list for season tickets, just added my 10 year old grandson to the list, Currently me and my nephew areas S C holders but he starts at Uni next year so hoping grandson can take his seat, have contacted support services twice by e- mail but have two contrasting replies one saying if I add him to my friends and family list then he will take my nephews seat at the end of the renewing period as he is on the waiting list, having done this contacted them again and got a reply saying he would have to,wait for a seat to become available depending on the number on the waiting list. Surely they don't expect a ten year old to sit on his own in another part of the stadium ?