Etihad Campus, Stadium and Collar Site Development Thread

[bluemooncas]

If a football stadium is ever full, that means it’s too small. If the Etihad is full 15 times a season, that means we can sell further tickets on top of that for those 15 games which means we should expand.

Agree, not only for City games,
you can also put your hat in for finals,
chumps league etc where a minimum is 60k stadium,
all extra revenue and quite a lot of it too ,
but as someone else has stated, transport to and from and also parking need to be sorted

 

[PabZabb]

May have been asked already in the previous 728 pages, but once the arena opens it’s inevitable that there will be times when events clash with the City games, how on earth will they manage two potentially high profile events on the same campus?? I’m thinking transport, parking, policing etc

 

[Tim of the Oak]

May have been asked already in the previous 728 pages, but once the arena opens it’s inevitable that there will be times when events clash with the City games, how on earth will they manage two potentially high profile events on the same campus?? I’m thinking transport, parking, policing etc

Events at the arena on the same day will be scheduled to finish an hour earlier or later than City games. There still needs to be more investment in transport though.

 

[PabZabb]

Events at the arena on the same day will be scheduled to finish an hour earlier or later than City games. There still needs to be more investment in transport though.

That’s fair enough in theory, I’m just thinking about concerts etc that are scheduled months and months in advance, we all know Sky/BT have form for rearranging fixtures at short notice. How would it work for midweek CL fixtures?

 

[Tim of the Oak]

That’s fair enough in theory, I’m just thinking about concerts etc that are scheduled months and months in advance, we all know Sky/BT have form for rearranging fixtures at short notice. How would it work for midweek CL fixtures?

They start at roughly the same time so usually 8pm. Tue same principle applies but there should be more investment in transport links regardless

 

[west didsblue]

They start at roughly the same time so usually 8pm. Tue same principle applies but there should be more investment in transport links regardless

Always amazes me that it rarely gets mentioned that there's a railway line that already runs past the site which could be linked up to Piccadilly in one direction and Victoria in the other as well as most other towns in the area to provide another transport option. Can't be that difficult to build a station behind the athletics ground and rebuild the Piccadilly link via the disused viaduct between Ashton Old Road and Ardwick - or maybe it is?

 

[blueparrot]

Stakes can go down as well as up. It's always tricky to know when to sell or to continue holding on to your investment.

To get everything done, bar the transport, which isn't City's responsibility, Sheikh Massour will either have to fund it himself, or the club will have to find the money elsewhere, be it financing, selling more of CFG , or using the money from the 2 previous CFG sales, whicih I pressume is still in the Bank? Maybe the £175mill invetment in the Coop Live Arena by CFG has come out of that money?

China Media Capital, £265mill, 13% of CFG.
Silverlake, £389mill, 10% of CFG.

It's all wild guesses and speculation.

All the share holders would decide and make any investment needed. I don't expect any movement before the arenas finished, so maybe winter 23/24 start at the earliest.

 

[Centurions]

Always amazes me that it rarely gets mentioned that there's a railway line that already runs past the site which could be linked up to Piccadilly in one direction and Victoria in the other as well as most other towns in the area to provide another transport option. Can't be that difficult to build a station behind the athletics ground and rebuild the Piccadilly link via the disused viaduct between Ashton Old Road and Ardwick - or maybe it is?

Something to do with the future high speed train line is it not?

 

[petrusha]

[Not using the railway line that already runs past the site is] something to do with the future high speed train line is it not?

I don't know about this - could well be true. However, when the stadium was built, the plan was to use that line for trains coming from Marple and build a station at the Etihad. There are transport maps from the early 2000s showing the intended East Manchester Metrolink line with a rail interchange at the station that eventually became Etihad Campus. That was abandoned because tram-trains, as operated in Europe, became regarded a better solution.

Thus, the plan became to convert the Marple to Manchester train line, which goes through Ashburys, to a tram-train operation with Metrolink frequency. That would require new vehicles that can use both the current heavy-rail line between Ashburys and Marple and then run on the streets including on the current Metrolink lines from Piccadilly through the city centre. There'd be a new street section from Ashburys through Beswick and into Piccadilly station, with a new Metrolink stop in Beswick that would be a fairly short walk from the stadium.

Tram-trains were trialled between Sheffield and Rotherham, and the trial was completed in November 2020. It was apparently regarded as a success, and the line used in the trial was given the go-ahead to continue to operate. Hopefully, before long they can announce the use of tram-trains in Manchester and the Marple line can be brought into use.

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Meanwhile, BBC online is reporting that the Rugby Football League will build a training facility with a 900-seat stand on Grey Mare Lane. The report also claims that the RFL will move to its new HQ on Etihad Campus in July of this year. Good to have confirmation that the move is imminent.

 

[Citizen of Legoland]

Always amazes me that it rarely gets mentioned that there's a railway line that already runs past the site which could be linked up to Piccadilly in one direction and Victoria in the other as well as most other towns in the area to provide another transport option. Can't be that difficult to build a station behind the athletics ground and rebuild the Piccadilly link via the disused viaduct between Ashton Old Road and Ardwick - or maybe it is?

The best current option is to rebuild Park station on Briscoe Lane so that existing services on the Victoria-Stalybridge line could call. I don’t understand why trains stop at Salford Crescent, Salford Central and Victoria but then nothing until Ashton. It would mean anybody coming from the north and northwest could avoid the city centre, reducing tram usage and cars. Still 0.75 of a mile away though.

The trains around Manchester are such a mess that putting on a new service route at the moment is nigh on impossible, but one that needs to use many junctions (like the line you mentioned) impacts everything else. I also think connecting it back to Piccadilly is a non-starter cost-wise so likely it would just be a new route from Victoria to the Marple and Hyde lines. Things might change though if the tram-train idea takes off.