Yes, it's all part of the relationship with MCC. If we'd insisted on taking ownership and let them lose their annual windfall in favour of a lump sum going to Sport England, that obviously would have had a far less positive effect on relations between the club and the Council, as you say.
It changed in connection with the proposed expansion and the Etihad naming rights deal. Before then, the rent was calculated as a percentage of the net gate receipts above 34,000, so we were in the very fortunate position of paying only with respect to extra spectators we couldn't have fitted in Maine Road. The MEN reported that in the first 8 seasons in the new ground, we paid GBP 14 million on that basis.
David Conn (whom I consider a twat, but think likely to be right on this) reported that it went up to an annual GBP 3 million of rent for the stadium itself, a flat fee (i.e. irrespective of gates and by how much we extended the capacity). Then he claimed there was an additional GBP 1 million to be entitled to sell the naming rights, which the lease in its original form didn't let us do. The new amount became payable from 2012, IIRC.