Etihad Campus, Stadium and Collar Site Development Thread

Psychedelic Casual said:
Our Level 1 is small and that’s the number one reason why we struggle sometimes with atmosphere, there’s just not enough people together on Level 1 in a deep enough stand going back a good 100 rows to get a good noise going often enough.
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A bigger problem with our lower tier is the distance to the roof, as most of the noise disperses, if the second tier completely covered the first tier it would be a lot louder, just as it is when SS3 gets going.
 
Psychedelic Casual said:
Yeah Juventus downsized from a 70k stadium to a 45k stadium.

The thing is with them, the fans had input on the design and they opted for a big bottom tier because that’s how you create a good atmosphere. Our Level 1 is small and that’s the number one reason why we struggle sometimes with atmosphere, there’s just not enough people together on Level 1 in a deep enough stand going back a good 100 rows to get a good noise going often enough.
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100% agree. I’d rather have a smaller stadium or just stick with the size we have now. I think a bigger stadium dilutes the atmosphere and support. We do not have the fanbase right now to fill a bigger stadium. Some posters don’t like that, but for a lot of games we struggle and give tickets away ( lots of seats in the family stand for example). I’d rather just make it more affordable and get the thousands of fans that we’ve priced out back.

I’m terms of stadium design our ground is crap in my opinion. Two tiny areas for singing and corporate sections and away fans splitting them up. I’d just build a two tiered north stand and make the second tier a singing end
 
Cheadle_hulmeBlue said:
100% agree. I’d rather have a smaller stadium or just stick with the size we have now. I think a bigger stadium dilutes the atmosphere and support. We do not have the fanbase right now to fill a bigger stadium. Some posters don’t like that, but for a lot of games we struggle and give tickets away ( lots of seats in the family stand for example). I’d rather just make it more affordable and get the thousands of fans that we’ve priced out back.

I’m terms of stadium design our ground is crap in my opinion. Two tiny areas for singing and corporate sections and away fans splitting them up. I’d just build a two tiered north stand and make the second tier a singing end
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How do you get the thousands of fans that we've priced out back, if the ground is full? That is a problem. They could get tickets for midweek games, where many season card holders don't go, but apart from that, it's not an option.

About 5 or 6 years ago, my brother gave up his seasoncard because his wife was having a baby. Now it's time to come back. The North Stand extension would be ideal. We could fill it twice over with seasoncards. If we are not doing it this Summer, when are we going to do it? Can't always have quadruple campaigns.
 
jrb said:
We’re now getting over 50K for CL matches. A few season’s back we weren’t. We get over 50K for FA Cup matches due to good ticket prices. As long as we’re challenging for the title and winning trophies, we’ll keep on getting over 50K for most matches.

What the club need to do is to expand the stadium, and make the additional season tickets more affordable. They also need to offer them to new City fans first, including those on the waiting list. There’s absolutely no point in offering them to current season ticket holders who want a cheaper seat and season ticket first. By doing that the club will be left with 1000’s of expensive season tickets new City fans don’t want or can’t afford. *The trick is to get new City fans to fill the additional seats, not to get current fans to buy cheaper season tickets*. That may irk some on here, but we need 6000 additional new City fans to make the stadium expansion viable.
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I'd argue it is the 6,000 additional day trippers and foreign fans which are already picking up the slack at most home games.

It is the local support which has either dropped off or died off.

If we make things even cheaper, we'll simply have more people choosing not to take up their seats as many already do.

54k is more than adequate.

Now if we were to designate a stand simply for pay on the day, we could offer something unique and attract those parents and kids who already have loads to occupy their time at the weekend, but would love to come without the wider financial commitment.

Whether the police would allow it is another matter, as there are plenty of rival fans who could also infiltrate but Fulham seem to handle it.
 
Put season tickets up next season by 10 per cent but give a discount to those who who attended or sold on for 95 per cent to keep it cheaper for those that show up regularly. Keep the day tickets particularly for cups and smaller games competitive we will get close to 60k for most games
 
tolmie's hairdoo said:
I'd argue it is the 6,000 additional day trippers and foreign fans which are already picking up the slack at most home games.

It is the local support which has either dropped off or died off.

If we make things even cheaper, we'll simply have more people choosing not to take up their seats as many already do.

54k is more than adequate.

Now if we were to designate a stand simply for pay on the day, we could offer something unique and attract those parents and kids who already have loads to occupy their time at the weekend, but would love to come without the wider financial commitment.

Whether the police would allow it is another matter, as there are plenty of rival fans who could also infiltrate but Fulham seem to handle it.
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I think the local demand is there, at the right price.

I appreciate City aren’t going to give PL match season tickets and match day tickets away.

There’s quite a few things the club can do to sell more season tickets and match day tickets.

Off the top of my head. I appreciate some might be pie in the sky ideas.

1. Make season tickets and match day tickets more affordable. Obviously.
2. Get rid of block and row pricing. Make each level and row the same price.
3. If the stadium is expanded, set aside a block or blocks for families. 2’s, 3’s, 4’s etc, where they are guaranteed seats next to each other, and they can buy family bundle tickets in advance. It’s not a rehash of the family stand.
4. A block for younger fans in their teens/twenties. The next generation of singers, so they can get to know each other, and create an atmosphere.
5. Affordable safe standing, if it ever get’s introduced? There’s no point in making safe standing as expensive as standing is now. In effect those of us who prefer to stand are paying full price for a seat we never sit in. :-/
6. Been done to death. Make tickets easier to buy. One example. Ticket booths around the stadium, instead of having to queue up for an age in the long and slow ticket office queue. There are many other examples where the club could implement new ticket buying Procedures.
7. Have our own fleet of City electric European style bendy buses. They carry more people than a conventional UK bus. Charge £1 each way to the city centre and back from the Etihad. Or make the buses free of charge for matchday fans, like they do in Germany.
8. Split the cost with the city council and GMPTE and build Metrolink sidings on a section of the Etihad Campus, where Trams can wait, stack up, and be ready to take the fans back into the city centre ASAP after the match.
9. Etc.

Yes, this all cost money to implement. But in the long run City will make that money back via bigger attendances, and via fans spending more money before, during and after the match. Unfortunately I think City are just happy to plod along, making piecemeal changes, while keeping things as they are. When in reality there is a hug opportunity for the club to take the whole matchday experience, from start to finish, to another level, that isn’t matched by any other PL club or British club. City, or should I say Sheikh Mansour, Khaldoon and Soriano, just need the vision and balls to do it. Because once they say do it, it will get done.
 
jrb said:
I think the local demand is there, at the right price.

I appreciate City aren’t going to give PL match season tickets and match day tickets away.

There’s quite a few things the club can do to sell more season tickets and match day tickets.

Off the top of my head. I appreciate some might be pie in the sky ideas.

1. Make season tickets and match day tickets more affordable. Obviously.
2. Get rid of block and row pricing. Make each level and row the same price.
3. If the stadium is expanded, set aside a block or blocks for families. 2’s, 3’s, 4’s etc, where they are guaranteed seats next to each other, and they can buy family bundle tickets in advance. It’s not a rehash of the family stand.
4. A block for younger fans in their teens/twenties. The next generation of singers, so they can get to know each other, and create an atmosphere.
5. Affordable safe standing, if it ever get’s introduced? There’s no point in making safe standing as expensive as standing is now. In effect those of us who prefer to stand are paying full price for a seat we never sit in. :-/
6. Been done to death. Make tickets easier to buy. One example. Ticket booths around the stadium, instead of having to queue up for an age in the long and slow ticket office queue. There are many other examples where the club could implement new ticket buying Procedures.
7. Have our own fleet of City electric European style bendy buses. They carry more people than a conventional UK bus. Charge £1 each way to the city centre and back from the Etihad. Or make the buses free of charge for matchday fans, like they do in Germany.
8. Split the cost with the city council and GMPTE and build Metrolink sidings on a section of the Etihad Campus, where Trams can wait, stack up, and be ready to take the fans back into the city centre ASAP after the match.
9. Etc.

Yes, this all cost money to implement. But in the long run City will make that money back via bigger attendances, and via fans spending more money before, during and after the match. Unfortunately I think City are just happy to plod along, making piecemeal changes, while keeping things as they are. When in reality there is a hug opportunity for the club to take the whole matchday experience, from start to finish, to another level, that isn’t matched by any other PL club or British club. City, or should I say Sheikh Mansour, Khaldoon and Soriano, just need the vision and balls to do it. Because once they say do it, it will get done.
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Always good suggestions but at 54.120 average attendance, we're not going to get any more supporters. City are going to stick at our current fan-base until room is made.
 
Could it also be though at £80m to make another 6000 odd seats that it’s just not worth it? And to be fair it looks a mess in the corners of the south stand!
 
tolmie's hairdoo said:
If we make things even cheaper, we'll simply have more people choosing not to take up their seats as many already do.
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As above and other posters have said, having very cheap season tickets can lead to people buying them and only going to handful of games, not ideal.

The £299 headline price was way too cheap, whilst some other areas have over the years risen too steeply. That's why so many of the SS £299 and next band up were snapped up by existing st holders and not new waiting list buyers. I think we need to uplift lowest band prices and freeze higher band over next x2/3 years so that if/when additional seats become available thru expansion then at that time there will be less middle band st holders wanting anyof the cheapest newer seats as price differential then would be lower, so a far higher % of new additional seats would be available to new st holders.Obviously, at that time the cheapest seats maybe 375/399 in comparison to now but still attractive in terms of any prevailing match by match pricing.

I think a number of away teams now no longer take the full allocation which means we have more seats to fill, whether this is because away fans think
they are likely to get a pasting I dont know but as away tickets are capped at £30, maybe they save their money to go to Old Trafford instead where theythink they are more likely to get a result. I think the club have been more realistic on cup game pricing and I think that's helped to encourage newer fans.

I'm sure our owners would have preferred to have had a new build. To their credit they have invested heavily in the SS expansion but NS requires a higher investment. I'm sure they will have had multiple studies to find a way of making NS expansion numbers work as they will not be happy that expansion has not moved forward either, at the pace they initially hoped. The stadium gets older as the delays continue too, as other newer stadia get built, both at home and in Continental Europe, so the Etihad,in comparison to those, can appear more dated. It's a complex situation, I'm glad I can just sit back and then stand up for the centurions on a matchday and let the experts get on with finding best solution for the stadium development.
 
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jrb said:
I think the local demand is there, at the right price.

I appreciate City aren’t going to give PL match season tickets and match day tickets away.

There’s quite a few things the club can do to sell more season tickets and match day tickets.

Off the top of my head. I appreciate some might be pie in the sky ideas.

1. Make season tickets and match day tickets more affordable. Obviously.
2. Get rid of block and row pricing. Make each level and row the same price.
3. If the stadium is expanded, set aside a block or blocks for families. 2’s, 3’s, 4’s etc, where they are guaranteed seats next to each other, and they can buy family bundle tickets in advance. It’s not a rehash of the family stand.
4. A block for younger fans in their teens/twenties. The next generation of singers, so they can get to know each other, and create an atmosphere.
5. Affordable safe standing, if it ever get’s introduced? There’s no point in making safe standing as expensive as standing is now. In effect those of us who prefer to stand are paying full price for a seat we never sit in. :-/
6. Been done to death. Make tickets easier to buy. One example. Ticket booths around the stadium, instead of having to queue up for an age in the long and slow ticket office queue. There are many other examples where the club could implement new ticket buying Procedures.
7. Have our own fleet of City electric European style bendy buses. They carry more people than a conventional UK bus. Charge £1 each way to the city centre and back from the Etihad. Or make the buses free of charge for matchday fans, like they do in Germany.
8. Split the cost with the city council and GMPTE and build Metrolink sidings on a section of the Etihad Campus, where Trams can wait, stack up, and be ready to take the fans back into the city centre ASAP after the match.
9. Etc.

Yes, this all cost money to implement. But in the long run City will make that money back via bigger attendances, and via fans spending more money before, during and after the match. Unfortunately I think City are just happy to plod along, making piecemeal changes, while keeping things as they are. When in reality there is a hug opportunity for the club to take the whole matchday experience, from start to finish, to another level, that isn’t matched by any other PL club or British club. City, or should I say Sheikh Mansour, Khaldoon and Soriano, just need the vision and balls to do it. Because once they say do it, it will get done.
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I like 7 and 8 especially; real headache and deterrent at the moment.
 
My wish, as a city card holder is to not have all the home premier league games going on sale at start of season. At the very least, allow any new section to be based on only going on sale 4-6 weeks before, like it used to be, at least so we know the day of the week/kick off time before buying. Would mean me and a group of pals can go and actually sit together and make a day of it.
 
I'm a 58 year old blue and been watching since the start of 1957 season.
I've never had a seasoncard for various reasons however I'm now able to go every week with my wife and can garruntee I will use the them every week without fail !
Not really bothered where I sit with the exception of up to high in the gods etc
Please extend the North stand City asap !
Can't wait....
 
radcliffe1309 said:
I'm a 58 year old blue and been watching since the start of 1957 season.
I've never had a seasoncard for various reasons however I'm now able to go every week with my wife and can garruntee I will use the them every week without fail !
Not really bothered where I sit with the exception of up to high in the gods etc
Please extend the North stand City asap !
Can't wait....
Click to expand...
radcliffe1309 said:
I'm a 58 year old blue and been watching since the start of 1957 season.
I've never had a seasoncard for various reasons however I'm now able to go every week with my wife and can garruntee I will use the them every week without fail !
Not really bothered where I sit with the exception of up to high in the gods etc
Please extend the North stand City asap !
Can't wait....
Click to expand...
That's 1967 sorry
 
jrb said:
We’re now getting over 50K for CL matches. A few season’s back we weren’t. We get over 50K for FA Cup matches due to good ticket prices. As long as we’re challenging for the title and winning trophies, we’ll keep on getting over 50K for most matches.

What the club need to do is to expand the stadium, and make the additional season tickets more affordable. They also need to offer them to new City fans first, including those on the waiting list. There’s absolutely no point in offering them to current season ticket holders who want a cheaper seat and season ticket first. By doing that the club will be left with 1000’s of expensive season tickets new City fans don’t want or can’t afford. *The trick is to get new City fans to fill the additional seats, not to get current fans to buy cheaper season tickets*. That may irk some on here, but we need 6000 additional new City fans to make the stadium expansion viable.
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By new fans do you mean touts?
Also why do you think long standing City fans should pay more than new fans?
 
jrb said:
I think the local demand is there, at the right price.

I appreciate City aren’t going to give PL match season tickets and match day tickets away.

There’s quite a few things the club can do to sell more season tickets and match day tickets.

Off the top of my head. I appreciate some might be pie in the sky ideas.

1. Make season tickets and match day tickets more affordable. Obviously.
2. Get rid of block and row pricing. Make each level and row the same price.
3. If the stadium is expanded, set aside a block or blocks for families. 2’s, 3’s, 4’s etc, where they are guaranteed seats next to each other, and they can buy family bundle tickets in advance. It’s not a rehash of the family stand.
4. A block for younger fans in their teens/twenties. The next generation of singers, so they can get to know each other, and create an atmosphere.
5. Affordable safe standing, if it ever get’s introduced? There’s no point in making safe standing as expensive as standing is now. In effect those of us who prefer to stand are paying full price for a seat we never sit in. :-/
6. Been done to death. Make tickets easier to buy. One example. Ticket booths around the stadium, instead of having to queue up for an age in the long and slow ticket office queue. There are many other examples where the club could implement new ticket buying Procedures.
7. Have our own fleet of City electric European style bendy buses. They carry more people than a conventional UK bus. Charge £1 each way to the city centre and back from the Etihad. Or make the buses free of charge for matchday fans, like they do in Germany.
8. Split the cost with the city council and GMPTE and build Metrolink sidings on a section of the Etihad Campus, where Trams can wait, stack up, and be ready to take the fans back into the city centre ASAP after the match.
9. Etc.

Yes, this all cost money to implement. But in the long run City will make that money back via bigger attendances, and via fans spending more money before, during and after the match. Unfortunately I think City are just happy to plod along, making piecemeal changes, while keeping things as they are. When in reality there is a hug opportunity for the club to take the whole matchday experience, from start to finish, to another level, that isn’t matched by any other PL club or British club. City, or should I say Sheikh Mansour, Khaldoon and Soriano, just need the vision and balls to do it. Because once they say do it, it will get done.
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Can you pass that on to the reps on City Matters
 
My take on this is that we have generally constantly increased our attendance. At Maine Road we used to get approx 30k fans. When we moved to the Etihad under Keegan we generally sold out the 46/47k the attendance dropped back a couple of thousand under Pearce and his dull football, but then bounced back. Since the takeover we have generally sold out most of our home league games and cup attendances have also gone up. Since we expanded the south stand our attendances have gone up further. However it takes time to grow a fan base, young fans start going with their Mum's and Dads and their friends. All those kids in schools who come to CL and Cup games are the future 20yr who will come to the game independently in a few years. Three things are key to the club increasing attendances. Continued success without this attendances will decline. Additional capacity at the right price, and better transport, currently the transport infrastructure is abysmal, I know two people who don't go as they hate the big wait for the trams.
 
Always thought a second tram stop next to the south stand would be ideal,
Splits at Holt town up the road and re-joins over the road near Asda,
Then only running match days, the road is always closed anyways,
That’s an ideal world, cost would probably be way too much.
 
Cheadle_hulmeBlue said:
So your alright with most of the lower tier being filled with tourists and day trippers. Basically getting rid of the all the actual fans and moving them further away from the action ? Why in earth would you want that?

Some of the best views and moments happen in the lower tiers. Would be strange aswell having the lower tiers - the ones most visible on tv, full of glory hunters.
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Course i wouldnt want it but if the difference of a Season ticket is 800 in L1 and 400 in L3 then i think many will move. It has already happened with SSL3 with tons of blues relocating there to save money on their ST.

Hopefully, NS L1,2,3 is something a bit different with a large multipurpose stand. If we could recreate "the wall" at Dortmund that would be great!
 
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