Etihad Campus, Stadium and Collar Site Development Thread

Imagine if they turned down the Etihad as a venue when the north stand is expanded, we have an amazing new fan plaza/square, a 7* hotel, and an arena with food/drink outlets all on site. That’s before we even bring up the hospitality offerings with thing like tunnel club. Our stadium would potentially be the best overall destination.

Outcome - Old Trafford selected, Etihad rejected.
 
Imagine if they turned down the Etihad as a venue when the north stand is expanded, we have an amazing new fan plaza/square, a 7* hotel, and an arena with food/drink outlets all on site. That’s before we even bring up the hospitality offerings with thing like tunnel club. Our stadium would potentially be the best overall destination.
Outcome - Old Trafford selected, Etihad rejected.

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You do like to live up to your name, don't you! ;)

That said, I agree. I happen to know from good contacts in place at the time but no longer that MCFC wanted to expand the ground to 75K had England won the World Cup bid for 2018. We were named as one of the grounds in the English bid on the understanding that we'd have a capacity of at least 60K for the tournament and would have hosted a QF, but our owner wanted to host a semi-final ahead of Old Trafford. At the time, he was prepared to do the work to try and make it happen.

Of course, we could have produced a far better venue than Old Trafford and would still no doubt have been shafted by our own country's footballing authorities. After all, we should in the same way have got the nod for the World Cup in 1966 but the FA ensured Old Trafford hosted the matches in question instead and was bunged cash to upgrade for this purpose. I forget the details but @Gary James is the man to explain it authoritatively.

I personally think a bid between all four home nations plus the Republic is a ridiculous idea given that we all compete separately at international level. It may work for rugby, but in football - where you have much greater strength in depth in terms of the standard across the international game - I really don't think it does.

I can quite imagine that, by 2028, our stadium - as then redeveloped and with the surrounds it'll then have - will be far more suitable for an international tournament than the Meccano shithole. Unfortunately, I doubt that'll count for much.

It's a weird bid because out of the 24 teams you'd have to give 5 places to the "hosts" when realistically only 1 team is likely to qualify and 2 more have 50/50 chances. That's the direction of football now. We're not going to host a game for obvious reasons though!

Whilst looking into it a bit further I saw that the next WC has been expanded to 48 teams from 32. They'll play in 16 groups of 3 with the top 2 progressing to the last 32 knockouts. My god that's going to be a thrill!
 
Now on the NYC OS. (if not already posted?)

 
Last edited:
Now on the NYC OS. (if not already posted?)

Excellent news!!

A snippet:

After bringing New York City its first professional championship in a decade, NYCFC will finally now have a home stadium of their own. NYCFC plans to construct the privately financed, 25,000-seat soccer stadium with union labor, aiming to open it in 2027 — following the highly anticipated 2026 FIFA World Cup™ that New York and New Jersey will help host. The new stadium will make New York City a national soccer capital, laying the groundwork for the next chapter in NYCFC and MLS’ history.
 
Martin Edelman on the presentation video at 30 minutes.

Mentioned when he and Ferran Soriano went to see Dan Garber(?) 10 years ago, September the 12th, 2012.
 
Listen to Gary Lebarbra(?), Head of the Buildings Trade Council, coming to the end of is speech. Last few sentences. Had me in hysterics. Great speech. “We are ready to build!” Video the link in the quote, above.

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Interesting maybe need other attractions to help COOP live

 
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Interesting maybe need other attractions to help COOP live


As we’ve known and said all along, the objection by ASM Global about the Co-op Live Arena was nothing more than them trying to protect the AO arena and the money it makes for them. Thankfully ASM Global lost. Losing has forced ASM Global to finally invest in the AO arena and upgrade it after years of little or no investment. By 2024 Manchester will have 2 of the biggest indoor arenas in the world, and both will be world-class indoor arenas, attracting the biggest artists and events to Manchester.
 
As we’ve known and said all along, the objection by ASM Global about the Co-op Live Arena was nothing more than them trying to protect the AO arena and the money it makes for them. Thankfully ASM Global lost. Losing has forced ASM Global to finally invest in the AO arena and upgrade it after years of little or no investment. By 2024 Manchester will have 2 of the biggest indoor arenas in the world, and both will be world-class indoor arenas, attracting the biggest artists and events to Manchester.
Good that the AO have finally decided to invest in their asset after spending nothing for 30 years !

Unfortunately for them any money they spend won’t make a difference to the accoustics in their arena which are absolutely abysmal.

Hilarious that they are now on record saying the city can support 2 x arenas after the crap they spewed when the Co op was seeking approval
 
Good that the AO have finally decided to invest in their asset after spending nothing for 30 years !

Unfortunately for them any money they spend won’t make a difference to the accoustics in their arena which are absolutely abysmal.

Hilarious that they are now on record saying the city can support 2 x arenas after the crap they spewed when the Co op was seeking approval
Fuck em I say fuck em.
 

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