Etihad Campus, Stadium Development and Collar Site

[Gordyola]

Re: Etihad Campus & potential new stadium

The ground was built for commenwealth and City as the lower tier was built prior to games but was underground. After games was finished the "ground level" was lowered to current level, revelaing the lower tier, seats were added and the North Stand built. I remember reading the interview with Mackintosh in City mag when we moved in as I was disappointed when he said it wasn't built with any kind of expansion in mind.

If the Sheikh had not taken over then there wouldnt be any talk of expansion its only because we have joined the world's elite, attracting new fans because of success that we are even discussing this. The orginal design with 48K capacity would have served City forever.

 

[blueparrot]

Re: Etihad Campus & potential new stadium

There isn't a waiting list as such all Bluecard members are automatically on the waiting list, but not all would want a season card. The 15000 is probably the number of bluecard holders. So adding these to the 36000 season tickets would mean 61,000 would be plenty. I don't know how many games the average bluecard holders go to but I think only one or two games would sell out at 60,000

Not a chance of 20,000 empty seats.

When the time does come for expansion, the latest techniques will be applied.

Including retractable seating, dependent on fixture and event.

Isn't there now a huge waiting list for season tickets? I'm sure I read 15K somewhere. That would suggest that we already have potential to sell out a 60K stadium for league games no problem. So perhaps we could make a move on that and factor in further future expansion into the design so when we're ready to do 80K we kick on. Sounds simplistic I know but you get the gist! As Tolm suggests we're unlikely to ever see swathes of empty space regardless of stadium size from now on.......

 

[pride in battle]

Re: Etihad Campus & potential new stadium

Kramer, your talking tosh mate, the stadium WAS built with expansion in mind, City emphasized if it needed expanding they could do it without MAJOR problems, 60.000 was the figure.

Sorry but you are talking tosh here, Alistair Mackintosh categorically said when we moved in to the stadium that it definitely is not built with any further expansion in mind, there are no foundations and there is the issue with the roof and spirals. I'm not saying it can't be done with a lot of money being thrown at it, but the stadium was built for 48k and no more. Any expansion will be a huge undertaking, will take a while and a lot of money, so don't kid yourselves.

Well Dennis Tueart said the complete opposite, so one of them is wrong?! :)

 

[Gary James]

Re: Etihad Campus & potential new stadium

I've posted much of this before but always worth highlighting.....

The stadium was originally intended to be an 80k capacity stadium and MCC hoped MUFC would move in (revealed in "Manchester A Football History") - this was after the national stadium idea had died as well.

Ultimately, City agreed to move in and the capacity was scaled down to 50k (later 47-48k). It was built in 2 stages to give that final capacity, but the construction of the roof meant that enlarging the stadium would be difficult.

As with most projects though enlarging the stadium is not an impossibility, but it may be very costly. The roof issue needs to be sorted and then, of course, there are issues of how you extend it.

In the mid-90s Old Trafford was complete and people said that could not be extended, but of course it was and issues resolved (though their biggest issues - the space around the Main Stand - remains).

Anything is possible, but at a cost.

I think it's pretty clear that anyone with ambition at the Club knows that capacity has to increase, and people are/have looked at it.

Ultimate capacity - I'd look at increasing the capacity in stages with 60k asap, 76k in a couple of years and ultimately a capacity in excess of 84,569 (if it was down to me).

That last bit's a bit of a pipe dream, but 76k I believe is achievable for City.

Support has rocketed at you-know-who in the last decade and there really is no reason why that can't happen at City (it also rocketed at NUFC and to some extent AFC). It would also help keep prices down to some extent. City need to increase income vastly and a small capacity stadium isn't helping.

Personally I'd build a new stadium that can be enlarged in phases with a 60k capacity first, but it's not down to me of course.

 

[SWP's back]

Re: Etihad Campus & potential new stadium

There isn't a waiting list as such all Bluecard members are automatically on the waiting list, but not all would want a season card. The 15000 is probably the number of bluecard holders. So adding these to the 36000 season tickets would mean 61,000 would be plenty. I don't know how many games the average bluecard holders go to but I think only one or two games would sell out at 60,000

Not a chance of 20,000 empty seats.

When the time does come for expansion, the latest techniques will be applied.

Including retractable seating, dependent on fixture and event.

Isn't there now a huge waiting list for season tickets? I'm sure I read 15K somewhere. That would suggest that we already have potential to sell out a 60K stadium for league games no problem. So perhaps we could make a move on that and factor in further future expansion into the design so when we're ready to do 80K we kick on. Sounds simplistic I know but you get the gist! As Tolm suggests we're unlikely to ever see swathes of empty space regardless of stadium size from now on.......

There were over 100k bluebard & SC members last season.

 

[Mr Ed (The Stables)]

Re: Etihad Campus & potential new stadium

The thing is if they made it 60k to the plans the owners might think its not big enough especially if we keep winning trophies!

Think our owners want around an 80k stadium and it be iconic

It will be a very long time, if ever, before we could justify an 80,000 seater stadium.

We sold out our home PL games last season, but often only very close to kick off. We only just sold out an FA Cup tie against United. We failed to sell out our first CL fixture. We still struggle to get many more than 30,000 for the less important cup games, a poor attendance for a Carling Cup semi final.

The league win will obviously increase attendances, the league games will sell out a lot quicker. But to justify a 60,000 seater stadium requires an extra 13,000 regular fans. But I'm not sure that the new fans will immediately want to go to every game. We would probably need to attract an extra 20,000 new fans to fill those seats every match.

Subject to engineering constraints, I think expansion should be incremental. Another tier on one of the South or North stands. If there's still demand then repeat that at the other end after a couple of years.

Nobody wants to see fans not being able to get tickets at all, but there's something to be said for ensuring the "sold out" signs are a fairly regular occurence. At least for a short period. Make City a "hot ticket".

I see where your coming from with what you say, but we currently have a capped limit of 36K season tickets which sold out the other day in record time. We have a waiting list of I'm not sure how many. The reason imo why "we don't sell out" is firstly visiting teams often don't sell their allocation, and we always have segregation which accounts for lost seats. If we are successful selling out at 60,000 seater stadium wouldn't be a problem imo especially if we were to introduce a price ticketing structure to suit everyone a la Barcelona. For me I'd let kids in for nothing as they are the future.

 

[Leyther]

Etihad Campus & potential new stadium

I've posted much of this before but always worth highlighting.....

The stadium was originally intended to be an 80k capacity stadium and MCC hoped MUFC would move in (revealed in .................

But that was a totally different stadium design, so really what is point in bringing it up? - it just confuses the issue - The Ethiad was designed for 47 - 50k. 50k could probably still be achieved by lowering the pitch further and shrinking the aprons, but 80k would basically be a complete new structure.

 

[blueparrot]

Re: Etihad Campus & potential new stadium

[
It would be interesting to know how many bluecard holders there are with ticket priority. But last season as a bluecard member the only match I couldnt get a ticket for was the derby.
Most other matches tickets were available until a few days before the game.
Even the QPR game I got 2 tickets with just 300 points. So however many bluecard holders there are it seems most weeks no more than 7000 of them attend games.
quote="Mr Ed (The Stables)"]

The thing is if they made it 60k to the plans the owners might think its not big enough especially if we keep winning trophies!

Think our owners want around an 80k stadium and it be iconic

It will be a very long time, if ever, before we could justify an 80,000 seater stadium.

We sold out our home PL games last season, but often only very close to kick off. We only just sold out an FA Cup tie against United. We failed to sell out our first CL fixture. We still struggle to get many more than 30,000 for the less important cup games, a poor attendance for a Carling Cup semi final.

The league win will obviously increase attendances, the league games will sell out a lot quicker. But to justify a 60,000 seater stadium requires an extra 13,000 regular fans. But I'm not sure that the new fans will immediately want to go to every game. We would probably need to attract an extra 20,000 new fans to fill those seats every match.

Subject to engineering constraints, I think expansion should be incremental. Another tier on one of the South or North stands. If there's still demand then repeat that at the other end after a couple of years.

Nobody wants to see fans not being able to get tickets at all, but there's something to be said for ensuring the "sold out" signs are a fairly regular occurence. At least for a short period. Make City a "hot ticket".

I see where your coming from with what you say, but we currently have a capped limit of 36K season tickets which sold out the other day in record time. We have a waiting list of I'm not sure how many. The reason imo why "we don't sell out" is firstly visiting teams often don't sell their allocation, and we always have segregation which accounts for lost seats. If we are successful selling out at 60,000 seater stadium wouldn't be a problem imo especially if we were to introduce a price ticketing structure to suit everyone a la Barcelona. For me I'd let kids in for nothing as they are the future.[/quote]

 

[waspish]

Etihad Campus & potential new stadium

It will be a very long time, if ever, before we could justify an 80,000 seater stadium.

We sold out our home PL games last season, but often only very close to kick off. We only just sold out an FA Cup tie against United. We failed to sell out our first CL fixture. We still struggle to get many more than 30,000 for the less important cup games, a poor attendance for a Carling Cup semi final.

The league win will obviously increase attendances, the league games will sell out a lot quicker. But to justify a 60,000 seater stadium requires an extra 13,000 regular fans. But I'm not sure that the new fans will immediately want to go to every game. We would probably need to attract an extra 20,000 new fans to fill those seats every match.

Subject to engineering constraints, I think expansion should be incremental. Another tier on one of the South or North stands. If there's still demand then repeat that at the other end after a couple of years.

Nobody wants to see fans not being able to get tickets at all, but there's something to be said for ensuring the "sold out" signs are a fairly regular occurence. At least for a short period. Make City a "hot ticket".

I'm not worried about 25 to 30k empty seats in a 80k stadium! Some fans are fixated on "Empty seats"! Real Madrid Barcelona all the Italian clubs Have 1000's of empty seats at games!

Just think when we play the rags or Liverpool in are major game like the one against the scum at home last season it would be JAMMED PACKED!

Just to add and what is a big factor in all this is the revenue generated outside the stadium.

The more people that can get tickets (even if there only visiting for one game) will generate income in the City store, food stalls, bar areas etc.......

Exactly!! some fans think small time if you think small time you'll stay small time our owners dont think SMALL

 

[JoeMercer'sWay]

Re: Etihad Campus & potential new stadium

seeing as it doesn't count to FFPR, and over the lifespan of the stadium they can make their money back, they should just build something iconic, state of the art that can easily be fiddled about with if needs be.

Can't we build a bigger stadium as a sort of outer shell and then over a summer just move all the seats around?

Or just accidentally tear down the whole of East Manchester and have a massive fan park.