Manchester City...More Than A Football Club?

[JoeMercer'sWay]

Whilst away on holiday I briefly came across some German athletics, and noticed that Bayer Leverkusen had their own athletics team, along with football and other sports sides integrated into the club. Real Madrid and Barcelong both have similar set-ups as do other clubs, and it got me thinking, should City expand into other sports and make ourselves a massive name in world sport?

We could have an official and fully integrated ladies team with female youth development to promote the ladies game in England. We could buy Sportcity and use the athletics stadium for our own athletics club, among other things. There's no central Manchester Rugby League side, and we could help out Salford City Reds or build our own side with a rebranding and investment, the same can be said for Rugby Union.

What do you think? Do you think it would aid our development into a household name and a massive club with many revenue streams and a club for the community, or should we just focus on being a football club and become an elitist organisation?

 

[tommyducks]

Whilst away on holiday I briefly came across some German athletics, and noticed that Bayer Leverkusen had their own athletics team, along with football and other sports sides integrated into the club. Real Madrid and Barcelong both have similar set-ups as do other clubs, and it got me thinking, should City expand into other sports and make ourselves a massive name in world sport?

We could have an official and fully integrated ladies team with female youth development to promote the ladies game in England. We could buy Sportcity and use the athletics stadium for our own athletics club, among other things. There's no central Manchester Rugby League side, and we could help out Salford City Reds or build our own side with a rebranding and investment, the same can be said for Rugby Union.

What do you think? Do you think it would aid our development into a household name and a massive club with many revenue streams and a club for the community, or should we just focus on being a football club and become an elitist organisation?

Yes, why not? They are going to expand in the area anyway interms of re-development, jobs etc. To fund other sports such as athletics, ice hockey, basketball etc. would raise our profile and make it harder for our detractors to slag us off - we would be creating employment and investing in Manchester.

This also reminds me of an old chestnut - surely we have the resources to create a MCFCTV station? Those of us who live a long way away don't get to see the reserves, youth teams etc all that much, plus the phone-ins, archive games, interviews etc would be great. I have asked the club about this in the past - maybe it's time to ask again.

 

[KentBlue]

Well, on a strictly personal level Manchester City have always been more than just a football club to me. It's my hobby, my passion - my obsession, maybe.

But I agree with the OP. It would make sense for the club to branch out into other areas. And of course it can only raise the club's profile abroad.

 

[Pigeonho]

I think we best concentrate on the on-pitch success first, however I do see your point. I watched a translated interview on TransWorld Sport a couple of years ago between Raul, and the star of R.Madrids basketball team. It was a good watch, something none of our clubs do. This was pre-takeover, so we were still normal and shit then! Get some on-pitch success, sustained success I mean, get bigger then look at it IMO.

 

[I remember the kippax]

I seem to remember the Rags buying a basketball team in the 80s and renaming them, which lost loads of money and they dropped it like a hot potatoe.

I think we may have missed a trick by not starting a cycling team (like Sky have done) when we had all the cyclists living within a few miles of CoMS, and being the first British Professional team in a long while - that would've put our name in the papers a hell of a lot more and expanded the "brand"

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Spanish & German clubs tend to be much more sporting clubs than just football clubs and are owned by their members (or at least the members hold a majority stake).

 

[Plato]

Id love it if city did something like this. If they did, they should create teams at different levels so everyone can get involved.

 

[ali benarbia's studs]

patience my son... they re working on it!!!

 

[scall11]

Re: tv channel. Just have a look at other clubs tv channels. The offering is poor. There just isnt enough content to sustain it, and I doubt they generate much revenue. Plus, the videos on the official site are perfect. Just enough to be exciting, but not too much to cut on quality.

 

[Skashion]

I'd fucking love City to build up an ice hockey club. I used to go to watch Manchester Storm a lot when they were at the Nynex. Organise their fixtures, as far as possible, to alternate with City's home matches and that would be brilliant. As long as they don't the same mistake that happened to Storm originally; thinking they could charge football prices for a game which hasn't got a strong foothold in this country. If they charge cinema prices, they will get big crowds again. I can remember over 17,000 one match which is pretty staggering.