North Stand Construction Discussion

[jrb]

Every single home game sold out last season apart from Spurs which was rearranged last minute for a Thursday night with prices the same as they were for the original fixture. A lot of these tickets on sale were also returns.

There will always be tickets on sale via the ticket exchange no matter how big the ground is but getting tickets in the original sale period is now extremely difficult especially if you want to get several seats together. We’ve reached the point where even league cup games are selling out alongside sellouts for every CL game and the FA Cup games as well.

City will easily sell out the north stand based on current demand and you’ve even said yourself this weekend that the stand should have been ready now to cope with demand…

There were plenty of tickets left on 3rd party tickets sites. Not all the seats sold out for the CL group stage games.

I’m sure the expanded North stand L2 will sell out. It’s the other parts of the ground and seats that need to be sold when fans relocate to the North stand.

We’re all guessing how the additional 6000 seats will be sold. I’m sure City will come up with something unique and different. ;-) Some people have suggested it may be match day ticket sales only. I can’t see that myself, especially with the current seaon ticket waiting list, which will has got bigger since City won the CL and did the treble.

 

[HelloCity]

Regarding tickets coming up for sale on the ticket exchange, though this is usually the case, it certainly didn’t happen for the games against Arsenal, Real, and Chelsea. For there to be no returns is unrealistic, so what did the club do with them? I think we know the answer.

They didn’t for Villa on the last day in 22 either. They secretly sold them off for a higher value imo.

 

[Man_City_Loyal]

I'm a Gold SC member so it's not a moan because I'm affected. Having been a match going supporter since 1962-63 season I don't need advice from you as to whether I attend matches or not, thanks all the same. If you think that what the club are doing in relation to what I posted is perfectly fine then good for you. I don't.

people do call the site bluemoan for a reason :-D

 

[HelloCity]

There were plenty of tickets left on 3rd party tickets sites. Not all the seats were sold for the CL group stage games.

I’m sure the expanded North stand L2 will sell out. It’s the other parts of the ground and seats that need to be sold when fans relocate to the North stand.

We’re all guessing how the additional 6000 seats will be sold. I’m sure City will come up with some unique and different. ;-) Some people have suggested it may be match day ticket sales only. I can’t see that myself, especially with the current seaon ticket waiting list, which will has got bigger since City won the CL and did the treble.

They were officially sold out.

There were hundreds left for the CL final on third party sites also, it doesn’t mean the final wasn’t sold out or hard to get tickets for.

 

[Big Joe Corrigan]

They didn’t for Villa on the last day in 22 either. They secretly sold them off for a higher value imo.

Actually tickets for the Villa game were popping up on the exchange the week before, not many and you had to be quick. I finally managed to get one on the morning of the game.

 

[Jazzyblue]

When we built the South Stand third tier a lot of people had the same worries. We’ll carry on growing over time.

The over demand for all the big PL games and big CL games is greater than 6000-7000.

Tbh, I think we’ll have at least 2-3k new season ticket holders with the rest available to members.

I don't doubt our support will keep on growing. I just think the assumption that people's ability/willingness to pay any price will grow with it is a dangerous one, and that the club shouldn't be encouraged in it. The club is not short of money and has a loyal fanbase. We all understand that quality doesn't come for free, but there's a difference between that and taking us for mugs.

 

[jrb]

They were officially sold out.

There were hundreds left for the CL final on third party sites also, it doesn’t mean the final wasn’t sold out or hard to get tickets for.

You can only go off visible empty seats inside the ground for certain unattractive matches or midweek games, regardless if they those seats sold out first time, and then were put back up for sale on the seat exchange or on 3rd party websites.

It will be interesting to see how City market and sell the 6000 extra seats. Who has first jibs on them. And who their target audience is. For a start, we now have a large and growing Hong Konger support in Manchester after they moved from Hong Kong to settle in Manchester. It’s fair to say many of them have plenty of money.

 

[bladdered]

They are really simple and easy to visualise.

East and West elevations extend out to encompass the spirals, rising above the current 3rd tier to create a 4 tier of around 23000 additional seats,corporate areas,F&B and a total capacity of 85000.

So efficient,we own the land,no disruption to match day operations, synchronises with overall plan and design.

It's smart !!

But will they replace the blue light bulbs on the roof?

 

[Gordyola]

They are really simple and easy to visualise.

East and West elevations extend out to encompass the spirals, rising above the current 3rd tier to create a 4 tier of around 23000 additional seats,corporate areas,F&B and a total capacity of 85000.

So efficient,we own the land,no disruption to match day operations, synchronises with overall plan and design.

It's smart !!

no disruption? The process of adding an additional tier normally involves building over the existing roof which is then removed during the close season, many example including our South Stand I doubt this would be easy for the East & CB Stands due to the height of the CableNet roof support structure which sits on top of the spirals

 

[Gordyola]

And your point is what?

That it wouldn't be easy to add a new roof and also very expensive and would result in lots of disruption

 

[bluesmith]

no disruption? The process of adding an additional tier normally involves build over the existing roof which is then removed during the close season many example including our South Stand I doubt this would be easy for the East & CB Stands due to the height of the CableNet roof support structure for the which sits on top of the spirals

Correct, not to mention we'd be adding 12000+ seats above 3 tiers that hold approx 16000 seats in total. Never ever going to happen.

 

[Ashton Moss Messi]

Is the demand so great that we could sell 6,000 extra seats at £70 a pop for a midweek game at a time when your average Manc is most likely being bitten by inflation/interest rates/higher taxes/stagnating wages or recession? It's a tough ask, that.

The target market is not Dave the warehouse guy and his two kids Mark and Susan living in a terraced house in Crumpsall, saving hard all year for a match ticket, where they'll have a burger and chips, wearing scarves bought off a dodgy barrow stall.
They'll have a great time and tell all their mates at school who'll be jealous as fuck. Next year they hope their mum can go with them. She hopes she will if the kids don't need new shoes.

The target market is Jan Ole with his brother Sven and their partners Ange and Hilde, IT professionals coming from Norway to see their golden boy on a long weekend trip where they'll spend a grand each on match tickets, hotel, meals, a show at the Co-op Arena, shirts from the shop, stadium tour. They'll go home having had a great time tell their mates and plan another trip before the end of the season.

It's the new world football order.

There has to be a place for both.
And I want to know why my eyes are watering.

 

[Edghill OG]

The target market is not Dave the warehouse guy and his two kids Mark and Susan living in a terraced house in Crumpsall, saving hard all year for a match ticket, where they'll have a burger and chips, wearing scarves bought off a dodgy barrow stall.
They'll have a great time and tell all their mates at school who'll be jealous as fuck. Next year they hope their mum can go with them. She hopes she will if the kids don't need new shoes.

The target market is Jan Ole with his brother Sven and their partners Ange and Hilde, IT professionals coming from Norway to see their golden boy on a long weekend trip where they'll spend a grand each on match tickets, hotel, meals, a show at the Co-op Arena, shirts from the shop, stadium tour. They'll go home having had a great time tell their mates and plan another trip before the end of the season.

It's the new world football order.

There has to be a place for both.
And I want to know why my eyes are watering.

I haven't seen the interview with the chairman in full yet and only snippets on Sky Sports News so I maybe shouldn't comment. I did notice he kept emphasising how commercially successful we are though.

It's sad that Dave, Mark and Susan are so close to the club geographically but in all truth are worlds apart. We should be doing all we can to keep that core Mancunian support. Seem to hastily be turning into the dark side from the City of Salford.

 

[Jazzyblue]

The target market is not Dave the warehouse guy and his two kids Mark and Susan living in a terraced house in Crumpsall, saving hard all year for a match ticket, where they'll have a burger and chips, wearing scarves bought off a dodgy barrow stall.
They'll have a great time and tell all their mates at school who'll be jealous as fuck. Next year they hope their mum can go with them. She hopes she will if the kids don't need new shoes.

The target market is Jan Ole with his brother Sven and their partners Ange and Hilde, IT professionals coming from Norway to see their golden boy on a long weekend trip where they'll spend a grand each on match tickets, hotel, meals, a show at the Co-op Arena, shirts from the shop, stadium tour. They'll go home having had a great time tell their mates and plan another trip before the end of the season.

It's the new world football order.

There has to be a place for both.
And I want to know why my eyes are watering.

I know. Not having a balance is shortsighted - leaving right or wrong to one side. Dave will come for 50, 60, 70 years. But Ange and Hilde's custom is dependent on Haaland staying, Pep staying, flight costs, where we are in the league, where else and what else they want to see in the world, maybe Arsenal come back stronger next season and they have a soft spot for Odegaard too...case in point, my kids watch basketball but we're not local to the US obviously, so between us we've got four clubs - the youngest likes Celtics, the eldest likes the Bucks, the Mrs likes the Suns and I like the '76ers...we might 'one day' see one of those teams and spend a bit, but we're not a reliable source of income or support for any American basketball team by any stretch...that's the space reserved for our local football team, which is City.

Prioritising tourist spend seems to take little account of the fact that a) the global economy, not just Britain, isn't doing that well and b) City home crowds aren't getting any younger. If Dave's dad has an ST as a senior citizen, but Dave can't afford season ticket rises, or can't get one for himself or his kids, or gave his up when he lost his overtime and now can't get back on the train and can't justify paying nearly a pound a minute to watch a game, then that's years of recurring revenue lost, because he would keep coming and keep paying if prices were within reason. But if they're not, then they'll buy the replica shirt and watch in the pub along with the thousands of Mancunians who love the club and turned out for the parade but don't get to games, and after a while they won't be bothered about actually going to the match anymore, and won't feel any less of a Blue for it because most of the Blues they know these days are watching it in the pub or at home on telly anyway.

Maybe that is what the club wants then, local lower spending fans to bring in TV revenues and shirt sales and tourists to dominate matchday crowds to drive food, drink and merchandise revenues...but it will be a sad day if they achieve it, and if they do, I have a hard time believing it's as sustainable as a captive, albeit lower spending but loyal domestic audience.

 

[MAG]

City won’t be able to sell an additional 6000 match day tickets. Many match day tickets have remained unsold this season due to the prices the club are charging for them. The match day tickets will be more expensive in 2 years time. There has to be a mixture of every type of season ticket and match day ticket made available. The priority is to sell 6000 additional seats, not leave the seats empty.

One thing the club should do next season is put back the 1000+ seats they’ve removed. That can be done easily as the terraces are still in place. The old advertising boards could be put back into place, if the club still has them, or the current lower advertising board could be left where it is, and the upper advertising board could be put into storage for 2 years.

As the capacity of the Etihad will be slightly reduced because of the North stand expansion, and demand for tickets will be at an all time high, the club has to give as many City fans as they can the opportunity to watch the European Champions and Treble Winners.

View attachment 83879

Thing is those 1000+ seats don't generate as much revenue as the double layered advertising on those electronic boards do ... so you and I should know between 1000 more fans in vs more ££, where the club's priority lies. They won't hesitate taking off another 1000 seats in front of another tier as well if that meant better potential of earning advertising revenues there ...

 

[HelloCity]

Thing is those 1000+ seats don't generate as much revenue as the double layered advertising on those electronic boards do ... so you and I should know between 1000 more fans in vs more ££, where the club's priority lies. They won't hesitate taking off another 1000 seats in front of another tier as well if that meant better potential of earning advertising revenues there ...

Those seats also didn’t get a great response. People got soaked when it rained and the views weren’t very good.

 

[77lost by a point]

no disruption? The process of adding an additional tier normally involves building over the existing roof which is then removed during the close season, many example including our South Stand I doubt this would be easy for the East & CB Stands due to the height of the CableNet roof support structure which sits on top of the spirals

I think they would have to demolish the 3rd tier, then extend the 2nd tier back and then rebuild a 3rd tier. Can't see that happening due to the cost involved.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

Dave, Mark and Susan have just spent a grand each on their trips to Istanbul so Danny thinks he can get another £40 out of them.

Joking aside, priority games will continue to get more and more expensive and lower profile matches will be cheaper with kids tickets starting at a fiver.

City want to increase the corporate and core fan base. Season tickets prices will continue to increase at a bit below the rate of inflation.

There will be excess demand for brilliant quality football until at least the expanded Norse Stand opens.

City will prioritise increasing membership numbers including the virtual stadium memberships.

 

[Gone for a Burton]

Correct, not to mention we'd be adding 12000+ seats above 3 tiers that hold approx 16000 seats in total. Never ever going to happen.

They said we'd never win the cup, then the league,then the double,the domestic treble,100 points,3 on the bounce,5 in 6,Champions league, Pure Treble etc etc.

Never say no when you don't know what you're talking about....and don't shoot the messenger !!

 

[jrb]

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Manchester City Official Supporters Club Hong Kong Branch. Join our matchday screening and cheer on City with the Hong Kong Blues.

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Thing is those 1000+ seats don't generate as much revenue as the double layered advertising on those electronic boards do ... so you and I should know between 1000 more fans in vs more ££, where the club's priority lies. They won't hesitate taking off another 1000 seats in front of another tier as well if that meant better potential of earning advertising revenues there ...

Probably true.

I'm on about giving an extra 1000+ City fans the chance to see the CL winners and Treble team. Surely that is much more important than a few grand more from LED advertising boards, especially when you think of how much City have made last season from prize and TV money. Khaldoon has just said in his end of season interview the fans were the 12th man last season.