Stadium Expansion

[Brightwell’s left peg]

I think a lot of us are thinking of near term, what we could fill now etc. If we were growing 'organically' that would be the correct way to think.

However, when the richest people on the planet have 'big ideas' and talk about a plan to make us the biggest/best in 10 years...that's accelerated growth...and probably goes beyond our wildest dreams.

Us 'normal people' struggle to comprehend the magnitude of what they want us to become...in the same way we struggled with the concept of us realistically challenging for anything/signing superstars when we were bought...but look where we are.

 

[Marvin]

I think a lot of us are thinking of near term, what we could fill now etc. If we were growing 'organically' that would be the correct way to think.

However, when the richest people on the planet have 'big ideas' and talk about a plan to make us the biggest/best in 10 years...that's accelerated growth...and probably goes beyond our wildest dreams.

Us 'normal people' struggle to comprehend the magnitude of what they want us to become...in the same way we struggled with the concept of us realistically challenging for anything/signing superstars when we were bought...but look where we are.

But the trouble with a stadium is that it's difficult to grow organically i.e keep pace with the size of the club. Ideally would be good to do one re-build and get the stadium capacity we need long term. But logistically may not be possible. However been strongly suggested that we're looking at 60k through expanding North and South Stands

 

[Brightwell’s left peg]

I think a lot of us are thinking of near term, what we could fill now etc. If we were growing 'organically' that would be the correct way to think.

However, when the richest people on the planet have 'big ideas' and talk about a plan to make us the biggest/best in 10 years...that's accelerated growth...and probably goes beyond our wildest dreams.

Us 'normal people' struggle to comprehend the magnitude of what they want us to become...in the same way we struggled with the concept of us realistically challenging for anything/signing superstars when we were bought...but look where we are.

But the trouble with a stadium is that it's difficult to grow organically i.e keep pace with the size of the club. Ideally would be good to do one re-build and get the stadium capacity we need long term. But logistically may not be possible. However been strongly suggested that we're looking at 60k through expanding North and South Stands

Agree it's difficult...but Money can get around most difficult things. Difficult is a relative term.

 

[MCC]

I've always said that if the Sheikh came into football to make money from the fans, then they came to the wrong club and wrong city. Arsenal or Spurs would have been the much more sensible and realistic options; West Ham even. Or looked at other cities around Europe. Manchester is a quite small and low populated city with quite low paid citizens on average. The North West of England in general isn't an affluent area of Europe. There are none capital cities twice the size of Manchester. Then look at Berlin; a one club city in the fastest growing league in the world, one huge booming city, with 3.5 million people living in Berlin's city region (500k in Manchester) and 6million poeple living in the metropolitan area (2.6million in Greater Manchester)...

There is so much factually wrong with this post, my head is going to explode!!!

The Germans have rules about ownership which is probably why no one has invested in Germany.

 

[S04]

I've always said that if the Sheikh came into football to make money from the fans, then they came to the wrong club and wrong city. Arsenal or Spurs would have been the much more sensible and realistic options; West Ham even. Or looked at other cities around Europe. Manchester is a quite small and low populated city with quite low paid citizens on average. The North West of England in general isn't an affluent area of Europe. There are none capital cities twice the size of Manchester. Then look at Berlin; a one club city in the fastest growing league in the world, one huge booming city, with 3.5 million people living in Berlin's city region (500k in Manchester) and 6million poeple living in the metropolitan area (2.6million in Greater Manchester)...

There is so much factually wrong with this post, my head is going to explode!!!

The Germans have rules about ownership which is probably why no one has invested in Germany.

Berlin is one of the absolutely poorest areas in Germany as well..

 

[jonmcity]

The club will have a long term view. It is allot cheaper to build in the present economic climate than when the economy is booming. My company decided to build new offices and buy land for future growth, due to current land purchase prices being so low. If you have the money now, you get a bargain.

 

[S04]

The club will have a long term view. It is allot cheaper to build in the present economic climate than when the economy is booming. My company decided to build new offices and buy land for future growth, due to current land purchase prices being so low. If you have the money now, you get a bargain.

City, thru all these joint ventures are still buying land like there was no tomorrow..

 

[fbloke]

The club will have a long term view. It is allot cheaper to build in the present economic climate than when the economy is booming. My company decided to build new offices and buy land for future growth, due to current land purchase prices being so low. If you have the money now, you get a bargain.

City, thru all these joint ventures are still buying land like there was no tomorrow..

Indeed they are, and not always in the obvious places.

There is more than one way to skin the FFPR cat.

 

[tonea2003]

The club will have a long term view. It is allot cheaper to build in the present economic climate than when the economy is booming. My company decided to build new offices and buy land for future growth, due to current land purchase prices being so low. If you have the money now, you get a bargain.

City, thru all these joint ventures are still buying land like there was no tomorrow..

Indeed they are, and not always in the obvious places.

There is more than one way to skin the FFPR cat.

Like where?

 

[greenfingers]

The point is though, ticket sales is not where it's at. Worrying about revenue from ticket sales is completely missing the point and the much bigger opportunities.

If you look at United - who despite all their sins, do actually manage to win the odd thing and to generate profit - their matchday revenue has been on a steady decline for years. It is now 15% lower in cash terms than it was 4 years ago. Lower still in real terms.

On the other hand, their revenues from commercial activities and from broadcasting have steadily increased, and in the case of commercial, nearly doubled over the same period.

In 2009, matchday revenue including merchandising, catering and everything that goes with it generated 49% of their income. In 2012 it's 35%. And it's a steady decline. In 2013 it will be 30%.

My point is this: For us to succeed as a business, as a winning football club, and as a vehicle to promote Abu Dhabi, we have to grow our brand on the world stage. In that regard, it doesn't matter where on earth we are located. We could have been in Swansea and it wouldn't matter. Worrying about your ticketing revenue is missing the point because that's not where your profits will come from, no matter who or where you are.

Anything that makes us more attractive to watch and creates interest around the globe, should be our focus. An 80,000 seater stadium, jam packed full and rocking every week would certainly help that, and if we can stimulate that with cheap tickets, its a small price to pay imho.

1) I thought we were talking 60k
2) And it has been suggested that the club are looking to "Upgrade" Level 2 so it becomes something like a Club Wembley targeting wealthy fans.

And myself and others have argued that in Manchester it would be very difficult to attract this type of fan because of the nature of manchester and the surrounding area

I agree that Match Day Revenues are insiginficant compared to the gigantic sponsorships that Utd have secured eg Chevrolet

So it seems that what the club is suggesting is a little impractical and unlikely to succeed.

In an expanded stadium there must be room for all the fans, but setting aside such a large part of the stadium to such a small target pool looks like a bad plan

Hopefully its not the plan and it's Chinese whisper distortion

The more I think about it - the more I think IT is the plan.

The club need to generate a huge amount more revenue from the Corporate/Sponsorship side on Matchdays and the above plan will achieve that objective.

As an aside it has been mentioned earlier in the thread that City don't own the stadium but rent it from Manchester Council (or if I am wrong on the owners - the fact is that the Stadium is rented).

From a business point of view it makes no sense to rebuild something that you do not own.

I think the plan will be an expansion to 60,000 and then the capital involved will be recouped within a short period of time.

Perhaps anyone reading this post who owns a business and rents premises can confirm what I have written or can tell me how the owners can possibly recoup the £500million to £1billion which would be the cost of a new stadium ( based on the Emirates) when they are already committed to spending that amount of money regenerating the whole area.