City of Manchester Stadium

Plans to build a new stadium in Manchester were formulated before 1989 as part of the city's bid to host the 1996 Summer Olympics. Manchester City Council submitted a bid that included a design for an 80,000-capacity stadium on a greenfield site west of Manchester city centre. The bid failed and Atlanta hosted the Games. Four years later the city council bid to host the 2000 Summer Olympics, but this time focusing on a brownfield site 1.6 kilometres (0.99 mi) east of the city centre on derelict land that was the site of Bradford Colliery,[18] known colloquially as Eastlands. The council's shift in focus was driven by emerging government legislation on urban renewal, promising vital support funding for such projects; the government became involved in funding the purchase and clearance of the Eastlands site in 1992.[19]

For the February 1993 bid the city council submitted another 80,000-capacity stadium design[10] produced by design consultants Arup Associates, the firm that helped select the Eastlands site. On 23 September 1993, the games were awarded to Sydney, but the following year Manchester submitted the same scheme design to the Millennium Commission as a "Millennium Stadium", only to have this proposal rejected. Undeterred, Manchester City Council subsequently bid to host the 2002 Commonwealth Games, once again proposing the same site along with downsized stadium plans derived from the 2000 Olympics bid, and this time were successful. In 1996, this same planned stadium competed with Wembley Stadium to gain funding to become the new national stadium,[20] but the money was used to redevelop Wembley.

After successful athletics events at the Commonwealth Games, conversion into a football venue was criticised by athletics figures such as Jonathan Edwards and Sebastian Coe[21] as, at the time, the United Kingdom still lacked plans for a large athletics venue due to the capability of installing an athletics track having been dropped from the designs for a rebuilt Wembley Stadium. Had either of the two larger stadium proposals developed by Arup been agreed for funding, then Manchester would have had a venue capable of being adapted to hosting large-scale athletics events through the use of movable seating.

Sport England wished to avoid creating a white elephant, so they insisted that the City Council agree to undertake and fund extensive work to convert CoMS from a track and field arena to a football stadium, thereby ensuring its long-term financial viability. Sport England hoped either Manchester City Council or Manchester City F.C. would provide the extra £50 million required to convert the stadium to a 65,000 seater athletics and footballing venue with movable seating.[22] However, Manchester City Council did not have the money to facilitate movable seating and Manchester City were lukewarm about the idea.[23] Stadium architects Arup Sport believed history demonstrated that maintaining a rarely used athletics track often does not work with football – and cited examples such as the Stadio delle Alpi and the Olympic Stadium with both Juventus and Bayern Munich moving to new stadiums less than 40 years after inheriting them.[24]

Model of 80,000-seat stadium used in 2000 Olympic Bid. The proposed stadium was a larger design of CoMS, with more access ramps and masts.

The stadium's foundation stone was laid by Prime Minister Tony Blair in December 1999,[25] and construction began in January 2000.[26] The stadium was designed by Arup Associates and constructed by Laing Construction at a cost of approximately £112 million,[12][14] £77 million of which was provided by Sport England, with the remainder funded by Manchester City Council.[27] For the Commonwealth Games, the stadium featured a single lower tier of seating running around three sides of the athletics track, and second tiers to the two sides, with an open-air temporary stand at the northern end; initially providing a seating capacity for the Games of 38,000, subsequently extended to 41,000 through the installation of additional temporary trackside seating along the east and south stands.[28]

The first public event at the stadium was the opening ceremony of the 2002 Commonwealth Games on 25 July 2002. Among the dignitaries present was Queen Elizabeth II who made a speech, delivered to her in an electronic baton, and 'declared the Commonwealth Games open'.[29] During the following ten days of competition, the stadium hosted the track and field events and all the rugby sevens matches. Sixteen new Commonwealth Games track and field[30] records (six men's and ten women's) were set in the stadium,[31] eight of which (three men's and five women's records) are still extant after three subsequent series of Games in 2006, 2010 and 2014. Prior to the 2012 Summer Olympics held in London, the 2002 Games was the largest multi-sport event ever to be staged in the United Kingdom, eclipsing the earlier London 1948 Summer Olympics in numbers of teams and competing athletes (3,679),[32] and it was the world's first multi-sport tournament to include a limited number of full medal events for elite athletes with a disability (EAD).[33][34] In terms of number of participating nations, it is still the largest Commonwealth Games in history, featuring 72 nations competing in 281 events across seventeen (fourteen individual and three team) sports.[32]

The Commonwealth Games configuration had two tiers of seats

During conversion, the athletics track was excavated and the stadium pitch level reduced to create three tiers

Sections of the track were removed and relaid at other athletics venues,[35] and the internal ground level was lowered to make way for an additional tier of seating, on terracing already constructed then buried for the original configuration. The three temporary stands with a total capacity of 16,000 were dismantled, and replaced with a permanent structure of similar design to the existing one at the southern end. This work took nearly a year to complete[36] and added 23,000 permanent seats, increasing the capacity of the converted stadium by 7,000[37] to approximately 48,000.[11] Manchester City F.C. moved to the ground in time for the start of the 2003–04 season.[13] The total cost of this conversion was in excess of £40 million, with the track, pitch and seating conversion being funded by the city council at a cost of £22 million;[12][14] and the installation of bars, restaurants and corporate entertainment areas throughout the stadium being funded by the football club at a cost of £20 million.[12][14] The Games had made a small operating surplus, and Sport England agreed that this could be reinvested in converting the athletics warm-up track adjacent to the main stadium into the 6,000 seat Manchester Regional Arena at a cost of £3.5 million.

South Stand after expansion in 2015

The stadium is owned by Manchester City Council and leased by the football club on a 'fully repairing' basis. All operating, maintenance and future capital costs are borne by the club; who consequently receive all revenues from stadium users. The 2008 takeover made the football club one of the wealthiest in the world,[38] prompting suggestions that it could consider buying the stadium outright.[39] Manchester City signed an agreement with Manchester City Council in March 2010 to allow a £1 billion redevelopment led by architect Rafael Viñoly.[40]

During the 2010 closed season the football pitch and hospitality areas were renovated, with a £1 million investment being made in the playing surface so that it is better able to tolerate concerts and other events without damage.[41] In October 2010, Manchester City renegotiated the stadium lease, obtaining the naming rights to the stadium in return for agreeing to now pay the City Council an annual fixed sum of £3 million where previously it had only paid half of the ticket sales revenue from match attendances exceeding 35,000.[42] This new agreement occurred as part of a standard five-year review of the original lease and it amounts to an approximate £1 million annual increase in council revenues from the stadium.[42] During 2011–14, the club sold all 36,000 of its allocated season tickets each season[43] and experienced an average match attendance that is very close to its maximum seating capacity (see table in previous section). Consequently, during the 2014–15 season, an expansion of the stadium was undertaken. The South Stand was extended with the addition of a third tier which, in conjunction with an additional three rows of pitch side seating, increased stadium capacity to approximately 55,000.[44] Construction commenced on the South Stand in April 2014 and was completed for the start of the 2015–16 season.[45]

A final phase of expansion, which received planning approval at the same time as the others but remains unscheduled, would have added a matching third tier of seats to the North Stand. In November 2018 the club consulted with season ticket holders on possible alternative configurations for this expansion; including proposals for a still larger two-tier North Stand without executive boxes or corporate hospitality lounges, and possibly with areas convertible to safe standing. The full length of the second tiers in the East and West stands would then be reconfigured as premium seating associated with new hospitality bar areas. Depending on the preferred design option, this final phase could bring the stadium's total seating capacity up to approximately 63,000, making the Etihad Stadium the nation's third largest capacity club ground. Behind Old Trafford and (potentially) the London Stadium, but marginally greater than Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.[46]

The toroidal-shaped stadium roof is held together by a tensioned system, which has been described as "ground-breaking" by New Steel Construction magazine.[15] The stadium's architectural focal point is the sweeping roof and support masts which are separate from the concrete bowl.[15] A catenary cable is situated around the inner perimeter of the roof structure which is tied to the masts via forestay cables. Backstay cables and corner ties from the masts are connected to the ground to support the structure.[15] With the expansion of the South Stand in 2015 to accommodate a third tier of seating, the original south end roof was dismantled; but with the southern masts and corner ties remaining, so as to continue to tie the catenary cable which now runs below the new roof. The new higher South Stand roof is a separate structure, with its own set of braced masts and cables; and it is expected that a counterpart arrangement will be adopted for the proposed North Stand expansion.

Cables are attached to the twelve masts circling the stadium with rafters and purlins for additional rigid support.[15] The cigar-shaped masts double as visual features, with the highest at 70 metres (230 ft).[49] Access to the upper tiers of seats is provided by eight circular ramps with conical roofs resembling turrets above which eight of the twelve masts rise up providing the support structure for the roof.[16]

The roof of the south, east and west stands built for the athletics stadium configuration was supported by the cable net system. The temporary open stand at the north end was built around the masts and tie down cables that would ultimately support the roof of the North Stand.[15] After the games the track and field were excavated. The temporary bleachers at the north end were removed and the North Stand and lower tier of seats constructed on the prepared excavation. The North Stand roof was completed by adding rafters, purlins and cladding.[15]

The stadium has facilities for players and match officials in a basement area below the west stand, which also contains a kitchen providing meals for up to 6,000 people on match days, press rooms, ground staff storage, and a prison cell.[36] The stadium also has conference facilities and is licensed for marriage ceremonies.[50] Fitting out of the hospitality suites, kitchens, offices, and concourse concessions was accomplished by KSS Architects, and included the installation of the communications cabling and automatic access control system.[36]

The stadium's interior comprises a continuous oval bowl, with three tiers of seating at the sides, and two tiers at each end. Entry by patrons is gained by contactless smart card rather than traditional manned turnstiles. The system can admit up to 1,200 people per minute through all entrances.[51] A service tunnel under the stadium provides access for emergency vehicles and the visiting team's coach to enter the stadium directly. Once inside the stadium patrons have access to six themed restaurants, two of which have views of the pitch, and there are 70 executive boxes[52] above the second tier of seating in the north, west and east stands. The stadium is equipped with stand-by generators should there be an electrical mains failure. These are capable of keeping the stadium electrics running as well as the floodlights at 800 lux, the minimum level stipulated by FIFA to continue to broadcast live football.[53]

To create the optimum grass playing surface in the stadium bowl, the roof was designed to maximise sunlight by using a ten-metre band of translucent polycarbonate at its periphery.[54] Additionally, each of the corners of the stadium without seating have perforated walls with moveable louvres that can be adjusted to provide ventilation of the grass and general airflow through the stadium.[55] Drainage and under-pitch heating were installed to provide optimum growing conditions for the grass.[36] The pitch has a UEFA standard dimension of 105 by 68 metres (115 by 74 yd).[52] and is covered with natural grass reinforced by artificial fibres made by Desso.[56] The field of play is lit by 218 2000-watt floodlights, consuming a total of 436,000 watts.[57] The grass playing surface is recognised as being one of the best in English football, and has been nominated five times in the last nine seasons for best Premier League pitch, an accolade it won in 2010–11[58] among other awards.[59]

Colin Spofforth's giant bronze sculpture, The Runner, at SportCity

Between 11 March (Commonwealth Day) and 10 August 2002, as part of the preparations for the upcoming Commonwealth Games and to celebrate Her Majesty the Queen's Golden Jubilee, a national Spirit of Friendship Festival was organised.[80] On 9 July, a few weeks before the Games began, a sculpture outside the new national headquarters of the English Institute of Sport at SportCity was unveiled by the middle-distance runner Steve Cram.[81] This sculpture, commissioned in late 2001, was created in a little over eight weeks by Altrincham-based artist, Colin Spofforth, who had submitted to Manchester City Council his idea for a heroic-sized sculpture of a sprinter as a means of celebrating the beauty, power and determination of the competing athletes.[82] Reaching thirty feet high, weighing seven tonnes, and titled The Runner, this unique larger-than-life bronze statue of a male sprinter surmounting a bronze globe was, at the time, the United Kingdom's largest sporting sculpture.[83] It depicts the very moment the runner leaves the blocks once the starter's gun has fired.

From 2005 to 2009 a Thomas Heatherwick sculpture, B of the Bang, was situated to the southeast of the stadium at the junction of Ashton New Road and Alan Turing Way. Built after the Commonwealth Games to commemorate them, it was the tallest sculpture in the United Kingdom. However, numerous structural problems led to the 184 ft. sculpture being dismantled in 2009 for safety reasons.[84] In 2014, money recovered by the Manchester City Council as a result of lengthy legal battles consequent to this debacle was used to fund a new £341,000 public sculpture a few hundred yards further south.[85]

In July 2011, CoMS was renamed the Etihad Stadium, sponsored by Etihad Airways[62] who fought off competition from Ferrostaal and Aabar to gain the stadium naming rights.[126] The lucrative ten-year sponsorship deal included not just the naming rights to the stadium itself but to the whole £200 million complex of football-related facilities into which it was soon to be incorporated.[127] In mid-September 2011, development plans were duly announced for a new state-of-the-art youth academy and training facility, now known as the City Football Academy (CFA)[64] to be built on derelict land adjacent to the stadium and which would include a 7,000 capacity mini-stadium plus fifteen additional outdoor football pitches, six swimming pools and three gyms.[128] The planned CFA facility was not only to become the new home base of the Manchester City first team squad, reserve (under-21 youth) team squad, and all of the Academy younger age group squads, but also the new home of the prior loosely affiliated Manchester City Ladies team[129] (which was re-branded in 2012 as Manchester City Women's F.C. and more formally merged into the Manchester City family of affiliated football teams).[130] Also fully integrated into the new CFA facility would be the parent club's world headquarters.[131]

At the beginning of March 2014, the structural framework for a new pedestrian walkway/footbridge over the junction of Alan Turing Way and Ashton New Road connecting the CFA with the Etihad Stadium was lowered into place.[132] With sponsor Suisse Power & Gas SA having subsequently secured the naming rights,[133] the completed SuisseGas Bridge was officially opened and turned over to Manchester City Council for general public access on 26 November 2014.[134] Twelve days later, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne,[135] presided over the official opening of the CFA.[136]

Manchester City v Manchester United in the EFL Cup semi-final second leg in January 2020

As part of Manchester City's commitment to community outreach in their redevelopment plans for the areas of East Manchester adjacent to the Etihad Stadium, other urban regeneration plans incorporated into the overall Etihad Campus development project include the new £43 million Beswick Community Hub,[137] that includes Connell Sixth Form College;[138] a community leisure centre (with swimming pool, dance studio, health and fitness gym, rugby pitch, and grass sports pitches);[139] and a planned Manchester Institute of Health and Performance.[140] On 26 November 2014, the same day the SuisseGas Bridge was officially opened, a "globally admired" grouping of stainless steel sculptures,[141] consisting of three towering metallic chess pieces called Dad's Halo Effect by its internationally acclaimed creator, Ryan Gander, was likewise unveiled to the public.[142] Commissioned by the Manchester City Council to represent both the past industrial and current sporting heritage of this area of east Manchester, the public artwork is located in front of the Connell Sixth Form College, close to the central circus of the Beswick Community Hub,[143] and only a few hundred yards south from where the area's last public sculpture, B of the Bang, had been situated.[144]

Outside the football season the stadium hosts annual summer concerts, and is one of the United Kingdom's largest music venues, having a maximum capacity of 60,000 for performances.[153] It was the largest stadium concert venue in England before the new Wembley Stadium was built.[153][154]

The first concert was a performance by the Red Hot Chili Peppers supported by James Brown in 2004.[150] An Oasis concert at the ground was featured on the DVD, Lord Don't Slow Me Down and the band's concert in 2005 set the attendance record of 60,000.[5] Take That released a DVD of their 2006 performance at the stadium, Take That: The Ultimate Tour.[155] Other artists who have played the stadium are U2,[150] Beyoncé, Jay-Z, George Michael,[149] Rod Stewart,[150] Foo Fighters,[150] Pet Shop Boys,[149] Manic Street Preachers,[150] Bastille, Dizzee Rascal, The Futureheads, the Sugababes, Taylor Swift, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Coldplay,[149] Bruce Springsteen,[149] Muse,[149] Bon Jovi[149] (three times), Robbie Williams,[156] One Direction,[157] The Stone Roses, The Best and the Spice Girls.[158]

Concerts and boxing matches eventually took their toll on the pitch. In 2008, late post-concert pitch renovation, combined with an early start to the football season, led to the pitch not being ready for the first home fixture,[159] causing the club to play its UEFA Cup first round qualifying match at Barnsley's Oakwell Stadium[160] and a moratorium to be imposed on the staging of non-football events at Eastlands. In May 2010, the club invested in a new pitch[41][161] and summer concerts resumed in 2011 when Take That[149] played eight nights, with ticket sales totalling approximately 400,000.

CoMS is rated a category 4 stadium[162] by UEFA and has hosted several major football matches in addition to Manchester City's home fixtures. It became the fiftieth stadium to host an England international football match when the English and Japanese national teams played on 1 June 2004.[6] In June 2005, the stadium hosted England's opening game in the UEFA Women's Championship, setting an attendance record of 29,092 for the competition.[163] The stadium also hosted the 2008 UEFA Cup Final,[5] in which Zenit Saint Petersburg defeated Rangers 2–0.

In May 2011, the stadium hosted the Conference National play-off final between AFC Wimbledon and Luton Town; Wimbledon gained promotion to the Football League after beating Luton in a penalty shoot-out.[164] The stadium was used for the play-offs because the 2011 UEFA Champions League Final was due to take place at Wembley on 28 May 2011 and UEFA regulations stipulate the stadium hosting the Champions League final must not be used for other matches during the previous two weeks.[165]

In October 2004, the stadium played host to a rugby league international match between Great Britain and Australia in the Tri-Nations series in front of nearly 40,000 spectators.[166] The stadium more recently hosted the Magic Weekend for three consecutive seasons (2012–2014).[7] This is a rugby league competition in which all 14 members of the Super League competition play each other over a full weekend. After a record attendance in 2012 – both for a single day (32,953) and the aggregate for the whole weekend (63,716) – the Etihad Stadium became the venue of choice for this annual rugby league event, setting another attendance record (36,339 / 64,552) for it in May 2014. However, the current construction work involved with the expansion of the South Stand caused this competition to be relocated to St. James' Park for the summer of 2015, but it is expected to return to the Etihad again once the expansion work is complete.[167]

On 24 May 2008, Stockport born and twice IBF and IBO light welterweight champion boxer Ricky Hatton defeated Juan Lazcano in a contest billed as "Hatton's Homecoming". The fight was held in front of 56,337 fans,[8] setting a record attendance for a British boxing event post World War II.[168]

On 10 October 2015 it hosted a 2015 Rugby World Cup Pool A match between hosts nation England and Uruguay.[169] England won 60–3 with 50,778 in attendance.[170]