Top facts about Etihad Stadium, the Citizens residence

The City of Manchester Stadium (commonly abbreviated as COMS) is the home of Premier League team Manchester City F.C., with a domestic football capacity of 53,400, making it the fifth-largest in the Premier League and the tenth-largest in the United Kingdom.

This stadium, which is the main subject of top facts about Etihad stadium, has since hosted the 2008 UEFA Cup Final, England football internationals, rugby league matches, a boxing world title fight, the England rugby union team's final match of the 2015 Rugby World Cup, and summer music concerts during the football off-season.

The stadium, which was originally proposed as an athletics arena in Manchester's bid for the 2000 Summer Olympics, was converted from a 38,000 capacity arena to a 48,000 seat football stadium after the 2002 Commonwealth Games at a cost of £22 million to the city council and £20 million to Manchester City.

agreed to lease the stadium from Manchester City Council in the summer of 2003 and relocated from Maine Road.

The stadium was built for £112 million by Laing Construction and planned and engineered by Arup, who included a cable-stayed roof structure detached from the main stadium bowl and sustained entirely by twelve external poles and associated cables.

The stadium design has garnered a lot of acclaim and awards, including a special award from the Institution of Structural Engineers in 2003 for its distinctive structural design and an award from the Royal Institute of British Architects in 2004 for its creative inclusive building design.

A 7,000-seat third layer was built on the South Stand in August 2015, just in time for the start of the 2015–16 football season. The addition was planned to blend in with the existing roof structure.

All about top facts about Etihad Stadium, the Citizens residence

We'll take a comprehensive tour of Etihad Stadium in this article of

top facts about Etihad Stadium

, learning about the structure as well as the history of this wonderful facility.

This page also includes information about the stadium's past functions and the derivation of its name. Without further ado, let us get right into the subject and discover more about the Citizens' dwelling.

Etihad stadium name origin

Here is another weird fact of

top facts about Etihad stadium

, as you may be aware, the stadium is known by two names: Etihad Stadium and City of Manchester Stadium.

Manchester City Council called the stadium the City of Manchester Stadium before the building began in December 1999, however it has a variety of other names.

When written and spoken, the City of Manchester Stadium is shortened to CoMS. Eastlands was the name given to the site and the stadium before they were renamed SportCity and CoMS, and it is still used for both the stadium and the entire complex, though less frequently than SportCity.

For the 2015 Rugby World Cup, the stadium was formally renamed Manchester City Stadium. In October 2010, the football club renegotiated its 250-year lease with the municipal government, acquiring naming rights in exchange for a significant rise in fee.

The club renamed the stadium Etihad Stadium in July 2011 as part of a ten-year sponsorship deal with team shirt sponsors Etihad Airways.

The deal includes naming rights to the stadium, a ten-year extension of the team's uniform sponsorship, and the club's youth academy and training facilities being transferred to the City Football Academy on the Etihad Campus development across the road from the stadium.

Stand names

Despite the fact that the stadium is a continuous oval bowl, each side is named after a classic football pitch. The compass orientation was used to name all of the sides at first (North Stand and South Stand for the ends, East Stand and West Stand for the sides).

The West Stand has christened the Colin Bell Stand in honor of the former player after a fan vote in February 2004.

Due to allegations that it had been hijacked by rival supporters who wanted to call the renamed stand The Bell End, the vote was almost canceled (and the stand instead named after Joe Mercer).

However, the club's loyal fans made it plain that they still want the stand to be named after their hero. Fans often refer to the East Stand as the Kippax, in honor of the club's boisterous east stand at Maine Road.

The North Stand is the only component of the stadium that was constructed after the Commonwealth Games, during the redevelopment of the stadium.

Supporters dubbed the temporary unroofed north stand it replaced the New Gene Kelly Stand, a reference to the unroofed corner between the Kippax and the North Stand at the club's former Maine Road home because they frequently found themselves "singing in the rain" because it was exposed to the elements.

Seating in the North Stand has been restricted to supporters accompanied by children since the 2010–11 season, leading to the nickname "Family Stand" for this section of the stadium.

Despite the fact that the North Stand has never been officially renamed and is still commonly referred to as such, most external ticketing offices and stadium guides, as well as the club itself, now label and refer to this section of the ground as the Family Stand when discussing seating and ticket sales.

Here is another minor fact of top facts about Etihad stadium, the South Stand was formerly known as the Scoreboard End (the previous name of the North Stand at Maine Road), and it is home to the majority of the City's loudest supporters.

Visitors' supporters are usually given seats in this stand, which offers easy access from the guest supporter coach park. For sponsorship purposes, the South Stand was renamed the Key 103 Stand from 2003 to 2006, however frequent customers were generally unaware of this.

The North Stand would thereafter become the Home End, with no corporate hospitality spaces, a considerably expanded second tier, "cheap" ticket pricing, and possibly portions capable of conversion to safe standing, according to a November 2018 consultation exercise on future extension alternatives.

The singing area would then be in the North Stand, while the Family Stand would be moved to another location in the stadium.

Etihad stadium history

Time for the history of the Citizens' home in this section of top facts about Etihad stadium.

Manchester's plans for a new stadium were developed before 1989 as part of the city's quest to host the 1996 Summer Olympics. Manchester City Council put in a bid that included plans for an 80,000-seat stadium on a greenfield location west of the city center.

The bid was unsuccessful, and the Games were held in Atlanta.

Four years later, the city council submitted a proposal to host the 2000 Summer Olympics, this time focusing on a brownfield site 1.6 kilometers (0.99 miles) east of the city center on the abandoned ground that was once home to Bradford Colliery, dubbed Eastlands.

The council's shift in focus was prompted by new government laws on urban renewal, which promised critical support money for such projects; in 1992, the government helped pay the purchase and clearing of the Eastlands property.

Prime days

Where did the development of this stadium start? Let's learn all about it in this section of top facts about Etihad stadium.

The city government presented another 80,000-capacity stadium design for the February 1993 proposal, this time created by design consultants Arup, the group that assisted in the selection of the Eastlands site.

The games were given to Sydney on September 23, 1993, but Manchester proposed the identical concept design to the Millennium Commission as a "Millennium Stadium" the following year, only to have it denied.

Undaunted, Manchester City Council sought to host the 2002 Commonwealth Games, offering the same location as well as smaller stadium ideas taken from the 2000 Olympics bid, and were successful this time.

This similar proposed stadium competed with Wembley Stadium for financing to become the next national stadium in 1996, but the funds were diverted to refurbish Wembley.

Athletics figures such as Jonathan Edwards and Sebastian Coe criticized the conversion to a football venue after successful athletics events at the Commonwealth Games because the United Kingdom still lacked plans for a large athletics venue at the time because the ability to install an athletics track had been dropped from the designs for a rebuilt Wembley Stadium.

Manchester would have had a facility capable of being converted to holding large-scale athletics events through the use of flexible seats if one of Arup's two bigger stadium ideas had been approved for financing.

Late development

The internal ground level was reduced to create a place for an extra deck of seating, on terracing that had already been erected and buried for the original arrangement.

The three temporary structures, which held a total of 16,000 people, were demolished and rebuilt with a permanent structure that looked identical to the one at the southern end. This project took over a year to complete and added 23,000 permanent seats, bringing the total capacity of the transformed stadium to around 48,000 people.

Manchester City F.C. relocated to the stadium in time for the 2003–04 season. The track, field, and seating modification was sponsored by the city government for £22 million, while the construction of bars, restaurants, and corporate entertainment facilities around the stadium was paid by the football club for £20 million.

Sport England decided that a minor operational surplus from the Games may be re-invested in the £3.5 million conversion of the athletics warm-up track adjacent to the main stadium into the 6,000-seat Manchester Regional Arena.

The structure itself is a beautiful work of art, but what top facts about Etihad stadium can we find within its walls?

Etihad stadium structure

Manchester City Council sought a sustainable "landmark" building that would serve as an "icon" for the redevelopment of the previously heavily industrialized area surrounding Bradford Colliery, as well as offering spectators with good sightlines in an "atmospheric" arena while designing the development.

The pitch is six meters below ground level, a hallmark of Roman gladiatorial arenas and amphitheaters. Arup intended the stadium to be "an intimate, even threatening, gladiatorial arena expressing the spirit of a football club."

The cigar-shaped roof supports with blue lighting beacons, sculpted rainwater gutters, poly-carbonate perimeter roof edging, and openable louvers to encourage pitch grass growth have all been praised for their attention to detail, which has been compared to high-tech architecture.

The tensioned technology that holds the toroidal-shaped stadium roof together has been dubbed "ground-breaking" by New Steel Construction magazine. The arching roof and support masts, which are distinct from the concrete bowl, are the stadium's architectural focal point.

The inner perimeter of the roof structure is encircled by a catenary cable, which is connected to the masts through forestay cables. To support the structure, backstay cables and corner ties from the masts are connected to the ground.

The former south end roof was destroyed in 2015 to make room for the third layer of seats, but the southern masts and corner ties were left in place to anchor the catenary cable that now runs beneath the new roof.

The new, taller South Stand roof is a distinct structure with its own set of braced masts and cables, and it is envisaged that the projected North Stand addition would follow suit.

Etihad stadium facilities

In a subterranean section beneath the west stand, there are amenities for players and match officials, as well as a kitchen that serves up to 6,000 people on match days, press rooms, ground staff storage, and a jail cell. The stadium is also certified to hold wedding ceremonies and includes conference facilities.

KSS Architects completed the fit-out of the hospitality suites, kitchens, offices, and concourse concessions, as well as the communications cabling and access control system installation.

The inside of the stadium is a continuous oval bowl with three layers of seats on each side and two tiers on each end. Rather than using typical staffed turnstiles, clients use contactless smart cards to obtain entry. Through all gates, the system has a capacity of 1,200 passengers per minute.

Emergency vehicles and the visiting team's coach may reach the stadium immediately through a service tunnel underneath the stadium. Inside the stadium, fans will find six themed restaurants, two of which offer views of the pitch, as well as 70 executive boxes in the north, west, and east stands, which are located above the second deck of seating.

In the event of a power outage, the stadium is outfitted with backup generators. These are capable of maintaining the stadium's electrics as well as the floodlights operating at 800 lux, which is the minimum level required by FIFA to continue broadcasting live football.

The next part of top facts about Etihad stadium is dedicated to the field.

Etihad stadium field metrics

The most important part of a football stadium is its field and this part of top facts about Etihad stadium is all about it.

The roof was constructed with a ten-meter strip of translucent polycarbonate around its circumference to maximize sunlight and produce the best grass playing surface possible in the stadium bowl. In addition, each of the stadium's non-seating corners has perforated walls with adjustable louvers that can be changed to offer grass ventilation and general circulation throughout the stadium.

To give the grass the best growth conditions, drainage and under-pitch heating were constructed. The pitch is 105 by 68 meters (115 by 74 yards) and is covered with natural grass enhanced with Desso artificial fibers. 218 2000-watt floodlights, totaling 436,000 watts, illuminate the playing surface.

The grass playing surface is regarded as one of the greatest in English football, having been nominated for best Premier League pitch five times in the previous nine seasons, winning the title in 2010–11.

Etihad stadium other uses

The stadium may hold non-football events such as concerts, boxing, and rugby matches at Manchester City's discretion under the conditions of its lease. In order to increase the amount of non-footballing events at the stadium, Manchester City filed for a permanent entertainment license in 2012.

Outside of football season, the stadium stages annual summer concerts and is one of the largest music venues in the United Kingdom, with a seating capacity of 60,000. Before the current Wembley Stadium was completed, it was England's largest stadium music venue.

On the field, concerts and boxing contests gradually took their toll. In 2008, late post-concert pitch renovations combined with an early start to the football season resulted in the pitch not being ready for the first home match, forcing the club to play its UEFA Cup first-round qualifying match at Barnsley's Oakwell Stadium and a moratorium on non-football events at Eastlands to be imposed.

The club invested in a new pitch in May 2010, and summer concerts returned in 2011 with "Take That" performing eight nights and selling about 400,000 tickets.

In October 2004, the stadium hosted a rugby league international match in the Tri-Nations series between Great Britain and Australia in front of over 40,000 fans. For three years in a row (2012–2014), the stadium hosted the Magic Weekend.

After achieving attendance records for a single day (32,953) and the entire weekend (63,716) in 2012, the Etihad Stadium became the preferred location for this annual rugby league game, setting another attendance record (36,339/64,552) in May 2014.

However, due to building work on the South Stand enlargement, it was moved to St. James' Park in Newcastle for the summer of 2015.

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