, and will be the biggest indoor arena in the country. The £365 million project will in the long-term, CFG hopes, contribute significantly to the group's value. It is understood that the CFG earnings from ticket sales, merchandising and everything else will not benefit directly Manchester City's first team budget. Even so when you have as much money as CFG do, and rules limiting spending on player fees and wages – as they know only too well - such infrastructure investment is a good alternative. The 23,500-seater arena next to their stadium, which is itself being expanded, opens next year. It feels like the latest part of CFG's plans for world domination. First the multi-club group, now the multi-arena experience. Harry Styles is an investor and will be among the first to play what will be known as 'Co-op Live' –){kind=link}
The era of multi-use arenas is upon us and there is a marked difference between clubs that are willing to embrace it
The owners, investors, chief executives and a few more besides from Europe’s biggest clubs were in Berlin this week to carve up the wealth of Uefa’s competitions from 2024 onwards, and to listen to some sermons on building their other revenue.
What they learned will delight some and chill the bones of others. The news from the United States is that the growth is in multi-use arenas for live events that exploit the big assets of a club – its stadium – placed often at the heart of a city and easily accessed. Covid lockdowns, they were told, has created an insatiable appetite for live events. Taylor Swift’s latest tour has earned $1 billion in ticket sales alone. Premium hospitality packages at the F1 race in Las Vegas were selling for $50,000. Sweat the asset and the people will come.
The news was delivered by Tim Leiweke, best known as the US sports exec who brought David Beckham to Major League Soccer in 2007 and jolted the league into life. His latest company develops or manages more than 300 venues across the US and also in Europe and beyond. The next is currently being built adjacent to the Etihad Stadium, in partnership with the City Football Group (CFG), and will be the biggest indoor arena in the country.
The £365 million project will in the long-term, CFG hopes, contribute significantly to the group’s value. It is understood that the CFG earnings from ticket sales, merchandising and everything else will not benefit directly Manchester City’s first team budget. Even so when you have as much money as CFG do, and rules limiting spending on player fees and wages – as they know only too well – such infrastructure investment is a good alternative.