MANCHESTER - Etihad Stadium (47,405)

[NeilF]

GNU;

The reason would appear to be structural; the COM was designed with its conversion in mind. The result is that, if you look at the lower tier with the athletics track (second tier in current configuration), you'll see that the structure is built on concrete supports, rather than on the ground. This allowed for easy conversion and suitable access / egress to the new lower tier. The Weser-Stadion, certainly, doesn't appear to be built in a similar way. The Weser-Stadion does not give the impression that it would be easy to suspend its current first tier over a new lower tier. The COM was designed with this eventuality in mind.

In my opinion, the result is that it would prove difficult to build a separate lower tier in Bremen because of structural / support / access issues, while a simple continuation of the current lower tier still leaves fans in certain seats the same distance from the pitch, may still have access issues given the scale of the new lower tier and could still end up leaving seats behind the goal a considerable distance from the pitch.

[GNU]

Right, still it must be possible to add a decent lower tier on the sideline stands methinks.
The stands behind the goals are being newly constructed in Bremen and Stuttgart, so thats not much of an issue.

[Mo Rush]

Prob been asked a million time but can the roof portions be removed somehow to increase capacity for a World Cup bid. Suppose the benefit to cost ratio would not be that great.

[KingmanIII]

IMO, one of the most underrated stadiums in the EPL.

[Ozric]

I would agree, out of all of the Premier League stadiums I have been to, and I have been to most, this would be in the top three. I'm not sure if its anything specific, as a package it the stadium just works. There is a card system on entry which makes entry fast and easy, spacious concources that don't feel sperated from the stadium bowl, and a genuine design to the stadium, unlike several indenikit bowls that have appeared.

[Kobo]

Manchester City are planning to expand their stadium to 60,000. Read the article here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2...rade-eastlands

[kanye]

Originally Posted by Kobo

Manchester City are planning to expand their stadium to 60,000. Read the article here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2...rade-eastlands

cool! an overall third tier would be very nice.

[Luke80]

Originally Posted by kanye

cool! an overall third tier would be very nice.

Agreed. It would look more 'finished'.

[Jim856796]

I don't think the capacity of this stadium can be expanded any further. It may involve altering the shape of its roof. I mlike itin its current capacity.

[Luke80]

Originally Posted by Jim856796

It may involve altering the shape of its roof.

Well it's been done before - it hosted the commonwealth games a few years ago.

[Jim856796]

No, that was expansion of the roof and capacity to its current shape. No way this stadium can be expandable to 60k capacity. It is not designed to hold that many spectators.

[www.sercan.de]

why?

[canarywondergod]

all you need to do is replace the roof and then you can fit bigger stands?! thats how expansion works in nearly every stadium?!

[Luke80]

Originally Posted by Jim856796

No, that was expansion of the roof and capacity to its current shape. No way this stadium can be expandable to 60k capacity. It is not designed to hold that many spectators.

That was a much bigger job than increasing capacity. They had to move the stands in and get rid of the athletics track.

[danVan]

WTF is that doing in this thread??

[Luke80]

He's posted it everywhere!

[KingmanIII]

Originally Posted by danVan

WTF is that doing in this thread??

Originally Posted by Luke80

He's posted it everywhere!

Looks like I missed all the fun.

[Luke80]

Originally Posted by KingmanIII

Looks like I missed all the fun.

Nah just some guy spamming some renders for a stadium everywhere. I guess he got banned.

[NeilF]

Originally Posted by Luke80

That was a much bigger job than increasing capacity. They had to move the stands in and get rid of the athletics track.

The job wasn't as big as it would have seemed; tiers two and three in the current design were the tiers that were there for the Commonwealth Games. If you look at various pictures, you can see that the (current) second tier was built on pillars to be suspended above a new lower tier, as any second tier would be. The result was that, on three sides, the conversion simply involved digging down and building a new lower tier on the ground.

One end of the stadium during the Commonwealth Games was a temporary stand which was removed and replaced with a complete new-build structure. The job to convert from athletics to football certainly wasn't massive.

The way the roof is supported, I don't think it would be too difficult to add a third tier behind the goals and re-pitch the roof. I think we're talking about changing 16 of the supports at each end to manage that, plus the pillars outside the stadium, of course. This may well be worth it, given that it could take capacity towards 60,000.

[RobH]

How long would it take and where would City play in the meantime?