City of Manchester Stadium
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Manchester City Council agreed a 250 year lease of the stadium to Manchester City Football Club in exchange for their old stadium Maine Road. As part of the deal, Manchester City Football Club will pay 50% of the revenues of ticket sales over 34,000 seats (The capacity of Maine Road) to the council as part of a rent on the stadium. [edit] HistoryPlans to build a stadium in east Manchester were first formulated as part of the city's bid to host the 2000 Summer Olympics, with Manchester City Council commissioning a design for an 80,000 capacity stadium on a brownfield site known colloquially as Eastlands. However, in October 1993 the games were awarded to Sydney. Manchester subsequently made a successful bid to host the 2002 Commonwealth Games, using the stadium plans from the Olympic bid. In 1996, the planned stadium competed with Wembley to gain funding to become the English National Stadium, but the award was granted to Wembley for redevelopment. Following this the plans were scaled down, and the council reached an agreement with Manchester City to secure the long term future of the venue, whereby the stadium would be created with a 38,000 capacity for the Commonwealth Games, and then converted for use as a football venue with a capacity of 48,000. As built for the Commonwealth Games the stadium had a single lower tier running around all of the athletics track (the current middle tier), apart from one end ; second tiers to the two sides (now the third tiers) and a temporary stand at one end. Before Manchester City F.C. moved in the track was removed and the pitch lowered to make way for the current lower tier, and the old lower tier was extended around the end where the temporary stand had been. This extensive work took a year and added twelve thousand seats. Manchester City moved to the new ground for the 2003/04 season. The work to change the stadium from the Commonwealth Games stadium to the 'football' stadium cost £35 million, which was paid for by Manchester City Football Club. The City of Manchester stadium has the widest pitch in English football, and entry is gained by electronic smart card rather than the traditional manned-turnstyle. The advanced entry system means the stadium can allow 1200 people in every minute around all entrances. The stadium became the 50th stadium to host an England international match when England played Japan on June 1 2004, and is rated as a 4 star stadium by UEFA, meaning it is eligible to host the UEFA Cup final. The stadium is home to B of the Bang, the tallest sculpture in the UK, built to commemorate the success of the 2002 Commonwealth Games. On October 30 2004, the COMS played host to a Rugby League match between Great Britain and Australia in the Tri-Nations series. The stadium was also built for attracting concerts to the stadium and is one of the UK's biggest concert venues. The maximum capacity for concerts is 60,000 and in the summer of 2004 it held its first concert, a performance by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. The stadium has also hosted 2 concerts by U2 and 3 concerts by Oasis. In the summer of 2006, the stadium hosted concerts by Bon Jovi and Take That. [edit] StructureThe interior of the City of Manchester Stadium is a continuous oval bowl, with three tiers of seating at the sides, and two tiers at each end. The toroidal stadium roof is suspended from steel cables attached to eight towers, which also provide access to the upper tiers of seating via spiral ramps. The areas without seating in each corner have moveable vents, to allow ventilation of the pitch. The stadium has won a number of design awards, including the 2004 RIBA Inclusive Design Award for inclusivity in building design, and the 2003 Institution of Structural Engineers Structural Special Award. |
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