City of Manchester Stadium
City: Manchester
Capacity: 55 097 people
The City of Manchester Stadium (also known as the Etihad Stadium for sponsorship purposes) in Manchester, England, is the home ground of Manchester City Football Club, the fifth-largest stadium in the Premier League and the twelfth-largest in the United Kingdom, with a seating capacity of 47,805. The SportCity location but with a larger stadium, had been proposed for the main athletics arena in Manchester's failed bid for the 2000 Summer Olympics. In the 2002 Commonwealth Games bid, the capacity for the Games was to be 38,000, and after the games it would be converted to be 48,000. The stadium was built by Laing Construction at a cost of £112 million from a design by architectural consultants Arup Associates. To ensure the long-term financial viability of the project after the Commonwealth Games, it was agreed in 1998 that Manchester City F.C. would lease the stadium from Manchester City Council as a replacement for Maine Road. The conversion from a track and field arena to a football stadium cost the city council £22 million and Manchester City £20 million The club moved into its new home during the summer of 2003. In addition to athletics, the stadium has hosted the 2008 UEFA Cup Final, England football internationals, rugby league matches, boxing world title fights and music concerts, and will host one 2015 Rugby World Cup match.
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