Why Manchester City Want a Smaller Stadium

How COVID and dropping TV revenues have conspired to push one of the world's richest clubs to actually remove seats from their stadium.

Picture the scene. You work for the Manchester City admin team and your boss has just asked you to release a brand new statement. You read the title and instantly recoil, the blood draining from your face.

“You sure boss?” you ask out loud, the words barely forming in your dry mouth.

“Yes! just post it already!” they respond, obviously irritated by the delay.

You read it again, unable to believe your eyes. ‘It can’t be!’ you think, sweat forming at the corners of your now red face. The vision of thousands of memes and comments fills your mind's eye and you take a large gulp of water to try and calm down.

What announcement could possibly be so embarrassing for a successful club like Manchester City?

Well, this is how I like to imagine the scene went down when City officials asked their press team to release a statement on stadium redevelopment.

The real-world statement simply announced that the Premier League leaders were planning to remove 1,100 seats from their Etihad Stadium and use the free space to erect a second row of advertising boards.