City of Manchester Stadium (Manchester)

The City of Manchester Stadium, which is also known as CoMS or Eastlands Stadium, is a sports venue in Manchester, England. It was originally designed with a capacity of 80,000 as part of Manchester's failed bid for the 2000 Summer Olympics. The stadium's foundation stone was laid in December 1999. The construction of the stadium took place from January 2000 until July 2002. The stadium was designed by Arup Associates and constructed by John Laing at a cost of £110,000,000. It served as the main stadium for the 2002 Commonwealth Games, hosting the Opening and Closing ceremonies and the Athletics and Rugby Sevens events. At the time, the stadium had a single-tier running around three sides of the athletics track, second tiers to the two sides, and an uncovered three-section temporary stand at the north end. It had a seating capacity of 38,000. After the Commonwealth games, extensive work was carried out in the stadium to convert it for use as a football stadium. The athletics track was removed and the ground level was lowered to make way for an additional tier of seating. The temporary stand was dismantled and replaced with a permanent stand of similar design to the opposite end. The extensive work took a year and increased the stadium to its current capacity of 47,726. The conversion of the stadium cost £35,000,000. The stadium reopened on August 10, 2003 and the first football match held there was won by Manchester City over Barcelona. It has served as the home stadium of Manchester City F.C. since 2003. The club has signed a 250-year lease for use of the stadium. The stadium is owned by the Manchester City Council. It hosted the UEFA Cup Final in 2008. Prior to hosting this event the stadium was rated as a 4-star stadium by the UEFA. It was promoted to a 5-star Stadium after hosting the event. It is the only UEFA 5-star-rated stadium with a capacity below 50,000.

The 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. While the seating is continuous, each side of the stadium has its own name in the manner of a traditional football ground. There are 68 executive boxes around the stadium, located along the West, North and East Stands. The boxes on the East and West stands seat 10 people, while the boxes on the North Stand seat 8 people. The stadium roof is toroidal in shape, and 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 louvres, to allow for ventilation of the pitch. Entry is gained by RFID smart card rather than the traditional manned turnstile. This system can admit up to 1,200 people per minute around all entrances. A service tunnel running under the stadium provides access for emergency vehicles, and allows the visiting team's coach to enter the stadium directly. Inside the stadium are six themed restaurants, two of which have views of the pitch, and a number of conference facilities. The stadium is also licensed for marriage ceremonies. The stadium has a UEFA standard dimension pitch which measures 105 x 68 metres, and features a natural grass pitch reinforced with artificial grass fibres made by Desso. There are approximately 218 floodlights in the stadium each using 2000 watts. In total they produce 436,000 watts when they are all on. The stadium is the centrepiece of Sportcity, which includes the Regional Athletics Arena (which served as a warm up track for the stadium during the Commonwealth Games), the Manchester Velodrome, the National Squash Centre, and the B of the Bang sculpture. The stadium site itself has 2,000 parking spaces, with another 8,000 spaces in the surrounding area.

Outside the football season, the stadium hosts occasional concerts, and is one of the UK's largest music venues, having a maximum capacity of 60,000.