They’ve only played 5 games with the new south stand and sell out every time. Second expansion of Etihad Stadium may come sooner than expected...

It’s only been two months since Manchester City welcomed their first 50,000+ crowd, but the club have their reasons to rejoice. New south stand is sold out on a regular basis, only depending on away supporters’ demand for tickets (also housed in the south).

So far all 5 Premier League games were sold out and average attendance since expansion of Etihad Stadium stands at 53,889. And no wonder, because City are top of the league at the moment, leaving behind Arsenal and archrivals United.

© jrb

Already before the weekend unofficial information of upcoming second expansion surfaced. According to this leak City hope to break ground behind the north stand in mid-2016, after current season. This would bring Etihad Stadium to over 62,000 and make it the second largest Premier League venue.

The information was picked up by Mirror.co.uk and seems very sensible as City never planned to delay the north stand’s expansion more than needed. One possible reason for halting the second phase would be insufficient ticket demand, but so far numbers are along (if not beyond) expectations.

City already have planning permission for the third tier over north end, so the capacity increase now only depends on when the club find it suitable to launch. From that moment works would last roughly 1.5 year, which means that late 2017 is the time we could expect a newer, greater Etihad Stadium.