March 27, Manchester's Etihad Stadium.
Night had just fallen, yet the stadium was already ablaze with lights.
After the renovations, the stadium's outer walls had been coated with sky-blue paint. Under the lights, the entire stadium looked like a dazzling sapphire—beautiful beyond words.
The only regret was that even after the first expansion, the stadium's capacity still hadn't exceeded fifty thousand.
But that didn't matter. Man City's plan for further expanding the Etihad Stadium had already been put on the agenda. This time, they planned to add more than fourteen thousand seats directly, bringing the total capacity to sixty-two thousand. That would surpass the other clubs and make it the second-largest stadium in the Premier League, second only to Manchester United's Old Trafford.
At present, Man City's stadium expansion plan had been submitted to Manchester City Council for approval. It had a very high chance of passing, because the project would create hundreds of temporary jobs, add more than a hundred permanent positions in the future, and create even more employment opportunities. That would benefit Manchester as well.
One important reason Man City dared to expand so boldly was that the club's ticket market was incredibly hot.
As the team's results had improved by leaps and bounds over the past two seasons, more and more fans had entered the Etihad Stadium. This had made Man City tickets incredibly difficult to obtain, and even season tickets were in short supply.
This was also related to Man City's operating strategy.
After the Abu Dhabi consortium had taken over, Man City's ticket prices had consistently remained in the Premier League's lowest tier. Converted, the cheapest tickets cost 344 euros, the lowest in the Premier League—thirty euros cheaper than second-place Aston Villa.
After the stadium renovations, Man City's most expensive season tickets reached 900