Featured image: Rob Ridley
Additional images: Manchester City
Manchester City has said it is aiming to open the expanded North Stand at Etihad Stadium by January 2026, with the club engaging Radisson as its partner for the hotel that is part of the wider project.
The Premier League club’s previous official line was that the North Stand itself would open during the 2025-26 season, with the hotel, workspace and public realm works elements of the wider project, including City Square, following in late 2026.
However, the Manchester Evening News, citing the Forever Blue podcast, said City’s managing director of operations, Danny Wilson, put forward January 2026 at a club event, with this date the target so long as the project progresses as planned.
The £300m (€360.5m/$385.2m) venture aims to deliver one of the best matchday experiences in world sport and a world-class, year-round entertainment destination for fans and global visitors alike.
Centred around an expanded North Stand with one larger, single upper tier increasing Etihad Stadium’s capacity from 53,400 to over 60,000, the project also includes a sky bar with views overlooking the pitch, a stadium roof walk experience, a covered City Square fan zone with a wide variety of food and drink outlets and a capacity for 3,000 people, a new club shop and museum, a workspace and a 401-room hotel.
City has today (Wednesday) announced it will partner with Radisson Hotel Group on its four-star hotel, which will be connected to Etihad Stadium.
Named ‘The Medlock’, taking inspiration from the River Medlock that runs underneath Etihad Campus, the hotel will operate all year round, providing accommodation for music and sport fans who are attending events at the Etihad Stadium and Co-op Live arena, as well guests exploring the Campus and Manchester.
The Medlock will offer guests a choice of suites, deluxe and standard rooms, in addition to a luxury penthouse suite. Upon completion, guests will also have access to a wide variety of food and drink outlets, the roof walk and museum experience and commercial office space in the expanded stadium area. The hotel will also benefit from a wide range of conference and events options within the Etihad Stadium.
The upper-upscale hotel will be operated by management company, Valor Hospitality. Roel de Vries, chief operating officer at City Football Group, said: “Radisson’s enthusiasm and passion for the club’s hotel project is clear, and we firmly believe that Radisson’s industry experience together with the club’s ambition and vision for the hotel is the perfect combination.
“We look forward to working with Radisson Hotel Group as we move towards the opening of the hotel and a year-round sports and entertainment destination that our fans and visitors from both the UK and around the world can enjoy.”
Elie Younes, executive vice-president and global chief development officer at Radisson Hotel Group, added: “This hotel is a fantastic addition to a growing portfolio of several stadium-based properties in the UK, like the renowned cricket ground, Edgbaston Stadium; the Allianz Stadium Twickenham, home of England rugby; and worldwide in India and China.
“We are grateful for Manchester City’s trust in our brands, and confident that our long-standing cooperation will unlock further opportunities to all stakeholders.”
City received the final green light for the development project in October 2023, with the club in November announcing that the new steel structure of the North Stand had been attached and bolted to the existing stadium.
Once completed, the new facilities will sit alongside the 23,500 Co-op Live – a joint venture between City Football Group and Oak View Group which finally opened in May last year following a difficult path to delivery.
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