The £300m redevelopment of Manchester City’s Etihad Campus is transforming the area from a football-focused destination into an all-round leisure, entertainment, and business hub.
Co‑op Live, the UK’s largest indoor arena, opened on the Etihad Campus in May 2024. Developed and financed by Oak View Group, Manchester City Football Group (and the singer Harry Styles) are minority partners in the venue.
“At our core, we’re a football club that plays 25 to 30 home games a season. Now, Co-op Live has moved that on and we’re looking at 120 to 150 events a year which bring in people from outside Manchester and the locality,” said Danny Wilson, managing director of Manchester City operations at MCFC.
Entertainment destination
Ranging from music and comedy to major televised ceremonies, upcoming events at Co-op Live include the BRIT Awards and the MOBO Awards, plus concerts by Def Leppard, Tame Impala, Olivia Dean, and Hans Zimmmer. With the addition of the new arena, the football club recognised the need for a hotel on site.
The Medlock, a 401-room upper-upscale hotel, operated by Radisson Hotel Group, is scheduled to open in late 2026. The construction of the hotel is being financed by Manchester City Group (majority owned by Abu Dhabi United Group) as part of its £300m redevelopment programme.
Around 65 hotel groups made bids during a “very difficult” operator selection process, according to Elie Younes, executive vice president & global chief development officer, Radisson Hotel Group.
Flexibility and collaboration
Wilson said: “We needed a flexible partner. We needed the cultural fit. There are exciting times ahead, but we're going to learn together. The wider opportunity becomes how we're going to drive footfall and occupancy outside of match days and arena event days.”
Younes agreed: “To justify the investment in the hotel requires a lot of collaboration with the other parts of the real estate, be it the football club, the adjacent facilities, the Co op Live arena and so on. Collaboration is key in this kind of venture.”
Radisson already operates several stadium or venue-based hotels in India, China, and in the UK at Twickenham, Edgbaston, Oxford United and the O2 arena. Such hotels tend to be run under franchise agreements which provide control over on‑the‑ground execution and close collaboration, said Younes.
An entrepreneurial mindset and common sense are essential for the success of such operations, he added: “Leave the corporate nonsense and corporate dogmas at home. Branding is secondary.”
The wider regeneration of East Manchester
Despite Manchester City being a global brand, the club deliberately chose not to create a Manchester City‑themed hotel. Visitors to the campus today are not necessarily coming for football. They might be Ultimate Fighting Championship fans, NBA fans, concertgoers, families, and tourists.
From 2000, the regeneration of East Manchester has used anchors such as the Etihad Campus, the Velodrome, and Co‑op Live to pull in private investment and reshape the area’s identity.
Wilson underlined the importance of the public - private partnerships too: “The Council and the City have got big ambitions. I think everything's moving in the right direction.”
Examples of Manchester City Council’s involvement include the upgraded Terminal 2 at Manchester Airport and the Holt Town masterplan, which will introduce new residential and mixed‑use developments between Piccadilly and the Etihad Campus.
F&B comes in-house
Manchester City FC has launched training programmes in construction, hospitality, and stewarding to upskill local residents, said Wilson. F&B is now in-house under a joint venture with Oak View Group, which enables the football club to offer more consistent work shifts and clearer career pathways as the number of visitor attractions increases across the Campus. Wilson emphasised that while facilities matter, it is people who ultimately shape the visitor experience.
He added that the football club is working hard to deliver a varied and modern range of cuisines: “We've integrated Michelin-starred chefs into some of our higher end areas. We also work with independent local operators, so it stays relevant, stays on trend, and authentically Mancunian. So we're keeping our finger on the pulse in that regard, because everybody wants decent food and drink nowadays, and it's a rightful expectation in my view.”
Residential potential
Beyond hospitality and the visitor experience, the club is also exploring longer-term opportunities across the campus and branded residential units may form part of future phases.
Manchester City FC has already been involved in residential development in Ancoats and elsewhere, and residential development on the Campus is “not out of the question,” said Wilson
Younes underlined that major urban regeneration projects can take decades to come to fruition: “It’s not the hotel itself that is make or break. The investors have a much longer-term view rather than an obsession with short-term gain. We’re basically trying to shift the economic gravity of a city towards another location. It’s going to take time.”
The ‘Building better cities: Hospitality at the heart of regional transformation’ session took place at the AHC 2025 in Manchester. It was moderated by James Chappell, global business director corporate, Horwath HLT