Finance guru: Man City have ‘endless potential’ after unprecedented stadium news
The potential for Man City to expand their matchday income through the Metaverse is practically “endless”.
That is the view of finance expert Doctor Dan Plumley, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about their latest high-tech project at the Etihad.
As reported by iNews last Friday (18 February), City are working with tech giants Sony to create a Metaverse iteration of the stadium.
It is understood that club chiefs predict that they can sell thousands of match tickets and expand their revenue base in the virtual reality sphere.
A total of £62.4million came through City’s turnstiles in the last season not affected by Covid restrictions.
Plumley insists that the Metaverse project could see an explosion in matchday income.
“It’s really smart and I’m surprised we haven’t seen this sooner,” the Sheffield Hallam University expert told Football Insider‘s Adam Williams.
“I heard noises that they were working on this a couple of years ago. In terms of generating revenue, the potential is endless.
“There are no restrictions on capacity. There may be hurdles to jump in terms of broadcasting blackouts and things like that, so you have to be wary of that.
“How is this different from clubs selling their own broadcasting feeds? That is the theoretical question.
“But this is being pitched as a virtual matchday experience. That impact that has on revenue expansion would be huge.
“You need the technology but that is available at the stadium now. The issue is that you would presumably need some form of headset to dial into this.
“But if you can get this right, this opens the doors for a big jump in matchday revenue.
“How often have we spoken about having a finite matchday income? This blows the door wide open in that regard.”
City have a six-point lead at the top of the Premier League but have played one more game than 2nd-place Liverpool.
They are next in action against Everton on Saturday (26 February).
In other news, pundit suggests Man City “worried” about Jack Grealish after critical update.