ASM Global’s AO Arena in Manchester Unveils Dramatic Multimillion Dollar Three-Year Reimagination of Legendary Venue
27.4.2022 20:05:00 EEST | Business Wire | Press release
ASM Global, the world’s leading producer of entertainment experiences, venue management and event strategy, has announced a $63 million plan beginning this summer to transform the AO Arena in Manchester. This plan is set to dramatically enhance the venue’s premier position for live entertainment experiences through state-of-the-art infrastructure expansion and innovative guest features as the iconic arena looks to the future.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220427005883/en/
AO Arena, Manchester (Photo: Business Wire)
AO Arena in Manchester, located in the heart of the city, is one of the busiest indoor arenas in the world. Through its near 30-year history, the venue has firmly established itself as a beloved and iconic Manchester landmark, a must-play for artists, and a fan-favorite destination for world-class live entertainment. Officials from the AO Arena will be releasing more detailed plans in coming months.
Chris Bray, EVP Europe at ASM Global, said, “AO Arena is one of the world’s iconic venues and a much-loved part of Manchester’s rich culture and history. It has been delivering world-class entertainment experiences for over two decades. As we approach our 30th anniversary, this ambitious endeavor will not only reinforce its position as a leading destination for live entertainment but will extend its market leadership for ‘live’ and fan experiences for the next 30 years. We’re proud to be further investing into the heart of Manchester.
“The first phase will enhance and increase our standing floor capacity to share this historic arena with even more of our guests, and we will also be adding new hospitality lounges and investing in delivering an upgraded concourse experience. Our performers will be immersed in an all-new, back-of-house artists’ campus, unparalleled anywhere.”
Additional major developments include new arena entrances welcoming guests to the venue and new premium seating, which will transform the venue to an elevated experience.
AO Arena’s back-of-house campus dramatic upgrade will include a complete overhaul of the backstage experience for artists, production and crew. This includes new artist dressing rooms and production areas, a world-class green room with meet-and-greet facilities, an overhaul of crew catering, and first-class connectivity and technology.
Plans have already been jump started by the venue’s rapid scheduling of major sell-out 2022 events, including Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, Diana Ross, Alicia Keys, Swedish House Mafia, Snoop Dogg, George Ezra and more.
Jen Mitchell, general manager at the AO Arena, said, “This is a really exciting time for AO Arena. Not only are we able to welcome guests back after a challenging two years with a program packed full of world-class acts and entertainment, now we can reveal the first phase of ASM Global’s plans for the arena’s redevelopment. This will enhance the experience for everyone who sets foot in the venue, including artists, production, crew and our staff who work so hard to make the magic happen right here in Manchester.”
Unveiled in 1995, the arena was the first indoor venue in the U.K. to be built with a layout of 360-degree seating. Attracting over 1 million visitors yearly, the 21,000-capacity arena is a winner of the Stadium Business Awards’ prestigious ‘Venue of the Year’ award. There has been a host of musical talent that has performed at the venue, from Led Zeppelin legends Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, The Rolling Stones and Pavarotti to Dua Lipa and Lady Gaga as well as Manchester’s homegrown artists including Take That, Oasis, Elbow, New Order and The Courteeners. The venue has hosted everything from the 2002 Commonwealth Games, 2008 FINA World Swimming Championships and international boxing bouts by Mike Tyson, Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, David Haye, Joe Calzaghe and local champions Ricky Hatton, Amir Khan and Anthony Crolla.
About ASM Global
ASM Global is the world’s leading producer of entertainment experiences. It is the global leader in venue and event strategy and management—delivering locally tailored solutions and cutting-edge technologies to achieve maximum results for venue owners. The company’s elite venue network spans five continents, with a portfolio of more than 350 of the world’s most prestigious arenas, stadiums, convention and exhibition centers, and performing arts venues. Connect with us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. asmglobal.com
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220427005883/en/
Contact information
Jim Yeager
breakwhitelight (for ASM Global)
jim@breakwhitelight.com
Mobile: 1-818-264-6812
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
CIRCOR to Expand Industrial Portfolio with Acquisition of Green Silence Group S.p.A.30.10.2026 18:06:00 EET | Press release
CIRCOR, a KKR portfolio company and global manufacturer of flow control products for industrial and naval markets, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Green Silence Group S.p.A., an Italian provider of hydraulic pumps, electric motors and advanced engineering solutions. The acquisition will bring together the complementary capabilities of Settima, Motive and Spin expanding CIRCOR’s Industrial portfolio with three-screw and ultra-low-noise hydraulic pumps, Motive electric motors, high-efficiency rare-earth-free motor technologies, power electronics and advanced engineering capabilities. Together, these technologies will broaden CIRCOR’s ability to deliver integrated solutions that improve system efficiency, reduce energy consumption and critical raw materials dependency, and address evolving customer needs across industrial and mobile applications. The combination will also provide Green Silence Group access to CIRCOR’s global commercial and operational
Quectel Sues Telit, Alleging False Statements, Cybersquatting and Unfair Competition30.10.2026 17:41:00 EET | Press release
Quectel Wireless Solutions, a global end-to-end IoT solutions provider, today announced that it has filed legal action in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida against Telit IoT Solutions Inc. The lawsuit seeks to bring an end to Telit’s campaign of false and misleading claims about Quectel and its products. Quectel alleges that, rather than competing on the strength of its products and technology, Telit engaged in a coordinated campaign to undermine Quectel’s reputation by exploiting geopolitical concerns surrounding Chinese technology companies. According to the complaint, Telit funded, promoted, and amplified false and misleading claims about Quectel’s products while positioning itself to customers as a safer “Western” alternative. The lawsuit further alleges that Telit engaged in cybersquatting involving Quectel’s U.S. domain name to advance its campaign. Quectel maintains that these alleged actions have caused substantial harm to its sales, customer
TestMu AI Launches Kane CLI Exploration, an AI Agent That Maps an Entire Web App From a Single URL and Turns It Into Tests30.10.2026 16:00:00 EET | Press release
TestMu AI, the Full Stack Agentic AI Quality Engineering platform, announced Kane CLI Exploration, an autonomous agent that learns a web application before anyone writes a test. Given a single URL, it walks the entire app on its own, flags problems along the way and gives Kane CLI the context it needs to generate and run tests, even when no requirements, user stories or acceptance criteria exist. Every test plan starts from something written down, and many apps never had it. Legacy products lose their specs when the people who wrote them move on, and apps a coding agent built in a week often have no record of intended behavior beyond the prompt history. With nothing to test against, a testing agent ends up grading the app against itself. Starting from the URL a developer provides, the exploration agent moves through every page, junction and flow it can reach, the way a new QA engineer clicks through a product in their first week. For each page it records the controls, the flows in and
The Estée Lauder Companies and Microsoft Announce a New Strategic Partnership to Power Enterprise Efficiency and Consumer-Centric Growth30.10.2026 15:22:00 EET | Press release
The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE: EL) today announced a new strategic partnership with Microsoft Corp. to advance its cloud and data foundation and support the responsible adoption of AI-enabled capabilities across the enterprise. The collaboration will help connect data and intelligent tools to support faster innovation, more efficient operations, and more relevant consumer experiences. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261030616823/en/ This new partnership is a critical part of The Estée Lauder Companies’ One Operating Ecosystem, which brings together shared platforms, connected data, and best-in-class partners to enable consistent, scalable, and effective execution across the enterprise. A key initiative of this expanded partnership is harnessing the Microsoft platform to advance the company’s Unified Data Platform. This foundation is the core enabler for AI and agility—connecting the company's data acro
Reply Named EMEA Winner at the 2026 GitHub Services and Channel Partner of the Year Awards30.10.2026 14:23:00 EET | Press release
Reply [EXM, STAR: REY] announced that it has been named the EMEA winner in the 2026 GitHub Services and Channel Partner of the Year Awards, recognising customer outcomes and GitHub ecosystem impact across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261030597484/en/ Reply announced that it has been named the EMEA winner in the 2026 GitHub Services and Channel Partner of the Year Awards, recognising customer outcomes and GitHub ecosystem impact across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Reply helps organisations adopt GitHub and modernise software development. Its capabilities combine large-scale migration, automation and embedded security to bring fragmented development environments into a shared platform, supporting consistent governance and collaboration across engineering teams. A key example is Reply’s collaboration with Nexi, one of Europe’s leading PayTech companies, to transform s
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom