Why Arsenal vs Man City won’t be played at Wembley — and the staggering money behind the decision
Arsenal and Manchester City will battle for the Community Shield on Sunday, but the traditional Wembley venue won’t host the fixture this year.
Instead, the match will take place at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium because Wembley is already booked for a series of concerts by global superstar The Weeknd.
The Premier League champions and FA Cup winners were originally expected to meet at England’s national stadium, but Wembley was unavailable on August 15 and 16 due to previously scheduled concerts.
The Weeknd’s After Hours Til Dawn Tour includes five Wembley shows across six days, running from August 14–16 and again on August 18–19.
That clash forced the FA to move the Community Shield to Cardiff.
💰 Why The Weeknd’s concerts made the difference
The financial figures surrounding the Wembley concerts help explain why the stadium had already committed to the events.
Tickets reportedly range from around £60.25 for restricted-view seats to £336.45 for some standard tickets. General admission costs around £145, while Gold Circle tickets are priced at £177.75.
With Wembley potentially accommodating between 87,000 and 90,000 fans, the revenue from ticket sales could be enormous.
Using £198.35 as an illustrative midpoint ticket price, a sell-out crowd of 87,000 could generate roughly £17.26 million in gross ticket sales. At 90,000 spectators, that figure could rise to approximately £17.85 million.
Premium hospitality packages could push the potential revenue even higher, with Gold and Diamond packages reportedly costing £599 and £799 per person respectively.
By comparison, Community Shield tickets are much cheaper, ranging from around £30 to £55, with premium options available for £75.
Even if all 90,000 Wembley seats were sold at £55, that would produce about £4.95 million in gross ticket revenue — dramatically below the illustrative figure for a sold-out Weeknd concert.
Of course, these figures don’t represent Wembley’s actual profit. Revenue is shared among various parties, while taxes, promoters’ costs, staging expenses and other deductions would also need to be considered.
🏟️ Wembley’s growing concert business
The decision also highlights just how important major concerts have become to Wembley and the FA.
The stadium hosted 10 concerts during the 2023/24 financial year, including shows from Taylor Swift.
The following summer was described by the FA as the busiest summer in Wembley’s history, with major artists including Oasis, Dua Lipa, Lana Del Rey, Linkin Park and Guns N’ Roses performing at the venue.
So, while Arsenal and Man City fans may be disappointed that the Community Shield has been moved away from Wembley, the enormous commercial value of the concerts makes the scheduling decision much easier to understand.
