The giant sports bar replaces three airport lounges
If you’ve ever used an airport lounge at Terminal 3, then you’ll know there’s a second floor to the departures area. Upstairs, there used to be an Escape Lounge, and at various points in time, a dedicated British Airways lounge and a 1903 Lounge. That huge footprint is now a single new venue.
What’s been launched?
MAN have just launched a new sports bar called the Sporting Chance in Terminal 3.
Manchester’s T3 has now become a low-cost carrier terminal. Specifically, it’s for use only by Ryanair passengers. Whilst it now has a single airline focus, the terminal will still handle a high volume of passengers. The Irish carrier operates between 75 and 90 flights a day, with up to 16,000 people passing through the terminal every 24 hours.
T3 has always felt a little unloved and unkept. Since the closure of T1, MAG have been working to improve the space, partly by pulling in bits of the old T1 building and designating them as Terminal 3, and also by improving the original space.
The new Sporting Chance bar is on the upper floor of the terminal. It uses the space that was formerly the Escape lounge, and additional space that used to be the old British Airways lounge (That airline has now moved to T2). There was also a smaller 1903 Lounge on that floor, and that space is also part of the new bar.
Some reports online have said that the old Lion and Antelope bar has closed to make way for the Sporting Chance. This is not strictly true, as that bar was located in the main passenger area. The Sporting Chance is upstairs.
That means the new sports bar is huge. Some of the numbers behind it reflect this: there are 470 seats, and 69 screens showing sports. The old BA and Escape lounges had great views across the airport, and since this new bar combines both of them, there are a lot of windows.
Where is the new bar?
As you walk into the main passenger area, the stairs up to the bar are located on your left-hand side, in front of you. You can’t really miss them, they’re bright red. It’s the same staircase you previously used to reach the lounges.
The bar opens from 3am every day, upto between 8:15pm and 10pm depending on when the last Ryanair flight is.
What’s on offer?
Aside from acres of TV’s showing sport, The Sporting Chance offers food and drink. It’s standard airport fare, but there is a burger challenge you can take part in, with winners getting to wear (for a short period) a “heavyweight burger belt”.
Is T3 getting better?
Yes. It was widely regarded as the worst airport terminal in the UK. It regularly sat at the bottom of the Which? airport league table, most recently (2025) it was dead last. The airport would complain each year, saying the voting was unfair, but it was a grim terminal.
If you used to fly British Airways, then you had to use T3. Over time, the terminal degraded from poor to simply run-down. Any improvement would make a big difference.
The closure of Terminal 1 has allowed the airline to use up some of that space for an expanded T3. The Escape and Aspire lounges that were upstairs in T1 are now designated as T3. They aren’t the best lounges, but they are definitely better than sitting in the main passenger area.
The entrance to T1 is now the entrance to T3. The terminal now also uses the old T1 security hall. Both are improvements.
MAN has promised there will be more: the closure of the old Lion and Antelope will give them more space. There may be more of T1 that they can use to expand T3 further.
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