How Wasps lost the battle for Coventry's hearts and minds
A recent statement issued by Wasps’ Chief Executive Stephen Vaughan addressed the latest instalment of the Gallagher Premiership club’s turbulent relationship with its ground-share tenant Coventry City.
However, his silence about the Black-and-Golds’ precarious financial position has been deafening – and with the top-flight season only a month away rumours regarding Wasps’ possible inability to plot a survival path are gathering momentum.
RugbyPass columnist Paul Smith is a born-and-bred Coventrian who spent three seasons covering the club for the Coventry Telegraph before hopping over the fence for a spell as Wasps’ Media Manager. He is therefore ideally placed to provide local insight into what happens next for the Coventry Building Society Arena club.
“I am really struggling to see a long-term future for Wasps unless a new owner with very deep pockets is found,” he says.
“The scale of the debt, their mounting losses and the ebbing away of local interest in the whole Wasps project all add up to a very problematic situation.
“Even if the club manages to get over the immediate hurdle and refinance £35 million of bond debt it is still losing the best part of £10 million most years.
“Professional rugby is almost 30 years old and no-one has yet found a way to make money from it, so there isn’t a blueprint they can follow and it has a feel of throwing good money after bad.
“Owner Derek Richardson deserves huge credit for putting £20 million of his own money into a club which ten years ago meant nothing to him. Wasps were minutes from extinction when Derek bailed them out and since then he has certainly thrown everything at this famous old club but it does feel like he has almost run out of options.
“The CVC cash injection, revaluation of their Premiership shares and several upgrades of their stadium valuation have all helped keep Wasps afloat but it now seems they need a very rich Sugar Daddy – and soon – to survive much longer.”
To those looking from the outside, Wasps’ 2014 relocation from a dilapidated training base in Acton and ground-share arrangement with Wycombe Wanderers to purchase a modern stadium accompanied by a hotel, casino and other commercial outlets seemed a guaranteed road to future riches.
However, Smith says that the well-polished veneer presented to the rugby public hid some deep-rooted issues which have never disappeared and as a result while turnover has accelerated so have the losses.
“Football club Wimbledon’s reinvention as MK Dons and the club’s relocation to Milton Keynes left some very deep scars and the same issues have undoubtedly bedevilled Wasps,” he says.
“In America no-one bats an eyelid when the Oakland Raiders become the LA Raiders but sport in England is much more tribal than across the pond. Not only were plenty of the club’s Wycombe and London-based fans offended by the move to Coventry, but the wider sporting public also struggled to get on board with it. The label ‘franchise’ is inaccurate in Wasps’ case but it is also a very emotive and it has never gone away.
“A blaze of publicity, big marketing budget and loads of giveaway tickets to watch some of our sport’s biggest names including George Smith, Charles Piutau and Danny Cipriani masked this for a while and there were some great days at the Ricoh when 30,000 were roaring the team to the Premiership and Europe’s knock-out stages.
“But once the marketing hype subsided, the budget left room for fewer superstar names, Covid hit and fans had to pay for their tickets crowds dwindled fast and even given this passage of time locally the ‘franchise’ label has never gone away.
“MK Dons moved to a purpose-built stadium, but Wasps moved to a ground which historically was solely used by another club. This doubled their headache since as well as being viewed as a franchise that deserted its fan base, the majority of people in Coventry also believe Wasps ousted the city’s football club from its rightful home.
“The club’s hierarchy and its loyal supporters like to say it is only a vocal minority who oppose their presence, but eight years on that really isn’t the case. I remember speaking to a 75-year-old neighbour of my late mother who knows nothing about sport and when I said I watched a lot of rugby at Wasps she asked: ‘Is that the club that stole our stadium?’
“Facts state that that the Sky Blues chose to relocate to Northampton (then Birmingham) and had long since sold their stadium share to a company jointly owned by the city council and a charity. This left Wasps buying a vacant stadium from an organisation only too glad to rid itself (and the taxpayers) of a loss-making white elephant.
“But sport fans don’t deal in facts and logic, it’s about emotion, and if you ask the average uncommitted Coventrian about the Ricoh Arena (as it will probably always be known) you will hear it described as Coventry City’s home ground.
“The football club has a big latent following as demonstrated by the rapid growth in spectator numbers since it returned to the Championship. Because Coventry City climbed from the old Fourth Division to the top flight under Jimmy Hill, then stayed there for 30-plus years while also winning the FA Cup in 1987, many multi-generation families have grown up with ‘the City’ as their team.
“Throw into the mix that Coventry Rugby Club has an outstanding heritage and a loyal supporter base and it is easy to see how the ‘London Magpies’ struggle to win over casual sports fans in their new city. Plenty were happy to pay a few quid to flirt with Christian Wade running in a hat-trick against Bath on Christmas Eve, but few went on to give their sporting hearts to a club whose very presence in the city challenged established football and rugby clubs.
“I remember being amazed on my first few days working at Wasps when I saw the size of the back-office which must have numbered close to 100 people. I called a friend who worked at Newcastle Falcons to find they had around 15!
“Wasps clearly threw massive amounts of cash at sales, marketing and development including lots of community initiatives and ticket giveaways. With hindsight they clearly realised that they had to make a massive initial impact – and perhaps with this in mind the squad Dai Young assembled was built to play expansive, entertaining rugby which drew fans in.
“However, it was also a big commercial gamble, built on massive levels of debt and eight years on unless a benevolent investor emerges soon it is hard to see how that gamble does anything other than fail.”
Comments on RugbyPass
I guess we may all agree on the fact, that the ABs and Boks are the two in contest for No 1 in rugby history (the triple-A sort of) …. the Wallabies, England and France are the next tier, with Ireland being the new kid in town (AA) …. in my view it makes little sense creating imaginary competitions (unless you have too much time to waste)
43 Go to commentsWhat a joke. Total joke and the pundits commentating, all of whom know a bit about the game, could barely disguise their contempt. Reaching for the card then pulling back when he realised a red card would carry further match suspensions is simply not his decision to make. A clear and obvious influence on the outcome of this match and indeed, the championship path.
3 Go to commentsI like the idea, in NZ the Ranfurly Shield and NPC coexist, both having their own bragging rights. The World Cup would be the pinnacle, but the competition and travels of these trophies would be interesting.
43 Go to commentsDon’t worry Sonny bill Williams leave that awkward situation about the curfew in the pass whoever it was it doesn’t matter its no big deal we back our All Blacks through the storm and the thunder until we see the Sun light again.
42 Go to commentsWho listens to this retard? He was a massive liability as a player but obviously a media sensation
42 Go to commentsI’m not surprised by such ‘virtue signalling’ by Sonny Boy. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He’s such a pious Islamic muppet, imo.
42 Go to commentsI’ve actually never heard of the guy (then I don’t watch League as it is boring). But if he is good enough.. then good luck to him. If not, well, he can always return to league.
2 Go to commentsIt is pretty clear that by almost any measure that NZ are a more successful rugby nation than South Africa. Quite aside from the distasteful events during the last RWC final. NZ lead SA in all significant measurements.
43 Go to commentsDickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
3 Go to commentsLet’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
6 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
2 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
6 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
4 Go to comments