Wasps and Coventry City in advanced talks over groundshare extension
Since Wasps relocated to Coventry in 2014, they have been sharing the Ricoh Arena with the local football club, Coventry City.
The 32,000-seater stadium has played host to Coventry since it was built in 2005, but there has been long-standing animosity between the club’s owners, SISU Capital, and Arena Coventry Ltd, the company who operated the stadium before Wasps bought out the shareholders at ACL.
There has been legal action taken and it even saw Coventry briefly play their home games at Northampton Town’s Sixfields Stadium, before Coventry returned to the Ricoh in 2014 shortly prior to Wasps acquiring the stadium during their relocation to the city.
Wasps have seen a dramatic rise in their revenues since moving to the Ricoh, with the club also benefiting from the casino and exhibition hall, as well as from using the stadium as a music venue. The club also benefits from a rental agreement that Coventry have to play at the stadium.
If no deal can be reached to extend Coventry’s license to play at the Ricoh, it could see the League One club expelled from the Football League, but it seems as if talks have moved on and Coventry are confident of securing their future at the stadium.
STATEMENT: EFL Meeting Postponement and Ricoh Arena Talks.
?? https://t.co/CQkT0b8JwO #PUSB pic.twitter.com/YRZUbgwGxp
— Coventry City (@Coventry_City) April 24, 2019
A statement from Coventry read: “We have worked closely with Shaun Harvey and the EFL over a long period of time on this matter, and are grateful to the EFL Board for giving us the extra time needed to bring this matter to a satisfactory conclusion, which would see Coventry City continue to play its fixtures in Coventry.
“We can confirm that Coventry City Football Club has started initial discussions with Wasps Holdings Limited regarding an extension to our current license agreement to play at the Ricoh Arena.
“We can also confirm that a Heads of Terms agreement has been signed to ground-share at an alternative venue. However, the timescales involved with this option means that a deal with Wasps will need to be concluded very quickly, otherwise our option with the alternative venue will be lost.
10:37 @WaspsRugby on Ricoh talks https://t.co/owUOuHeJKD #pusb #SOSB
— CoventryLive (@live_coventry) April 24, 2019
“We want to conclude this matter as soon as possible, with the continued aim of Coventry City playing at the Ricoh Arena, and will work extremely hard in the next few days to that end.”
Speaking to CoventryLive, Wasps issued the following statement.
“We can confirm we have started initial discussions with Coventry City FC regarding an extension to their current license agreement to play at the Ricoh Arena.
“There are still a number of issues to resolve and any agreement is subject to contract and the approval of Wasps Holdings Limited Board. We are not able to comment any further due to a mutually-signed confidentiality agreement.”
11:59 "Both sides have been playing a game of poker… With the chips being the fans as usual" https://t.co/owUOuHeJKD #pusb #SOSB
— CoventryLive (@live_coventry) April 24, 2019
Following the announcement that London Irish would be taking up a ground-share with Brentford at the new Brentford Community Stadium in 2020, Wasps are one of just four clubs under the Premier Rugby Limited umbrella who groundshare, with the others being Sale Sharks and Newcastle Falcons, both of whom share their grounds with rugby league clubs.
With Wasps under investigation from the Financial Conduct Authority for statements relating to the retail bond scheme the club launched in 2015, an inability to generate enough revenue to pay back the scheme and mounting losses and debt, it could spell trouble for the Gallagher Premiership club if they also lose the revenue they are able to call on from Coventry’s use of the stadium.
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Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
1 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments