Double sporting franchise for Ricoh Arena as rugby club Wasps takes control
LONDON-based Premiership rugby club Wasps has paid an estimated £20m to take over the ownership of Coventry’s Ricoh Arena.
The deal was green-lighted by Coventry City Council late yesterday afternoon after a marathon debating session in the council chamber.
Wasps is acquiring 100% of Ricoh Arena operating company ACL – jointly owned by the Alan Edward Higgs Charity and the city council.
The deal will see both the council and the charity receive £2.77m and Wasps will take on ACL’s £14.4m loan from the council.
Wasps will be granted a 250-year lease at the site, but the council will retain the freehold.
Written into the council’s approval for the takeover was the insistence that Coventry City FC – which only recently moved back to the Ricoh Arena after a period in exile in Northampton – will be allowed to continue to play its home games there.
The Ricoh will now stage both Premiership rugby and League One football. A number of grounds are used for such a dual purpose already including those at Wigan, Reading and Watford.
Wasps are currently sharing with Wycombe Wanderers at its Adams Park ground.
Ironically, given the campaign by Sky Blues fans to bring their club back to the Ricoh, some Wasps fans have already expressed dismay at the prospect of a 160 mile round trip from London to Coventry to watch their team play.
Some observers are suggesting that the move is less of a relocation than the building of a new franchise in an area where there is a large catchment area and few major rugby union clubs.
Coventry City Council leader Ann Lucas, said the authority is also keen that the deal will allow continued regeneration of the north east of the city and not disadvantage the city’s existing rugby team – Coventry Rugby Club.
