Wasps Rugby Club has completed a deal to become the sole owner of Arena Coventry Limited, the company that owns the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.
The club secured the remaining 50 per cent stake from the Alan Edward Higgs Charity, having already acquired the other 50 per cent of ACL from Coventry City Council in a deal last month.
The deal is part of Wasps move from its current home at Adams Park in Buckinghamshire to Ricoh Arena. The club has shared Adams Park with Wycombe Wanderers Football Club since 2002 and had in recent years been actively looking to build its own stadium.
After Wasps’ plans to build a permanent home ground at Wycombe Air Park were turned down by the council, however, the club was forced to look for alternative locations for its new home – and a decision to acquire Ricoh Arena was made earlier this year.
Speaking to
Sports Management, Wasps CEO Nick Eastwood said the club faced a “move or go bust” situation, with annual losses at around £3m.
He added that the move to Ricoh would mean that Wasps will own the most extensive club rugby facility in Europe and help it to “re-establish itself as one of the best clubs in world rugby”.
The 32,600-capacity houses one of the UK’s largest casinos, a De Vere-branded hotel, two restaurants and 20,000sq ft of conferencing spaces.
As part of the deal with the Alan Edward Higgs Charity, Wasps will rename Ricoh’s current North Stand as The Higgs Charity Stand. For every Wasps match ticket sold in the newly renamed stand, Wasps will donate 50p to the charity.
Wasps will play their first game at Ricoh Arena on 21 December against London Irish.
