Coventry City offered new Ricoh Arena rent deal by ACL

Coventry have been offered a reduced rent by the Ricoh Arena's operators in a bid to keep them at the stadium, reports BBC Coventry & Warwickshire.

Following a year-long rent row with Arena Coventry Ltd, the club agreed a groundshare at Northampton's Sixfields Stadium for the next three seasons.

Having previously charged over £1m a year, ACL has now offered a rent of between £100,000 and £400,000 per year, depending on the club's division.

Coventry have until Friday to respond.

News of this offer comes the day after ACL, who operate the Ricoh Arena on behalf of Coventry City Council and the Alan Edward Higgs Charity, requested a final adjournment of a Coventry City creditors' meeting which could see the club come out of the administration that they have been in since March.

The meeting was set up to try to broker a Company Voluntary Agreement between the creditors, including ACL, and the club.

They will now meet again for the final time, with knowledge of this new reduced rent offer, on 2 August, the day before Steven Pressley's side - still under a transfer embargo - are due to travel to Crawley to begin their League One campaign.

The club remains in administration despite a recent takeover by London-based Otium Entertainment Group, who have strong links to previous owners Sisu.

Shortly after the takeover, the groundshare at Northampton was agreed - a 68-mile round trip from the city.

However, earlier this month, ACL director Peter Knatchbull-Hugessen still insisted that they want Coventry to remain at the Ricoh Arena, the club's home since 2005.

The Sky Blues are due to begin life at Sixfields with a League One fixture against Bristol City on Sunday, 11 August.