Coventry City confirm return to Ricoh Arena from next season

The Ricoh Arena, initially built for Coventry City, is now owned by Premiership rugby union side Wasps

Championship side Coventry City have signed a 10-year contract to return to the Ricoh Arena from next season.

The club have agreed a deal with rugby union side Wasps, who own the ground, having played their home matches at Birmingham's stadium since August 2019.

The Sky Blues will stay at St Andrew's for the rest of the 2020-21 campaign.

"The day our fans are able to come back and watch their team in Coventry is one they will be already looking forward to," said chief executive Dave Boddy.

"We look forward to building a positive and co-operative relationship with Wasps Group over the term of this agreement, the length of which allows us stability as a club as we look to continue our progress on and off the field."

Boddy added that the deal is "the best Coventry has had at the Ricoh Arena in terms of access to commercial revenues".

The club's owners Sisu still aim to build a new stadium on the south-west edge of the city, on land owned by the University of Warwick.

Coventry will share the Ricoh Arena with Premiership side Wasps.

"We are delighted that Coventry City are returning to the Ricoh Arena - it is great news for the city," said Wasps Group chief executive Stephen Vaughan.

"It is time to put the past firmly behind us. There has been a massive amount of work going on behind the scenes to get us to this point as both organisations felt it was very important that we agreed a long-term deal to bring certainty and continuity, which would in turn allow us to build even stronger futures."

A long-running saga

Coventry left Highfield Road in 2005 to move to the Ricoh Arena but, after a long-running rent row escalated, they spent the 2013-14 season at Northampton Town's Sixfields.

The Sky Blues returned to the Ricoh in September 2014, followed by Wasps moving in three months later. The ground, part-owned by the city council, was then sold to the rugby union club.

City then spent the next four full seasons there but Sisu could not reach an agreement with Wasps to play the 2019-20 campaign there and found alternative arrangements in Birmingham.