Coventry make formal bid for Premiership promotion

Coventry's current home, the Butts Park Arena, has a capacity of 4,000

Championship leaders Coventry have confirmed they have made a formal application for promotion to the Premiership.

Coventry are currently two points clear of Ealing, having won all six of their league games so far.

To be eligible to go up, Coventry would have to win the division and then beat the top flight's bottom club in a two-leg play-off.

Even then, they would have to satisfy a list of criteria covering ground capacity and prove their financial sustainability to get their place in the top flight next season.

Coventry say their bid is expected to be reviewed and audited in January 2025.

'We'll do whatever we can to meet standards'

Coventry's bid comes as the 2025-26 campaign shapes up to be a landmark one, with the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and Premiership Rugby (PRL) working to develop a 'reimagined Tier 2'.

Under the proposal, the Championship will expand from 12 to 14 teams with the so-called Minimum Standards Criteria (MSC) softened to make promotion more realistic for clubs in the second tier.

Former Premiership clubs Wasps, Worcester and London Irish have all applied for a place in the Championship next season, as all three plot their way back to the professional game after financial problems forced them out of business.

Previously, the MSC stated that minimum ground capacity had to be at least 10,000, depriving Ealing of the chance to go up for 2023-24.

But from next season, promoted sides will have four years to get their ground capacity up to that level.

"Along with our fellow Championship clubs, we are anticipating that some of the promotion criteria currently in place are relaxed," Coventry executive chair Jon Sharp said in a statement.

"However, as the West Midlands' highest-ranked club we must make our ambition clear here and now.

"We will therefore do whatever we can to meet the standards that allow us to bring Premiership rugby to our city."

Coventry's Butts Park Arena currently has a capacity of 5,250 but Sharp says both Coventry City Council and the West Midlands Combined Authority will help with "planning permissions that meet the Premiership’s ground capacity requirements while also facilitating our wider redevelopment of the arena".

Promoted clubs also have to prove their financial health to an independent monitoring panel, showing they can trade for the whole 2025-26 campaign.

Sharp says the redevelopment of their home ground will "fast track" their "financial sustainability through a variety of revenue streams".

"In time, we believe the Butts will become a destination venue for top-level national, regional and local sport, music concerts and major food and cultural events," he said.