Coventry Building Society Arena: Coventry City
The Coventry Building Society Arena (as it is now known) opened in 2005 as the Ricoh Arena, with Coventry City relocating from their historic home of Highfield Road in order to take up residence in the new, purpose built stadium. Interestingly the ground wasn’t officially opened until February of 2007 when Dame Kelly Holmes and Richard Caborn, the then Sports Minister, did the honours. By that point, however, the stadium had already hosted a full season of Coventry matches as well as an England under-21 game against Germany.
The stadium hasn’t only been used for football, with concerts taking place there as well as rugby matches. In 2013, Coventry City had a rent dispute with the owners of the ground, Arena Coventry Limited. It resulted in the club playing their home matches at Sixfields Stadium in Northampton, not returning to The Ricoh Arena until September of 2014. Within two months of Coventry’s return both major shareholders of Arena Coventry Limited had been bought out by Wasps rugby union team, with the club moving into The Ricoh in December of the same year. They played their Premiership rugby games there, sharing the stadium with Coventry City until going into administration in 2022.
Stats
| Coventry Building Society Arena Stats | |
|---|---|
| Year Opened | 2005 |
| Capacity | 32753 |
| Average Attendance | 25468 |
| Record Attendance | 32128 (England/Italy & Belgium/South Korea (19th Feb 2023)) |
| Pitch Size | 105 x 68 (7140) |
| Nickname | The Ricoh |
| Former Name | Jaguar Arena, Arena Coventry, Arena 2000, City of Coventry Stadium |
| Owner | Frasers Group |
| Sponsor | Coventry Building Society |
| Clubs Hosted | Coventry City F.C |
| First Fixture | Coventry City v QPR (20/08/2005) |
| Coventry City Stats | |
|---|---|
| Year Founded | 1883 |
| Nickname | The Sky Blues |
| Club Mascot | Sky Blue Sam |
| Rivals | Leicester City, Aston Villa, Birmingham City, Wolverhampton Wanderers |
| Previous Stadiums | Dowells Field, Stoke Road, Highfield Road, Sixfields Stadium, St Andrews |
| Kit | Sky Blue & White Stripes (Home) / Purple (Away) |
| Training Ground | Sky Blue Lodge |
| Shirt Sponsor | King of Shaves |
| Team Owner | Doug King |
| Record Goalscorer | Clarrie Bourton (182) |
| Record Appearances | Steve Ogrizovic (601) |
Coventry Building Society Arena Photos
From Coventry FC
Credit: Russ C
From Coventry FC
Coventry Building Society Arena Seating Plan and Where to Sit
As is the case with most modern stadiums, The Coventry Building Society Arena is built in a ‘Bowl Style’, as opposed to the more traditional ‘English Style’ of having four distinct and separate stands. Because the stadium is shared with Wasps there is a blandness to the names of the stands, with either their geographical location or else a sponsorship deal determining what they’re called. Here is some information on the main sections of the ground:
- The North Stand – This structure is single-tiered and stands behind the goal at the North end of the ground.
- The East Stand – Much like the North & South stands, this structure is a single-tiered section of seating with a steep gradient that means that even the seats furthest from the action feel like they’re quite close to the pitch.
- The South Stand – As the name suggests, this single-tiered stand is directly opposite The North Stand and tends to house the away supporters in the Western corner.
- The West Stand – This is the only section of the ground that has two tiers that are separated by a row of executive boxes. This is considered to be the main stand at the stadium as it houses the dugouts, the players’ tunnel and the hospitality suites.
Coventry City Ticket Prices
Since Coventry have moved back to their own stadium, they have complicated their ticketing structure somewhat. Their games are now categorised but all areas of the stadium cost the same to sit in.
Adults and concessions will pay the following prices:
- Cat A: £37.00 / £32.00
- Cat B: £30.00 / £25.00
- Cat C: £24.00 / £19.00
How To Get Coventry City Tickets
The easiest way to buy tickets for Coventry City matches is online (although transaction fees apply). You can buy tickets in person or by calling the ticket office directly.
Where to Buy
Getting To Coventry Building Society Arena
Coventry is in the West Midlands so, much like Birmingham and Wolverhampton, it’s reasonably easy to get to from all over the country. Of course if you’re in the Hebrides or you live on the white cliffs of Dover it will be slightly trickier, but that’s your own problem.
Here are some of the usual routes you’ll want to turn to for your journey:
Train – Coventry Railway Station is the main station serving the city of Coventry but it’s six miles away from the ground so it isn’t the best option available. Instead you might want to look to Coventry Arena Train Station, which is right next to the ground and reachable from London Euston in less than two hours with a change in Coventry or Nuneaton.
Bus – It’s not exactly easy to get to The Coventry Building Society by bus, but it’s not hell on earth either. The Number 8 bus will take you from Coventry Railway Station to Coventry Transport Museum where you can change on to the Number 4 or Number 5 to Arena Park. When it drops you off there’s an underpass that will take you to the main entrance. There’s also a shuttle bus that runs from Coventry Railway Station to the ground and costs £5 return.
Car – From the North take the M1 to Junction 21 then get onto the M69. Get onto the M6 and leave that at Junction 3 for the A444 then follow the signs. From the North-West just follow those instructions from the M6. From the South take the M40 until Junction 15 then get onto the A46. That will join the A444 and you can follow the signs from there.
By Air – Birmingham International Airport is your best bet for Coventry, with direct trains running from there to Coventry where you can either get a connecting train to Coventry Arena Train Station or get the bus.
Taxi – A taxi from Coventry Railway Station to The Coventry Building Society Arena will cost in the region of £20 and should take about fifteen minutes. Traffic in the West Midlands is notoriously bad, however, so if you get stuck in it then it will take longer.
Parking Near Coventry Building Society Arena
The Coventry Building Society Arena has three different on-site car parks that can host up to 2000 cars, though you have to book your car parking ticket in advance. There is a very strict no on-street parking rule in the area around the stadium, though there are five ‘Park and Walk’ options available.
Useful Resources
- Parking - Just Park
Coventry Building Society Arena Hotels
Birmingham isn’t too far away if you really can’t resist the bright lights of the Second City, but Coventry is not without its own fun places to stay. Here are some of our choices:
Premiere Classe Coventry - £40+
Novotel Coventry M6/J3 - £60+
DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel - £75+
Pubs and Bars Near Coventry Building Society Arena
Coventry’s quite a fun place to go for a drink or two, though the ground’s out of city location means there are limited choices within walking distance. These pubs coming highly recommended:
The Coach & Horses
The Bull and Anchor
The Castle Grounds
Facilities
As an arena that hosted not only football matches but also music concerts and other events The Coventry Building Society Arena’s facilities are pretty excellent. Owing to the fact that the stadium was home to a rugby club as well as Coventry City until recently, there is a slight lack of personality on the concourses, but it’s nothing to complain about in the grand scheme of things. There are plenty of places to buy food and drink before and during the match, so what more do you want?
Prices
- Programme: £3.5
- Pie: £4
- Cup of tea: £2
- Beer: £4
Hospitality
They might not have clocked onto the idea that they can make money from stadium tours, but the club isn’t soft when it comes to hospitality packages. There are a number you can choose from, including the chance to host a children’s party in an executive box. Winner.
Here is some information on the packages available, although it has to be said that all the lounges feel quite corporate compared to other stadiums:
- The Vice President’s Club – Billed as the oldest corporate club in British football, The Vice President’s Club offers Director’s Box seating, access to the Jaguar Bar Lounge and the cash bar therein, the chance to watch interviews with former and current players and complimentary half-time refreshments.
- Legends Membership – With this package you’ll enjoy padded corporate seats, half-time tea and coffee, access to The Legends Lounge that has a cash bar and the chance to watch a pre-match interview or two.
- VIP Match Day Hospitality – Available on a match-by-match basis, this package includes a three-course pre-match meal in the VIP Match Day Restaurant, the chance to watch the Man Of The Match interview and presentation, a padded sear in the corporate seating area and a complimentary programme.
Private Hire
When it’s not being the home of Coventry City, The Coventry Building Society Arena calls itself an award winning International Event Centre, so it’s fair to say you can host a range of private functions there. We’re not kidding when we say any range, either; you can host conferences or meetings with anywhere from 7 to 7000 delegates in attendance. The arena can also be used to host exhibitions, dinner dances, parties, banquets or even, should the whim take you, weddings. How romantic.
Stadium Tours & Museum
At the time of writing the club doesn’t offer tours of The Coventry Building Society Arena, which is a bit odd to be honest. You could do a tour if you were a Wasps season ticket holder back when they played here, but then you’d have had to watch rugby and no one wants to do that. One thing you can do, though, is a Google Tour of the stadium, which is basically the same thing as physically being there and walking around all of the places you’d never normally get to see, isn’t it?
About Coventry City
Coventry City Football Club was formed as Singers FC in 1883, not joining the Football League until 1919. The Sky Blues, as they are known, were an inaugural member of the Premier League when it was formed in 1992 and enjoyed 34 consecutive seasons in the top-flight prior to their relegation in 2001. They then spent eleven seasons in the second-tier of English football before their 2012 relegation to League One. That was the first time in their history that Coventry had played in the third-tier of the English footballing system.
Despite their recent plight the club has enjoyed some success over the years. Their only major trophy win was the FA Cup, which they won in 1987 when they beat Tottenham Hotspur 3-2 in the final. The win coincided with the club winning the FA Youth Cup at the same time, making them one of only five teams to do an FA Cup and FA Youth Cup double. They also reached the semi-finals of the League Cup in 1981 and 1990. It’s not always been plain sailing for Coventry, however, with the club narrowly avoiding going into administration in 2007 when SISU took over the club with twenty minutes to spare. They could not avoid it in 2013, however, with the Otium Entertainment Group taking over the administration laden club.
Ten years later, local businessman Doug King took the reigns.
Coventry Building Society Arena History
Between 1899 and 2005 Coventry played their home games at Highfield Road, a stadium that was synonymous with the club. It had become the first all-seater stadium in England in 1981, years before the Taylor Report into the Hillsborough Disaster would demand all top-flight grounds followed suit. By the late 1990s, however, the ground was showing its age and club directors decided it would make more sense to build a new stadium than to renovate the old one. A site was found in the Rowley’s Green area of the city and the 32,609 capacity Ricoh Arena was opened in 2005.
The newly named Coventry Building Society Arena is an impressive location in its own right, but it could have been even more so if the club’s original plans had gone through. Initially the plan was to move to a state-of-the-art 45,000 seater stadium with a removable pitch and a retractable roof. Unfortunately the club’s relegation from the Premier League meant that they were hit with financial difficulties. The new stadium was also intended to be used for the 2006 World Cup, should England have won the bid to host the tournament. The failure for that to happen meant that the designs had to be changed rather radically and The Coventry Building Society Arena as we know it now was built instead.
Rent disputes and other issues have seen the Sky Blues leave the stadium on a number of occasions, most recently leaving them playing at Birmingham City’s ground, St Andrews, between 2019 and 2021. However, a new 10 year deal with the Wasps saw Coventry return to the Coventry Building Society Arena playing their first game of the new tenure in August 2021. That all fell apart when the Wasps went into administration in 2022 and Frasers Group bought the stadium though.
After months of negotiations a new 5 year deal was signed keeping Coventry at the stadium until 2028.
Future Developments
Given the relative youth of the stadium and the fact that it is on a relatively short lease to the club, is unlikely that any major changes will be made to it in the near future. They laid a new pitch before the 2023/24 season, but that’s about the extent of any works we can expect to see.
However, if Coventry can get all their ducks in a row they intend to build a new stadium of their own on land close to the University of Warwick, but that is hardly imminent.