London Wasps are looking to try and become part of the Coventry community if they are allowed to buy the 90% share of the Ricoh Arena and have already undergone talks with the Coventry Sports Foundation.
Paul Breed, chief executive of Coventry Sports Foundation (CSF), told the Coventry Telegraph's Simon Gilbert: “We have had discussions with the council and Wasps about the community aspirations of the club.
“It is the right thing to do within a scoping exercise in terms of where and what they want to be in the community.
"The only talks we have had have been about community presence. "They have made it clear they need a home in the community. They have a training ground in north London, but they play in High Wycombe – this is about them having a proper home, a place to generate support from the community where they have a presence. They are looking for a home in every sense of the word.
“There would be similarities to when Coventry City relocated to Northampton, but it would be up to Wasps to come up with schemes to help their existing supporters.
“How do we know that part of the deal is not a long-term arrangement?
“If you are in Wasps’ position, and want a sense of belonging, is the first thing you do really going to be to try and alienate the club that is already there?
“Or are you going to do what you do when you move into a new street and take a bottle of wine round?
“It’s not going to happen that they say ‘we would prefer you to move out’.
“It would be good for the people of Coventry to be able to experience both Wasps and the Sky Blues playing there.
“I sincerely believe this is a huge opportunity for the city and these don’t come along all the time.
“We have an opportunity to do something in this city we have never had the opportunity to do before – create a clear pathway from grassroots sport to local clubs and Coventry Rugby Club to elite level Premiership rugby. That’s a hell of a pathway.
“We have seen European rugby and Olympic football at the Ricoh Arena and it creates a buzz in the city. Here we have an opportunity for the Ricoh to become a home venue for this level of event and own a stake in it.
“We talk about using sport as an aspirational tool in the city. I genuinely believe in the power of that.
“I don’t represent the city council or Wasps, I represent the genuine view that this is an exciting opportunity.”
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