I read a report last week that they had only paid about £5000k per year since they'd moved. Its almost nothing. There are local people not happy that the council actually pay rent of £85k per year for the library which is located in the stadium and so make a loss every year as the club don't pay much.
I suppose its just the fact they don't own it but how much to build a new ground? Seems a bit of a strange decision considering the lack of rent they pay.
What did it cost originally? Around the £45m was it?
Capacity 25k?
He wants to increase the capacity to around 32k should they reach the premier league and develop land around it. The council own it but he wants the freehold to invest. Seems fair but there are no concert facilities, casino's or hotels attached here and they pay rent £500k
Council also get rent from the Rugby club so they are doing well on their £45m investment but would do better if they sold it and allowed the development. The outlay for the council to develop it seems poor judgement to me for a return on their money.
Different situation to ours. The Ricoh is already bigger and has facilities attached that earn vast income without the football club and development around it can be brought in from private enterprise with good returns. However it cost a darn site more at £113m. That's still being paid for. For a council to put more tax payers money into the Ricoh's wider facilities would be difficult to justify.
The Ricoh was said yesterday on local news that a retractable roof could be fitted and turned into a giant events hall to rival the NEC.
You could still have world cup rugby, speedway grand prix etc. A 25000 stadium within a mile of the city centre would be our option and the City of Coventry would benefit similar to say Cardiff