Again there is so much sentiment blocking peoples views here. It's not about sentiment but business sense.
I'm sorry to all of you who harp on about it's our club and they can't do that to us syndrome. Well I feel the same generally but the difference is I have to put that aside and think of the sustainability of the football club in the long term whoever owns them!
To that end currently we are a 3rd tier club and maybe a 2nd tier during the next few years at least baring any miraculous double season promotion charge! Unlikely to have that scenario from our standing start tbh. So a few years yet then before we see a sniff of the prem.
A 15,000 seat stadium is excellent at this level. We average somewhere around that on a good day at the Ricoh with the rest half empty.
Now factor in a stadium design that includes modules that increase the capacity 10k at a time in very quick fashion and you have the perfect stadium for where we are now and the future, when it happens.
Now a mortgaged loan on that debt to build the stadium (not getting into detail here) would be considerably less than the 1.3m in rent we pay to use the Ricoh.
The stadium would belong to the Sky Blues - a true home. ALL income including extra activities such as Rugby, concerts, conferencing, shops and further development on site such as hotels etc will bring in plenty of revenue for the football club in a way that ACL do with the Ricoh.
This would make the football club sustainable without doubt and increase revenue levels with each step up the leagues we make as we increase the stadium capacity and footfall. This I might add is all year round not 23 days of match day tickets! he difference is vast!
The stadium traffic and footfall would be no greater or less where proposed, than the Ricoh is. I remember so many saying the Ricoh was way out of town, its a disaster etc? Well not the case and would not be here either.
Now lets flip that a moment.
IF and it seems a big IF, the council finally wake up before being left with a potential white elephant on their hands, they can come to some sort of agreement with owners of the football club to have outright lease ownership of the Ricoh at a fair premium, then I see no reason whatsoever in the above aforementioned plan.
It really is that simple. Perhaps one day the football club will be super rich and buy the Ricoh freehold when the council see that maintenance and the rest of it are not worth taxpayers troubles. But for now a 99 year or so lease, with outright ownership of all income streams would be a perfect answer. The rent for this at market value would most likely be back around that 1.2m figure again but under a completely different scenario where the football club is now in control of all income to benefit the club.
That second option is the preferred option and best way forward for the city of Coventry and the council who own the Ricoh.
Lets be clear, the full lease granted would have caveats attached that would clarify the rights of the income streams to benefit the football club and not superficially benefit the owners of the football club. Crucial point there.
The only benefit written in on that lease benefitting the owners of the football club and the lease holder would be the right to have the lease transferrable. In aother words, saleable. Don't forget the owners would have paid a substantial premium for the lease and a market value rent.
Each time the sale of the club happened for example, the new owners take control of the lease as set out which will include that caveate that the income streams must all benefit the football club.
This brings me to wonder why we have ACL? There should be no place for them. They in this scenario are defunct and would be disbanded.
The council will continue to own the freehold and whatever incremental deal on annual rent they contracted in the lease, dependent on success of the communities football club. Hit the premier league, raised rent, sustained length in the premiership, raised rent etc but would have sensible caps so not to outstrip market value.
So finally we have as we know attempts at buying the club and as far as we know a 50% share in ACL. That is simply not sustainable for the football clubs future under current arrangements offered as we knew them. Haskell or anyone else knows there must be more than that down the road available or they would not take it on. The council may agree a future plan similar to what I outlined above but they could do that with anyone even SISU if they wanted too.
The council need to get their heads out of their backsides and come at this from a different perspective. They so far have misunderstood the ownership and meaning of a football club within their community, what it brings to a big city, what it means to the people of the city, those taxpayers and supporters.
Just wish everyone would stop dicking around and get something concrete laid down...and I preferably don't mean the new build!
End rant.