Coventry City receives eviction notice from new arena owners

The club have confirmed they must agree to a new licence to play at the Arena.

Coventry City Football Club have confirmed that they have received an eviction notice from Frasers Group, the new owners of the Coventry Building Society Arena.

Coventry City Football Club said: "We were surprised to learn of this intention by Frasers Group, given that discussions with Coventry City prior to the completion of their purchase of the Arena led us to understand the existing terms would continue unchanged with Frasers Group as the new owners of the Arena.

"Coventry City Football Club has an existing long-term licence to play at the Arena, which was agreed in March 2021 to run until 2031.

"Frasers Group have now presented to Coventry City a new agreement with new commercial terms, which have been presented to us without any dialogue or negotiations, and are less favourable to the Football Club. In addition, this licence would only run until May 2023.

"Frasers Group have said they would negotiate for beyond May 2023, but this leaves us without the security and certainty that our current deal provides to us and our fans.

"To confirm, Coventry City are happy to continue under terms of the current licence which we already have in place to play at the Arena."

In November it was announced that Coventry City's stadium the CBS Arena has been bought by Mike Ashley's company Frasers Group.

They previously owned Newcastle and will now run the Sky Blue's home ground.

A Frasers Group spokesperson said: "Frasers has, throughout all its involvement with the stadium, been supportive of securing the long-term future of CCFC playing its games at the stadium. This position remains unchanged.

 "Prior to acquiring the stadium, Frasers issued a new licence mirroring the terms CCFC had agreed with the previous owners. However, CCFC chose not to sign it at that time.

"A revised proposal, together with a new licence, has been issued to CCFC and will secure the immediate future of CCFC at the stadium. Signing the licence would allow for more detailed discussions to take place about CCFC's long-term arrangements at the stadium, including to accommodate a number of requests which were raised by CCFC.

 "Frasers looks forward to working with the club to host the upcoming games."