Wasps Acquire 50% Of Ricoh Arena And Sign Up Land Rover And EMC

Rugby Union team Wasps has acquired a 50% interest in the Ricoh Arena Coventry with immediate effect.  Wasps will play their first home game at the Ricoh Arena in December 2014 – either Castres or London Irish – but will continue to play home games at Adams Park in High Wycombe until then.

Nick Eastwood, Wasps Chief Executive Officer, commented: “Today we are breaking the mould of how a professional rugby club operates by acquiring a thriving, sustainable business, as well as one of the best, conference, exhibition, sporting and entertainment arenas in Europe.  Ricoh Arena is a world class venue with a multitude of outstanding facilities, including a 32,000 stadium, 4 star hotel, 60,000 ft² exhibition hall, 20,000 ft² conferencing facilities and one of the UK’s largest casinos.  The revenue from these facilities, combined with Wasps existing revenues, will result in Wasps immediately becoming the highest turnover rugby club in the Aviva Premiership.

“Creating long term financial stability will allow us to focus on the main job of producing high quality rugby of which our supporters and players can be proud and will help to recruit some of the best players in the world. The reality of our situation is clear - less than two years ago Wasps was just hours away from going out of business. It is only thanks to our current owner Derek Richardson stepping in that we are here today. Thanks to his support we have gone from strength to strength, returning to the top competition in Europe and competing and winning against some of the best teams in world rugby.”

Wasps also announced  long-term commercial partnerships with Land Rover and EMC. Land Rover becomes the Club’s main official sponsor in a new multi-year partnership. Land Rover is recognised for its support of rugby at all levels of the game, from the Rugby World Cup and Aviva Premiership Rugby to the community game, where thousands of youngsters benefit from their annual Land Rover Premiership Cup. The Coventry based automotive manufacturer will feature on the front of Wasps home and away shirts as well as receiving commercial rights including extensive branding in the Arena, stadium activation space, hospitality, player appearances and as well as promotion through Wasps marketing channels.  

Phil Popham, Group Marketing Director at Jaguar Land Rover, added: “Today’s announcement is not only an important addition to Land Rover’s growing rugby sponsorship portfolio, but it’s a significant increase in our investment within the Coventry area.  We are proud of our heritage in the region and already support a number of local community projects, so with Wasps confirming their move to the Ricoh Arena, it offered us a fantastic opportunity to further strengthen our community links, engage our thousands of employees and Land Rover owners who are also rugby fans.  We are excited by the club’s ambitions for the future on and off the field, and look forward to the start of our partnership.

“This new sponsorship complements our long-term support of Premiership Rugby and we remain committed to our long-standing relationship with Coventry Rugby Club.”

Cloud computing company EMC return as a Wasps partner having previously sponsored the Club between 2009 and 2012. As part of the deal EMC will feature on Wasps home and away kits and enjoy numerous commercial rights.James Petter, Senior Vice President and MD UK & Ireland at EMC, commented: “This is clearly an exciting time for Wasps and EMC is privileged to be part of it. The team has a very clear strategy for success and we are elated to be working with them moving forward. Our expertise in data is going to contribute to the success of Wasps both on and off the field and we can’t wait to get started.”