Coventry City FC rekindles plans for new stadium – looking at 'several sites'

English Football League (EFL) club Coventry City FC has revealed that it is again looking at moving to a new home – and that it has an eye on 'a number of potential locations' for a new stadium.

The League One side has, on and off, been looking for a new home for more than six years.

It moved to its current home, the 32,000-capacity Ricoh Arena, ahead of the 2005-06 season.

It played at the venue as its main tenant for eight years, until a long-term rental dispute with stadium owner Arena Coventry Limited (ACL) resulted in the club moving to Northampton's Sixfields stadium for the 2013-14 season.

Following protracted negotiations with ACL, it then returned to Ricoh Arena in September 2014 – only for the venue to be bought by Premier League rugby club Wasps within a month.

Coventry City has shared the venue with Wasps ever since, but the club's preference is to have its own stadium.

Its current deal with Wasps sees the football team keep 100 per cent of its gate receipts and 50 per cent of food and drink sales, but it loses out on non-matchday income and sponsorship revenue. It also has to pay Wasps rent.

Looking to own its own venue, the club has in the past five years contemplated – and subsequently ditched – a number of plans for a new home. One of these included relocating and sharing a stadium with Coventry Rugby Club, which plays its games at the Butts Park stadium.

The club has now "re-engaged a land agent" to identify possible sites.

In a statement, the club said: "To-date several possible sites have been identified.

"The EFL has currently given us the ability to play outside of Coventry for up-to three seasons if necessary, but the EFL will allow the club to return to Coventry at any point."