Coventry City have held provisional talks with Hinckley United over playing at the Blue Square Bet North side's Greene King Stadium.
Coventry are looking at other grounds as they discuss a £1.1m bill in rent arrears with Arena Coventry Limited (ACL), the owners of the Ricoh Arena.
And Hinckley told BBC Radio Leicester they discussed a potential share with the Sky Blues.
The Greene King Stadium can hold 4,329 fans, 29,280 less than the Ricoh Arena.
ACL have issued League One Coventry with a Boxing Day deadline to pay the claimed amount of rent, or face a winding-up petition.
However, the Sky Blues believe that the rent is too high in relation to other clubs of a similar level, and are keen to negotiate with ACL.
The club are also interested in retaining some of the match-day revenue, which currently goes to ACL.
As a result, Coventry have been searching for a contingency plan if a deal for the Ricoh falls through, and reports suggested that they could move to Nene Park, home of the now disbanded Rushden & Diamonds and latterly Kettering Town.
However the Sky Blues, who have averaged just under 10,500 fans this season, could now move 13 miles away to Leicestershire if a deal is struck with Hinckley.
Coventry currently lie 15th in League One following their relegation from the Championship last year, and are on a run of three wins out of their
0
Comments
'Kin hell.
15/1 for promotion.
what a rubbish argument that is.
A salutary lesson for anyone who would consider a move from The Valley. Clubs should only move grounds when it is in their interests and not dependant on various factors which may or may not occur.
The story regarding going to Hinkley is, I suspect, largely for negotiation purposes. However, it is staggering to think a club could be better off by reducing it's crowd by over 50% (as would happen if they went from the Ricoh to Hinkley).
Somebody must of made some money from the sale of Highfield Road, who was that?
Somebody must have made some money from the move to the Ricoh & the associated retail development, who was that?
I doubt whether in either of the above questions that the answer is Coventry City FC.
Coventry, I think, are owned by a hedge fund. Not sure I would want them managing my money.
West Ham will, in all probability, shortly move to the Olympic Stadium. The Boleyn ground was worth 25 - 30 million pounds in 2010. They will, I understand, pay 15 million pounds to go to Stratford plus 8 million a year in rent.
Lets say the Boleyn ground is sold for 31 million pounds. In this scenario, in the first two years at Stratford,any additional money West Ham make over and above what they would of earned at the Boleyn ground is additional profit. After two years have passed from the move, the money from the sale of the Boleyn ground will have gone and West Ham have to find 8 million pounds per annum. Of course, West Ham will probably get more fans attending games than they did at the Boleyn ground, and some (but certainly not all ) of these will be paying more money, but will the additional cash generated be greater than 8 million. If the move to Stratford generates in excess of 8 million pounds per annum more than the Boleyn ground did, then the move is a success financially (this ignores the emotional and spectating aspects of the move).
If following a move West Ham fail to generate the additional 8 million pounds per annum, then they will effectively lose money, with an inevitable knock on effect on both club and team. Of course West Ham are, like any football club, subject to the possibility of relegation in any event, this eventuality would make losing money on the move even more likely. The next few years could see West Ham become more successful, but Coventry show the alternative.
The deal was a poor one from the start, with the club paying about £1.2m a year, regardless of gates, no benefit from match-day sales at the kiosks, nothing from the £10m naming rights (3 years to run on that deal) & nothing from the concerts regularly put on. Even Man City did their deal based on a proportion of gate receipts, which allows at least some control over costs in a decline. Isn't going to happen to them obviously, but was done before their take-over & only good business sense.
It's going to be a horrible few months for Cov & their fans & doesn't look good.
Highfield Road was perfect for a club of Coventrys size and a good ground at that.
It's a horrible story though because they're a proper club, Coventry. It's hard to understand how they've neded up in such a mess.