Premiership Rugby side London Wasps will stage its first game at its new home "in Coventry against Castres or London Irish in December," according to the PA. The two-time European champion has acquired a 50% interest in the Ricoh Arena "after Coventry city council voted in favour of selling their controlling interest in Arena Coventry Limited." The club will continue to play at its existing ground at Adams Park, "which is shared with the League Two football club Wycombe Wanderers, until December." The decision to move the club to Coventry "has angered supporters," but Wasps CEO Nick Eastwood insists that "it was taken in the best interests of the club." Eastwood said, "This is a watershed moment in the history of Wasps and the professional game. It will help us realize our ambition to re-establish ourselves as one of the best teams in Europe and will guarantee the long-term success of the club." Wasps captain James Haskell supports the move to the Ricoh Arena, insisting that "the decision was necessary to safeguard the future of a club that went desperately close to bankruptcy two years ago" (PA, 10/8). In London, Mick Cleary wrote the reputed £20M ($32M) deal "will see the club relocate to the Midlands with the first game set to be in mid-December against either London Irish or in the European Champions’ Cup against Castres." A state-of-the-art training complex "will be constructed in the area over the next 18 months." The club "played in three different sites since the game went professional in the mid-nineties, for the last ten years at Adams Park in High Wycombe, some 90 miles from Coventry." Irish businessman Derek Richardson "brought the club back from the brink at the end of 2012," absorbing £10M of debt. Nonetheless "the club is still losing" £3M ($4.8M) a year. Those days of "passing the begging bowl are behind Wasps according to the club hierarchy" (TELEGRAPH, 10/8). The BBC reported the club "will jointly own the ground with the Alan Higgs Trust, allowing Coventry City to play there still as tenants" (BBC, 10/8).
