For certain parties, Wasps’ move to the Ricoh Arena in Coventry is excellent news. Andy Goode, for example, is moving back to his home town, which will be nice for him. Land Rover have a Premiership club a mere 15 minutes down the road from their HQ, and by the way they aggressively splashed their branding all over the Wasps press conference this morning, they plan to make the most of it. And soon – the club could play their first game at the stadium as soon as December.
First and foremost, however, it is an excellent business opportunity for Wasps and their owner Derek Richardson. The Ricoh Arena is not just a 32,609 seater stadium, it also houses a ginormous exhibition hall, a hotel, a leisure club and a casino. Even more crucially, the area surrounding the stadium is in need of regeneration. The business potential is massive, and to be fair, it will likely have a positive impact on Wasps’ financial security for years to come.
Richardson was curiously absent at the press conference this morning, despite being the man commandeering the move. He also hasn’t found the time to communicate with the Wasps fans, the group of people the most negatively affected by the move.
Whether he had his eye on the Ricoh before he took over Wasps, as we pointed out yesterday, is moot at this stage – his absence from the press conference as well as his lack of communication with the fans does not sit well.
The sports fan is a strange brand of customer, fiercely loyal to the point of stupidity – when you put it in the most basic business terms, that is. Simply put, they will continue to buy your ‘product’ (in this case rugby) when it is performing worse than others on the market (in the league).
There are some things they won’t accept though. Judging by the outpouring of vitriol on Twitter over the past few days, there are few Wasps fans who see this move as a good thing. Yes, they get to own their own stadium finally, but why not somewhere closer to London, their historic home? Why did they have to move so far away from their fan base?
So wasps have lost this fan from there move!
— Jake Gover (@goverjake) October 8, 2014
@WaspsRugby such a f*** you to the supporters who've stood with the club through tough times. Disgraceful.
— Rupert Truman (@Roodude) October 8, 2014
The answer, quite simply, is money. Buying the Ricoh Arena, and all its opportunities for regeneration, is potentially a hugely profitable venture. The value of the season ticket holders at Adams Park, and those that make the odd trip to home games in Wycombe every now and then, simply does not stack up next to it.
Would that have changed if the move had been back into London? It’s probable that Wasps would have made more money from ticket revenue if they came back to their historic home, and no doubt they considered a few options there. It would have made the fans happier, but would it have offered the same potential for profit? I doubt it.
Richardson and the club will never admit as much, but the happiness of the fans is not as important to them as the potential to make money from this move. And that, in a nutshell, sums up the dangers of professionalism to sports teams. For all the good it has done – the sport is an incredible spectacle at times because of it, certainly – it still all boils down to money.
I grew up going to Welford Road at the time when the Tigers and Wasps were developing a fierce rivalry in England and in Europe – some of the encounters between the two sides in the early noughties were genuine classics. It feels, then, a strange thing to say, but today I feel intensely sorry for Wasps fans.
Back to matters on the pitch, and South Africa’s win over New Zealand at the weekend brought to an end one of the great unbeaten runs. It is not, however, necessarily good news for the rest of the world.
Speaking to Piri Weepu recently, he outlined how important it was for the 2011 All Black vintage to lose in the build-up to the World Cup (they did not triumph in the Tri-Nations that year), which they went on to win. Losing makes you take stock, brings you back down to earth and forces you to look at the areas in which you can improve.
In a strange way, it could be exactly what the All Blacks needed to make them even stronger for next year’s World Cup.
Is it time for a change at the Tigers? I am usually loathe to suggest it – there have been times down the years when fans have called for Cockerill’s head which have been horrendously misguided – but the pressure is certainly mounting. A loss to Harlequins at home this Friday could prove to be the breaking point.
I don’t think it’s time for Cockerill to leave yet. He lives and breathes the Tigers and has always managed to turn slow starts around, but should the alarming slump in form not be arrested, something needs to change behind the scenes at the club, because at the moment they are all over the shop on the pitch and the fans simply won’t stand for it.
By Jamie Hosie
Follow Jamie on Twitter: @jhosie43
Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images
Agree with pretty much everything you say re: Wasps’ move to the Ricoh. The one thing I would question is the suggestion that this move offers “the potential to make money” – I’d say it’s more the potential to stop losing money that’s a major driving force. And given that any profit will (or certainly should!) untimately find its way back onto the pitch, then for us Wasps fans that’s got to be a good thing.
As a Wycombe-based Wasps fan and STH my initial reaction was shock and disappointment. But having had time to think about it, I can’t come up with a better alternative for the club. Once the Booker airfield plan fell through, where else could they have gone? Staying put was not financially viable; and where’s there a stadium up for sale in the Greater London area? Top sport = big money. Sad? Maybe. True? Undeniably.
I would have thought they would have waited for the new ground at Plough Lane and share with AFC Wimbledon. Understand the need to stem £3m a year losses but this is a bizarre move to a random place, nowhere near thier loyal support base.
Flaw there being Wimbledon is SW London, so are Harlequins. Wouldn’t make sense long term to be so close.
Where’s the flaw? More or less the same distance from the stoop as was Loftus Road, not that much closer than Sudbury.
In terms of fan base, we will never grow the level that we need in SW London. Harlequins have been there for years and their fan base in that region is quite secure. Would never work long term, much like Loftus Road.
I have mixed feelings. Initially I was incredibly frustrated for obvious reasons. Making the journey 1hr30 longer (each way) for me was obviously very frustrating.
BUT, Wasps were in dire trouble two years ago, close to not even being a club anymore. We had to move, no doubt about that. We were physically losing money from being at Adams Park. If being based in Coventry increases our profit to the point where we can rise back to the top of the English/European game, then it does soften the blow slightly.
In a dream world we would stay based as close to London as possible, but if that was not possible then we have to accept the alternative.
We do not have to accept the alternative. It all went downhill when the team flogged off the ground 20 years ago in Sudbury for housing, and ever since then, the fans have been irrelevant.
We’ve been betrayed.
Could they not have moved to somewhere like the Crystal Palace Athletics ground? More or less unused during the Rugby season and I would imagine they wouldn’t mind a partner.
Would of also given them a potentially new area ( the South East ) to tap fans from as well as keeping their current fans happy’ish?
Could they? Was that genuinely an option? I’d expect that it would be similar to Adams Park in that the rent and share of money is minuscule. On the Wasps website this morning, I read that the club make 15p for every £1 spent at Adams Park on tickets/match day spend. A club can not run like that.
I should say with each of these comments, that I am a Wasps fan that this move is hugely inconveniencing.
As a Sarries fan I have a lot of sympathy. Luckily we only moved about a 15 minute drive closer to London, but this is a long journey from London, or Wycombe. I’m sure they will be losing a lot of fans, and the question is, will they find new support in Coventry and the surrounding area? Enough to make a 32,000 seater not seem empty?! Would the players rather play to a full crowd of passionate fans in a smaller stadium, or play to a (smaller amount) of new fans in a stadium almost three times the size? I know these question won’t mean much to the guys at the top trying to make the club money, but to not even communicate with the fans before hand is shocking!!
Will they still be involved in the London Double Header at the beginning of the season? We had a fantastic match with them this season, and they’re fans were great!
Surely Wasps can no longer be in the London Double Header?
If London Welsh survive then they could slot in, but what happens if they go down?
Hopefully the LDH wouldn’t have to stop, it’s a great way to do start the season.
You could possibly do the same thing with the Midlands, (Saints, Tigers, Sharks, Falcons) or Western (Chiefs, Gloucester, Bath and potentially Worcester or Bristol – whoever come up.
I like your optimism, but I really can’t see London Welsh surviving this season. A couple more games of conceding 50 points and it’ll be over before Xmas.