COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

A £1.5m redevelopment of Coventry Rugby Football Club's Butts Park Arena could begin as early as next year, according to chairman Jon Sharp



Plans for the 4,000-capacity ground near the city centre include a 3G pitch and upgraded changing facilities.

Sharp told BBC Coventry & Warwickshire the National League One club are "investigating sources of funding" and are confident the plans are realistic.

"We would like to start this close season," he told The Rugby Show.

"We have had preliminary discussions with the city council and they have been very supportive. We could have a really good looking stadium that would do more than just rugby and other sports."

Sharp, who last week ruled out the possibility of groundsharing with footballing neighbours Coventry City, said the club are in healthy shape on the pitch as they look to win promotion to the Championship.

They are currently nine points clear at the top of League One, well on course to escape the third tier.

And, although there is now the rival attraction of Premiership rugby in the city, since Wasps moved to Coventry in December 2014, Sharp says the plan is to be in the top third of English rugby's second tier within "five or six years".

"The key word we use is sustainability," Sharp explained. "There is no point in going up and coming back down again, so everything we are trying to do is to make the club more sustainable.

"We should secure ourselves in the Championship - maybe at the top of the bottom third - and try to move up through the ranks."

Coventry Rugby reveals plans for 12,000-seat stadium redevelopment



Coventry Rugby has revealed ambitious plans to create a 12,000-capacity stadium by redeveloping Butts Park Arena.

The recently-promoted rugby union outfit is seeking to become a 'first-class rugby club' with the installation of an artificial pitch with new floodlights, stands, new bars, hospitality areas and changing facilities.

Coventry chairman Jon Sharp revealed phase one of the project would cost £1.5million.

The club is currently in talks with property developers, benefiting from 'avid support' from Coventry City Council.

The development would not include previously discussed plans to expand Butts Park Arena to between 15,000 and 25,000 seats so Coventry City could play there.

"We have to be a fully commercial operation," said Sharp, speaking on BBC Coventry and Warwickshire's Rugby Show.

"We have to offer a first-class offering to all of our supporters, all of our fans and all those potential sponsors as well,"

Sharp hinted that a hotel could also be located on the Butts Park Arena site to help meet the city's shortfall in places to stay as the City of Culture title looms in 2021.

He said: "The city does not have enough hotels. We would all like to have another city centre hotel. So maybe we can do something there, providing they build us a stand at the back.

At the forefront of Coventry's plans is the creation of an artificial pitch.

As well as being the home venue for Coventry Rugby, the playing surface is also the stomping ground of rugby league outfit Coventry Bears and Coventry United Football Club - both of whom have lost many games due to the weather and its impact on the pitch in recent times.

"All of our ambitions start with putting down an artificial pitch so we can operate the facilities around the clock," Sharp told BBC CWR.

"On the one hand driving commercial income, on the other hand creating a very exciting city centre stadium that can serve the community.

"It's probably stating the obvious but you cannot run a first-class rugby club based on the income deriving from 15 weekends a year, it just can't happen."

The club hopes to ally an artificial pitch with improved LED floodlighting, a pitch irrigation system, additional changing facilities and a community room.

Stage two of the project mooted by Sharp would help push the stadium's capacity up from its current 4,500-mark, with further seated stands to support the 2,800-seater East Stand.

Second stage, and what would be my favourite, and that's build a cow shed or the equivalent with extra bars and hospitality perhaps," Sharp added.

"And then what the architects plans ultimately show is the possibility of a further stand at the road end (Butts Road), possibly allied with development behind that and giving us a 12,000 capacity stadium. That's the sort of thing we would like to see."