> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.footballbusinessnews.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Coventry City Set to Buy Arena Land in £1.6m Council Deal - URL: https://www.footballbusinessnews.com/coventry-city-set-to-buy-arena-land-in-1-6m-council-deal/ - Published: 2026-10-06T14:39:11.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-06T14:39:11.000Z - Description: Coventry City is set to buy council-owned land beside the Coventry Building Society Arena for £1.6m, paid over 10 years to its community charity. - Author: Football Business News - Tags: Stadiums ## Coventry City Lines Up £1.6m Arena Land Deal, Paid Through Its Community Charity Stadiums Finance England 06 Oct 2026 Coventry City is set to buy council-owned land beside the Coventry Building Society Arena for £1.6 million, with the money paid over 10 years to the club's community charity rather than to the council. ![Aerial view of the Coventry Building Society Arena, formerly the Ricoh Arena](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Ricoh_Arena.jpg) The Coventry Building Society Arena, the stadium Doug King already controls. Car Park C sits across the A444\. Image via Wikimedia Commons. The purchase is not a stadium rebuild. It is a land-control deal that makes a later regeneration simpler. Coventry City Council is expected to sign off the sale of Car Park C at a cabinet meeting on 13 October, [BBC News reported](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cw99zv8902zgo?ref=footballbusinessnews.com). The plot sits on the opposite side of the A444 from the stadium. The price was set after a valuation by consultants Lambert Smith Hampton. Owner Doug King said the deal would let the club bring Car Park C into the existing head lease "and simplify future regeneration." Deputy council leader Lynnette Kelly said control of the car park would let the club plan for the future and look at wider regeneration of the area. **£1.6m** Agreed price for the council-owned car park land **10 years** Payment period, at about £160,000 a year **£0** Amount paid directly to the council under the structure **13 Oct** Cabinet date set for formal sign-off ### The money goes to the charity, not the council The structure is the commercial point. None of the £1.6 million is paid to Coventry City Council. It is paid to Sky Blues in the Community, the club's official charity, which is contractually required to spend about £160,000 a year on sport and cultural activity in the city for the next decade. Kelly called it a win-win. The council keeps a public-benefit use on the proceeds. The club gets the land without a single cash settlement to the local authority. **Why the structure matters**A 10-year charity covenant turns a small land purchase into a community-funding commitment. It also marks a break from the years of dispute between the council and the club's previous owners. ### There is still no scheme for the site ![Coventry Building Society Arena and surrounding parking](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Coventry_Building_Society_Arena.jpg) Parking already surrounds the arena. Car Park C is the council plot the club wants inside the same lease. Image via Wikimedia Commons. BBC News reported that there are no public plans for the car park land. Earlier ideas for the wider site have included an indoor ski slope and hotels. Both came and went. King has not set out a development brief. The club's line is that bringing the plot into the head lease removes a split in control before any regeneration is designed. More detail is expected after the deal is finalised. **Land assembly** Car Park C joins areas already inside the stadium head lease, so a later scheme does not need a separate council landlord. **Payment route** About £160,000 a year for 10 years goes to Sky Blues in the Community, not to the council's general fund. **What is not in the deal** No published capacity change, naming-rights move, or construction timetable. This is control of the plot, not a build contract. ### It sits on top of the stadium purchase The land deal only makes sense because King already owns the club and the stadium. Coventry spent years in dispute over the arena under previous ownership. The council has since rebuilt that relationship, and this sale is the latest sign of it. For a club whose matchday economics depend on one out-of-town bowl, the adjacent plot is option value. Hotels, event space, extra parking and non-matchday uses have all been floated before. None of them can be planned cleanly while the car park sits outside the lease. Cabinet still has to approve the sale on 13 October. Until then, £1.6 million of land is a proposed transaction, not a completed one. **Football Business News** Independent coverage of football finance, ownership, investment, sponsorship, media rights, stadiums and the commercial structure of the global game.