New Sky Blues stadium not to be on Warwick ground

The University has confirmed that a proposed new stadium for Coventry City Football Club (Sky Blues) will not be on land near campus.

Since the summer of 2013, it was believed that land on the Warwickshire side of the University was of interest for the club’s new stadium.

The club’s academy sometimes uses the University’s facilities and it was suggested that the club may be interested in developing an ‘education partnership’ with links to university sports science courses and related fields.

The University, however, has ruled out the possibility of a new stadium being built on land owned by the university.

A spokesperson for Warwick University said: “There are no plans for a stadium on our land and we are not having conversations of that nature with anyone.”

He added that he was unaware of any plans by surrounding landowners to let land to the football club.

Sky Blues boss Tim Fisher also told Coventry Telegraph: “We’ve had no talks with Warwick University about a stadium nearby, but everybody can see the sense of linking sport and education.”

It is understood that the club plans to use its new stadium as an ‘academy and sports hub’.

After a row between Sky Blues and the owners of Coventry’s Ricoh Arena stadium over rents, the club is looking to build a new stadium in the Coventry area.

The club now plays their ‘home’ matches in Sixfields Stadium in Northampton, 35 miles away, and hopes to return to the Coventry area within five years.

Sky Blues maintain that they are considering several sites. Club bosses, however, are bound by commercial confidentiality not to reveal any of the prospective sites.

The Coventry Telegraph, however, recently revealed that one of the sites the club is believed to be considering is a 71-acre land site of a former golf course near Exhall.

The club’s architects and property consultants estimate that any new stadium will be at least three years away.