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Coventry City | Ricoh Arena
Ricoh Arena Goes from Strength to Strength
While announcements that Olympic football matches in 2012 and the 2015 Rugby World Cup are heading to the Ricoh Arena grabbed international headlines, it is figures which have brought a smile to the lips of Daniel Gidney.
The chief executive of the Ricoh Arena is quite rightly proud of attracting two of the three biggest sporting events in the world alongside established venues such as Old Trafford and Wembley.
But as dedicated conference and exhibition centres in some parts of the Midlands are struggling to reach a profit and some are reporting record losses citing a lingering recession remaining within the conference and events sector, conversely the Ricoh has an impressive roll-call of achievements over the last five years and crucially has strong growth across all sectors.
As staff at the multi-purpose venue prepare to blow out the candles on its fifth anniversary cake on August 20, the venue continues to increase its standing regionally, nationally and internationally year on year.
It is the statistics which prove that the 40-acre site is more than just a sporting stadium which give Gidney a quiet glow of pride.
There have been 5,465 conferences and 202 exhibitions held over the last 60 months while around 334,000 people have watched concerts in the stadium bowl and 2,421,360 supporters have attended competitive Coventry City matches and above all over seven million visitors to date have contributed to the Ricoh’s all-rounder status as having established itself as a global destination for business, entertainment and sport.
“We will be hosting multiple high profile football matches in the London 2012 Olympics – when we will be renamed the City of Coventry Stadium for the duration of the competition – and three pool matches in the 2015 Rugby World Cup and everyone associated with the Ricoh feels a great sense of pride in bringing world-class events to the region,” he said.
“The Heineken Cup semi-final in 2008 was reported to have delivered £6 million economic impact to the region with the Ricoh Arena becoming a jewel in the crown for leisure investment in the region.
“But the purpose of the Ricoh was to build a multi-use venue which was in use 365 days a year by enticing conference and exhibition organisers, concert promoters and other sports here. It’s just they do not attract the same level of publicity.
“The figures show that we have been successful in achieving that over the last five years and that has been possible not only because of the standard of our facilities but because of the can-do attitude of our staff.
“Our forecasted figures show that our conference and exhibition business will increase 25 per cent this year on last year which is a tremendous achievement in the current economic climate with particular growth coming from large 2,000 plus delegate conventions for large international blue-chip organisations.
“The Ricoh Arena has developed a reputation within this niche as a unique venue in the UK to deliver corporate events on such a large scale but with a dedicated customer focus.”
The Ricoh is run and managed by Arena Coventry Limited (ACL) and was built thanks to a joint venture by Coventry City Council and the Alan Higgs Charity.
The building has acted as a catalyst for regeneration in the north of Coventry as well as having changed the landscape immeasurably in the north of the city.
“We have zero subsidy from Coventry City Council and are completely self-funding and so don’t have to worry about accusations of state aid like other venues might have to. This proves that we offer competitive rates, our facilities are of a high standard but more importantly our team offer tremendous flexibility,” he said.
“The business has gone from strength to strength over the last five years and there is a great deal to look forward to over the next five years.
“There is less than two years to go now to the Olympics and preparations are already well underway because we have to have a clean stadium without any sponsorship branding and there is also a great deal of logistical work to do.
“Then in 2015 the Ricoh Arena will again be beamed all over the world when the Rugby World Cup takes centre stage.
“It is a very exciting time to be at the helm of ACL.”
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