Performances from Harry Styles and Arctic Monkeys in Coventry are set to bring a major financial boost for regional schools and sports club – enabling the continued delivery of vital sport, wellbeing and education in the local community.
Coventry Building Society Arena is working with local organisations to utilise their car parks and provide off-site spaces for concert-goers.
The new deal, proposed by the venue, will see clubs and schools able to retain a significant increase of the profits – a increase on the previous arrangement when the off-site car park services was outsourced.
The off-site car parking has now been brought back in-house under new owners Frasers Group.
It will help schools and sports clubs to gain vital funding to and is available to those with car park facilities near the of the stadium.
The new deal comes at a time when budgets are tight for sports clubs, community centres and schools across the UK – and Coventry Building Society Arena hopes the car parking will be a key revenue stream to support day-to-day operations at clubs and schools.
Around 100,000 people are expected to attend the trio of concerts across the month of May. Harry Styles will perform on back-to-back nights on 22 May and 23 May, with Arctic Monkeys taking to the stage the following week on 31 May.
The new off-site car park arrangement with Coventry Building Society Arena will apply to large-scale events and provide income for schools and local sports clubs throughout the year.
Coventry Welsh Rugby Club in Exhall is a 10-minute walk from the stadium and is set to be one of the organisations to benefit from the new arrangement.
The club has two adult male teams, an adult ladies’ team and a under-17s team. It is run entirely by volunteers and has parking space for up to 500 cars.
Paul Neal, Chairman of Coventry Welsh Rugby Club, says the funding provided through the parking agreement at the arena has been crucial in previous years and the improved arrangement will bring significant benefit to the club and its members.
“The revenue from customers parking at our club has been really important to us over the years and has helped us to make crucial upgrades to the club,” said Paul.
“We’re all volunteers and operationally we wouldn’t be able to keep going without income from events at the Arena.
“The new deal with the stadium will bring further benefits, with the increased percentage in profits being put towards further work at the club.
“From the concerts this summer we hope to be able to renovate and refresh the ladies’ toilets on site and make further improvements for visitors to the club.”
Chris Owen, Head of Venue Operations at Coventry Building Society Arena, said: “Through this new arrangement we are proud to be ensuring that schools and sport clubs get an even bigger cut of the revenue when providing off-site car parking.
“The arrangement will bring major benefits to the local community as clubs and schools can reinvest the funds into facilities to benefit their students, staff or members.
“Budgets are increasingly tight for schools and clubs and we hope that this arrangement will help provide support against those challenges and support organisations to stay operational and continue providing their vital community services.
“Coventry Building Society Arena is at the heart of the community in Coventry and this is one of many initiatives we are expanding to bring widespread benefits to people living in the city.”