Ricoh Arena

As Peter Gabriel once sang, «Ricoh… Ricoh, Ricoh, Ricoh.» Steven Ricoh, a South African anti-​apartheid hero, a teacher who was brutally murdered by the police. Racism is one of the most f***ed up concepts on the planet, so if you have racial prejudices, trust me, if you ever trust me about one thing, trust me on this, get the f*** over them. We are all the same. You are wrong. Thanks.
Speaking of wrong, it’s wrong to put this stadium where it’s hard to get to, and to put the prices so damn high, and for that reason I have to give it a 4 instead of a 5.
First-​Hand Experience: More info about my personal experience at this stadium — I couldn’t believe how much I had to pay for a ticket. Is this the Premier League? I think not. I paid more here than I paid even at a Fulham game… a home Premier League game in London! I’m not sure why this is the case and believe me it’s the only reason it scores a 4 instead of 5.
Because this is an absolutely remarkable stadium. State of the art, beautiful, magnificent, with intense and loud support from the rabid Coventry fans. I love it. It’s a great place to watch concerts too. It’s twice the stadium Highfield Road was. But as long as the prices are this high, I can’t give them more than 4. The last game I saw here was 2011, and I’m hoping to go back to another one in 2016… if I can afford it.
It reminds me of Manchester City’s stadium, believe it or not. I’ve been inside both — lucky boy.
I’ve been to most UK & US stadiums, due to lifelong obsessions with travel, sport & especially footy (soccer to Americans). Born & raised in England, I followed Oxford United (hometown team) to stadia all over the country at away games, and later Liverpool (fave team) around. Every stadium review — like all my reviews — are from first-​hand personal experience, usually from several visits. In 2011, I was on music tour in the UK, and visited most stadiums for fun in my spare time. As recently as Fall 2014, when I was «stuck» in UK for 3 months, I went to hundreds yet again while travelling. I have pictures of me at most, which I’ll post later. Also, when back in UK I’ll take more pix, and add more stadia!
*** return to regular review ***
But I still love this place. It’s capable of a great atmosphere (the team will need to get back to the Prem for that, they’re 2 tiers down), it’s held rock concerts like the awesome Bön Jovi an the awful Nickelback and someday hopefully me, and it’s a cute sky blue like the team. It looks great inside and out like my gf.
It was part of the Olympics and can hold a whopping 32k fans which is fantastic for a new stadium. It cost a whopping 113 million which is crazy.
Because the stadium is owned by ACL I’ll keep it at 4 stars, they’re really mean to the club itself. It’s an AMAZING stadium, but CCFC need to own it in order for this to work properly.