The transformation in the fortunes of Wasps will be used as a leading investment weapon at a major international show.
Wasps’ move to Coventry has seen them go from one of poorest supported teams in the Aviva Premiership to regularly attracting the largest crowds in the country.
They top the table, are in a quarter final in Europe, have launched a successful top-flight netball team while the Ricoh Arena has seen 18 per cent growth across its events business in the last year.
Now Wasps vice-chairman Nick Eastwood will use the club’s experience to help bring other companies to the area.
He – along with former skipper Chris Bell and first team wing-forward Guy Thompson – will be part of Coventry and Warwickshire’s presence at the MIPIM commercial property and investment show later this month.
Eastwood said: “Our experience of moving a business to Coventry and Warwickshire has been superb. We have had help and support when we have needed it, we have linked in with other businesses, and we have found the overall environment very positive.
“That is not true only of our commercial enterprises. Our players and staff have now moved up here and have really taken to the area. It is a great place to live and work.
“We are still very much in the early days of our development but we have made excellent progress in the first two years. The reception we received and the very positive commercial environment we now operate in, have played a large part in that.
“We are only too happy to spread that word at MIPIM – and it is a very positive message.”
The Coventry and Warwickshire MIPIM Partnership is made up of companies and organisations which support the area’s presence at the show which attracts around 30,000 delegates from around the world.
Bell and Thompson help market the area which is part of a larger UK Midlands push at the 2017 event.
They will also take part in a Question of Sport event to close the show.
Les Ratcliffe, chair of the Coventry and Warwickshire Champions – a member of the partnership – said: “Wasps may be a high-profile case in point, but the club’s experience is shared by many companies which have relocated to our area, or established a presence here.
“The CWLEP has long said that we have to be easy to do business with, and I think that is now very much the case. We are attracting companies from a wide variety of sectors including manufacturing, engineering and digital technology and we want to continue that drive to bring jobs to the area.”
Pictured - Left to right: Guy Thompson, Nick Eastwood and Chris Bell