Supporters are advised to arrive earlier than usual, as Coventry City gear themselves towards larger attendances this year at the Coventry Building Society Arena.
The Sky Blues have nearly 19,000 Season Ticket holders for the 2023/24 campaign and attendances will now be regularly around 24,000 to 25,000.
This represents a huge shift to just under 6 years ago, when attendances were around 8,000 – and we need supporters to adapt their matchday routines.
Fans can no longer turn up with 30 minutes to kick-off and expect to just walk in through the turnstiles. However we now have a fan village outside the East Stand plus more food and drink options on the concourse, which is now open from 1pm, to encourage fans to arrive early – as well as our Family Zone activities too.
With the best will in the world, stewards at the Arena and the turnstiles themselves cannot get everyone in if they turn up just before kick-off time – so therefore we need fans to adapt their routines to help.
While queues at the last home game were not helped by use of etickets rather than Season Cards for that game, there was a significant number of fans who turned up at the Arena in the final 15-20 minutes before kick-off.
It is therefore vital that fans turn up to the Arena early and with their card/match ticket ready to be scanned when they get to the turnstile.
Don’t forget – you can use any turnstile to enter the Arena. Don’t feel that you have to enter using the same one as you did last week (even if it might have been your lucky one…), if the one next to it hasn’t got a queue.
Dave Boddy, Coventry City Chief Executive, said:
“We’re opening turnstiles and the concourse 2 hours before kick-off now, have a fan village outside the East Stand plus Family Zone and Sky Blues in the Community activities outside too. Our work this Summer has been geared to making our matches an all-day event and the stadium a more enjoyable place for Sky Blues fans to be.
“Our attendances now mean that fans cannot turn up with 30 minutes to kick-off and stroll in through the turnstiles – that was the case in League Two with considerably smaller attendances but in the Championship we all have to be ready for these big crowds we are getting.
“Fans can play their part in that by making sure they are here at the Arena early, soaking up the atmosphere and helping the day go smoothly and be enjoyable for everyone involved.”