Thursday 9 March 2017 18:20, UK
Wasps have asked Coventry City to pay half of the bill to repair the Ricoh Arena pitch following their Checkatrade Trophy semi-final victory against Wycombe.
City supporters flooded onto the pitch on the final whistle as the club confirmed its first trip to Wembley since 1987.
Sky Sports News HQ understands Wasps have demanded that the football club pays 50 per cent of an £8,000-a-month repair bill until the surface has recovered.
One source has told Sky Sports News HQ: "It's utterly laughable. They have 17-stone fellas in boots rucking and scrummaging all over the pitch. We have supporters on the pitch wearing trainers, and they reckon we are responsible? It's a complete joke."
Following Coventry's cup win, Wycombe manager Gareth Ainsworth said: "The pitch is terrible, you cannot pass on it. We tried to set each other up a couple of times and the ball was bobbling all over the place.
"You're unable to get a clean strike forward. They're used to it and we're not. It's a really tough surface to play on, rugby has hammered their pitch and made it difficult."
Relations between stadium landlords Wasps and the football club have soured since they were unable to agree a deal over matchday and non-matchday revenues.
Coventry's three-year deal to play at the Ricoh expires at the end of next season, and negotiations have broken down over an extension to that deal while Coventry's owner Sisu pursue legal action challenging the terms of the sale of the Ricoh Arena company to Wasps in 2014.
Wasps, who replaced the Ricoh Arena pitch in 2015 with a part-synthetic, part-grass surface that was supposed to be able to endure rugby and football, have been contacted by Sky Sports News HQ but declined to comment.
