Not a ball has been kicked in anger but Wasps’s first game at their new permanent home in Coventry is already set to be the most successful in the club’s history. More than 26,000 tickets have been shifted for Sunday’s afternoon’s match against London Irish and revenue will be treble that generated by any game at High Wycombe in the past 12 years.

The previous highest attendance for a regular Premiership home game – excluding matches played at Wembley or Twickenham – is just under 25,000, underlining the quantum leap in Wasps’ potential status following the multi-million pound deal which has seen the club take control of the Ricoh Arena. “The revenue will be three times more than the highest-grossing game we ever had at Adams Park,” said Nick Eastwood, the chief executive, confirming that the club would have gone bust had they stayed in Wycombe. Prior to the intervention of the businessman Derek Richardson the club were close to going out of business and losing £4m per season.

With the 32,000-capacity Ricoh Arena also boasting hotel and conference facilities, as well as a casino, Wasps now anticipate the stadium’s turnover will increase by around £7m per year to £21m, the highest of any rugby club in the country.

For Sunday’s first game, there will be live bands, X Factor contestants, fairground rides, ice-sculpting and a creche. Children under 10 will be allowed in free and tickets for those aged between 10 and 21 will be £10. The attendance for the next game – against Sale and stripped of the novelty factor – will be substantially lower but Wasps, who came within 18 minutes of being wound up during Eastwood’s early days at the club, are taking a longer-term view. “When you’re sitting in a Portakabin, it’s three degrees, you’ve £65.16 in the bank and you owe the Inland Revenue a million quid you do question your sanity a bit,” said Eastwood, who was previously in charge of the Rugby Football Union’s finances.

Now it is Coventry City FC – who have a two-year deal with an option to extend for a further two years – who find themselves as paying tenants while Wasps hope their new financial stability will transform ambitions. “If you’re not funding losses you can fund players,” said Eastwood, brushing aside concerns that recruitment will be tougher. “It’s not as if we’ve moved to Carlisle, it’s 50 minutes on the train from London. Players can look to coming to Wasps as one of the country’s premier clubs rather than a team with a glorious history but a tenuous present.”

For the next year at least the players will continue to train in Acton and commute to Coventry for matches but Wasps officials have already been taken aback by demand for Sunday’s game. “When we started we were thinking: ‘What if only 3,000 people turn up?’” said Eastwood. “To have sold well over 20,000 tickets is beyond our wildest expectations.

“There is a massive pent-up demand for professional rugby in this part of the country. It’s a big football area but it’s a massive rugby area as well.” Despite this, he does not believe other Midlands’ clubs will be severely affected by Wasps’ relocation. “Leicester’s support-base is so deep and strong that we’re not going to steal their fans. That would be ridiculous and it’s the same with Northampton.”

The club insist that a newly laid pitch, only put down last Friday, will bed down sufficiently quickly in time to ensure a decent spectacle. The fit-again Christian Wade is set to return and Dai Young, Wasps’ director of rugby, says they are desperate to make a flying start. “People will come to see us and we have to try and retain as many of them as possible,” said Young, hopeful that more top-notch players will now be tempted to join the club. “You can’t just buy teams but it certainly helps if you can buy a little bit of stardust to sprinkle over solid foundations.”