Built on the site of the Foleshill gasworks, it is named after its sponsor, Coventry Building Society who entered into a ten-year sponsorship deal in 2021.

Following a protracted rent dispute between Coventry City and ACL, the football club left the arena in 2013; playing their home matches in Northampton for over a year before returning in September 2014.

The original design for the arena was for a state-of-the-art stadium with a retractable roof and a pitch that could slide out to reveal a hard floor for concerts.

After Coventry City's relegation from the Premiership in May 2001, a number of contractor/financier withdrawals, and England's bid to host the 2006 FIFA World Cup ending in failure, the plans were significantly downsized to reflect new realities.

The arena became the venue for Coventry City's home games at the start of the 2005–06 season, following 106 years at the Highfield Road stadium.

The first competitive football match played at the stadium was against Queens Park Rangers on 20 August 2005, in front of a reduced (for safety reasons) 23,012 capacity crowd.

The stadium has never seen a capacity 32,600 crowd for a Coventry City match but 2009 saw their highest attendance coming against Chelsea in an FA Cup quarter-final in 2009.

The quickest ever goal scored at the ground was when Coventry striker Dan Agyei converted against Northampton Town after 19.5 seconds on 4 October 2016.

[28] In December 2012, Coventry City owners SISU Capital became embroiled in a high-profile dispute with ACL over the rent arrangement and a lack of access to matchday revenue.

[29] Coventry City agreed to play their home games at Northampton Town's Sixfields Stadium to ensure that they fulfilled their fixtures.

This resulted in ACL threatening to sue Northampton Town if they decided to carry on hosting Coventry City's home games.

On 10 March 2021, It was announced that Coventry City and Wasps had agreed to a ten-year deal, which would mean that the club would return to the stadium from the 2021–22 season.

[38] On 28 April 2023, it was announced that Coventry City and Frasers Group had agreed a five-year license for the club to continue to play at the Arena.

[39] It was also agreed that as part of the deal, no other sports team were to play home games at the Arena, after issues with the condition of the pitch under previous owners rugby union club Wasps.

The hosts beat the visitors 6–3, with goals from Kieran Gibbs, Micah Richards, and two apiece from Andy Carroll and Zavon Hines.

[48] Leicester City's under-21 development squad played twice at the Arena on 29 January 2014[49] and 3 February 2014[50] due to waterlogged pitches at the original venues.

16,186 fans saw Saints captain Bruce Reihana score the first ever try at the stadium but the London Wasps came from behind to win 30–13 to secure a place in the final.

[52] London Wasps again played at the arena, this time hosting Irish side Munster on 10 November 2007 in a Heineken Cup fixture.

[58] On 14 November 2014 Wasps confirmed the purchase of the final 50% of shares in the stadium from the Alan Edward Higgs Charity to become outright owners of the facility.

Wasps recorded their biggest ever win in the Champions Cup on 15 October 2016 when they defeated Italian side Zebre 82–14 after scoring twelve tries.

The arena was selected to host the Great Britain versus Russia Group One second-round tie of the 2013 Davis Cup tennis competition on 5–7 April.

On the Saturday, Great Britain's Colin Fleming and Jonny Marray won the doubles match against Igor Kunitsyn and Victor Baluda.

[70] The stadium hosted its first-ever American football game on 6 May 2007, when the Coventry Cassidy Jets beat then British national champions London Olympians 27–20.

[71] The Jets had hoped to play their inaugural EFAF Cup game against Madrid Bears on 29 April but they were forced to change venue to the Manor Park Stadium in Nuneaton.

In 2021, in response to Coventry Building Society's sponsorship deal, the black seats which previously spelt Ricoh were rearranged to spell Wasps.

It has also hosted music concerts with Muse, Bon Jovi, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Take That, Bruce Springsteen, Oasis, Pink, Rolling Stones, Rihanna, Spice Girls and Kings of Leon all performing on the outdoor pitch.

The first ever gig at The Coventry Building Society Arena was held in the Exhibition hall when Bryan Adams played to a sell-out 8,000 crowd.

A 400 square metre sports bar opened at the arena in 2021, located by the front door in the space previously occupied by Wasps' club shop.

[103][104] It was announced that trains will be provided to transport 1,000 extra supporters for the Wasps' fixtures against Harlequins on 28 February and Leicester Tigers on 12 March 2016 as a trial run.

London Midland and Wasps will review the trial run before deciding any more decisions with Coventry City "hopeful" that they will eventually benefit from the services.