Coventry City have been given 21 days to pay their unpaid rent or face the threat of a winding-up order.
Ricoh Arena bosses are owed £1.6million in total from the club - £1.1 million in rent after the Sky Blues stopped making their payments 10 months ago.
Should the club fail to meet the Boxing Day deadline, they would have to declare themselves insolvent and face closure.
A statement on Wednesday from Arena Coventry Limited, the stadium owners, read: "Following the refusal of Coventry City Football Club and its owners, Sisu, to pay outstanding rent to Arena Coventry Limited (ACL), the ACL Board has today issued a statutory demand to Coventry City Football Club (CCFC).
"The statutory demand covers the £1.1million owed by CCFC to ACL in rent arrears of a total £1.6million owed by the club.
"This is not a course of action the ACL Board wanted to take. However, the behaviour of Sisu, the owners of CCFC, has left the board with no choice but to issue the statutory demand."
The League One club were unavailable for comment.
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