Wasps captain James Haskell has insisted that the club had no other option but to move to a new stadium.
The club have announced that they have secured a 50% stake in the Coventry-based Ricoh Arena.
Many fans have expressed their discontent in the club's decision to permanently move their games from Wycombe to Coventry.
"You can't sustain a business on gates of 5,000," Haskell told BBC Country & Warwickshire. "You can't lose £3m a year in any walk of life. This was about survival.
"I have an intimate knowledge of what's been happening with London Wasps over the last 11 years in our hunt for a new ground, having a multitude of different owners who weren't able to do that as projects fell through.
"But, as is often the case, a lot of the fans have been shielded from the true reality, that we were an hour away from going bankrupt, that for every pound spent at Adams Park, we get 50% of it."
Wasps will play their games at the Ricoh from December onwards.
