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NRL grand final going nowhere despite ANZ backflip

Should the NRL continue with its night-time grand final? (AAP Image/David Moir)
29th March, 2018
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The NRL grand final will remain in Sydney despite the NSW government abandoning plans to knock down and rebuild ANZ Stadium.

NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg said he would honour the game’s commitment for the grand final to remain in Sydney for the next 25 years despite the Berejiklian government’s backdown on its stadia policy.

The state government announced on Thursday it would refurbish the Olympic stadium at Homebush instead of undertaking a complete rebuild, saving $500 million on the contentious project.

The government will still go ahead with the knockdown and rebuild of Allianz Stadium at Moore Park.

The NRL had previously signed a memorandum of understanding with the government for the grand final to remain in Sydney if the $2 billion project to knock down both of NSW’s major stadiums went ahead.

Despite the government scaling back the project, Greenberg said the NRL would uphold its half of the bargain.

“We committed to playing the grand final in Sydney for the next 25 years and that commitment will be met,” Greenberg said.

“Whichever way you look at it, this is a huge investment in stadia for our game and we always said that if the government invests in facilities we will play our biggest games there.”

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The refurbished ANZ Stadium will seat 70,000 and it’s expected to cost $810 million, well below the $1.3 billion price tag on the rebuild project, which attracted widespread criticism.

The project is also expected to be completed by mid-2021, two years ahead of the previous schedule.

“Naturally I would have preferred to see a new stadium built at Sydney Olympic Park in line with our memorandum of understanding,” Greenberg said.

“But this remains the biggest infrastructure program the game has ever seen, one that gives our fans a new level of stadia facilities.

“We will have three top-class rectangular stadia in Sydney (along with the new Parramatta Stadium), which will bring our fans closer to the action than ever before.”

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