With no contract for a host city beyond 2022, the NRL and ARLC have confirmed they’ll be looking at at alternatives for the NRL Grand Final going forward.
After weeks of public negotiations between the NRL and NSW Government, the biggest game in rugby league has been confirmed for Sydney in 2022.
The NSW Government and NRL had previously agreed to a deal where suburban rugby league stadiums would receive $800 million dollars of funding in exchange for keeping the grand final in Sydney until 2040.
ARLC Commissioner Peter V’landys vocally came out and announced that the NSW Government had pulled out of the deal and opened up the floor to other states to begin a bidding war for the NRL grand final for 2022 and beyond.
With reports as early as yesterday suggesting that Queensland were firming as the favourites to host this year’s showcase game, the NSW government and NRL quickly wrapped a deal for the 2022 grand final to be hosted at Accor Stadium.
V’Landys and NRL CEO Andrew Abdo spoke to the media on Thursday afternoon to confirm Sydney as the host city for the Grand Final, but was open about looking at a possible ‘Super Bowl strategy’ going forward.
“The NSW government has given it an additional investment, but this is only for one year, I have to stress that,” V’landys said.
“It is not for the long-term, negotiations will re-commence for future grand finals, it has really now put it on the table for the future.
“It hasn’t been because we were hoping that we’d have an exclusive arrangement with the NSW government.
“Unfortunately, that is no longer the case, so it opens the door for a Super Bowl type concept or who can give us the best deal for the game.”
The Super Bowl concept is an interesting one and has been seen in the NRL Nines competition and recently in State of Origin, with Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide all sharing hosting rights to one game during the series.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe one problem it does pose is that all of the NRL clubs are based on the east-coast and could cause some issues if it was moved to South Australia or Western Australian.
However, we have seen fans willing to travel to witness their side in a grand final like in 2015 when the Cowboys faced the Broncos in Sydney.
Comparatively in other sports like the A-league where the host city is not determined until the week before the decider, fans still travel in their masses to potentially witness history.
Whether V’Landys statement is just a scare tactic to the NSW Government or is a one of serious intent, the future of the NRL grand final is set for a massive overhaul.
