After agreeing a one-year contract to keep the showpiece event in Sydney in 2022, the NRL is aiming a Super Bowl-style bidding battle for the grand final each season.
On Thursday, NRL executives put an end to four months of uncertainty surrounding the October 2 event, accepting a last-ditch appeal from NSW to keep the game at Accor Stadium rather than moving it to Queensland.
But, in the long run, the situation is far from over.
A 2018 deal for the match to be played in Sydney each season until 2042 has now been virtually cancelled, after the NRL accused the NSW Government of failing to renovate the stadium.
It implies that the league will explore moving the match somewhere in the future, maybe in the form of a best-bidder procedure similar to the NFL.
This (agreement) is just for a year, according to ARL Commission chairman Peter Vlandys.
Negotiations for future grand finals will resume.
It’s now officially on the table for the future.
It might go in any direction.
It hasn’t been that way before since we were looking for an exclusive agreement with the NSW government.
Regrettably, that is no longer the case. As a result, it opens the door for a Super Bowl-style idea or who can provide us the greatest bargain for the game.
The decision to award the 2022 grand final to NSW came after Queensland seemed to be in control as late as Wednesday night.
Before a late improved offer from NSW arrived, the NRL would have been better off financially playing at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium.
With the existing NSW contract no longer in place, Vlandys hinted that Queensland would be well-positioned to host several deciders in the future.
Remember, we do have four teams in Queensland, he continued.
If we prorate it, we should go to Queensland once every four years. We now have the opportunity to investigate this.
Any such action would almost certainly be rejected by the NSW government, which reiterated on Thursday that the long-term agreement could be salvaged and that talks would continue.
The government and NRL agreement in 2018 was predicated on the $800 million redevelopment of Accor Stadium, before an agreement in 2020 that a portion of that money would be allocated to Sydney suburban fields.
Sports minister Alister Henskens was eager to stress out on Thursday that the decision to postpone suburban ground renovations before of next year’s election has bipartisan backing.
Outright peace between the NRL and the NSW Government appears to be a long way off, as the league makes its case for community benefits and financial returns from enhancements.
Vlandys called Premier Dominic Perrottet a decent guy on Thursday, but added he wouldn’t wager with him because if you win, he won’t pay you.
The chairman of the ARLC is still enraged that the government claimed flood relief activities triggered the change in attitude on suburban grounds, and he rejects claims that the NRL was asking too much of the government.
When you keep your end of the bargain, Vlandys says enough is enough.
We do not want to be pitted against the victims of the disaster.
That, in my opinion, is inappropriate. Were the first to provide assistance to flood victims.
The NSW government is investing $123 billion on infrastructure. Our contract was worth $300 million.
It is scarcely a drop in the ocean. It’s not even a rounding mistake. So to argue they needed it for flood victims is a little exaggerated.
Vlandys said that the Allianz Stadium redevelopment and club excellence centres were insufficient to compensate for the earlier agreement.
Vlandys stated that there was a contract on the table and an agreement.
We are the minority tenants of the $1 billion spent next door (at Allianz). It demonstrates that it is not a rugby league oval, but rather a soccer and rugby union pitch.
The NRL intends to award future grand finals to the highest bidder.
About Author
