Grand Final staying in Sydney

[Tragic Eagle]

Another short sighted decision. From the perspective of growing the game and bringing it to the attention of a wider audience I just don't get it. The NRL talk up growing the game in Perth with a view to moving a club their or establishing a new club there and then choose to play the GF at a 35,000 capacity circular stadium when they could have played it at the new Perth stadium which in the rectangular set up seats 65,000. The state of origin was a huge success there and the GF would have been the same. I have zero confidence in this mob and the sooner they move on the current crew the better.

 

[HappilyManly]

15 million over 3 years is nothing compared to the revenue generated for NSW by hosting a large event.

Hotels, restaurants, etc would be lauding this payment

ANZ refurbishment is also a moot point as a change in government may see it scrapped. Pollies change their minds faster than the '6 to go' man

 

[Kiwi Eagle]

I agree 100% with keeping it in Sydney

The competition is built on the Sydney roots, the game is based on tradition, and I’m happy for the Grand Final to stay at its traditional base rather than be whored out to other centres. You wouldn’t see the AFL sending their GF outside of Melbourne

 

[MightyEagles]

The reality is the NRL could of got more money moving it to Brisbane and capacity wise, viewing wise etc it would be a no-brainer. Having said that though, the NSW Government are spending $2b on building/upgrading current stadiums for NSW. I think the NRL feel they owe them some sort of loyalty for the money being spent

 

[Growler FNQ]

i have been travelling to Sydney each year for more than a decade for the GF i make a holiday of it with a 10 day stay, the GF belongs there and i hope it stays there for ever more-.imagine a 10 day stay in Brisbane.....and the public transport

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

I have mixed feelings about it. Living in Sydney, I am pretty grateful that it's staying here, especially because it makes it a whole lot easier for my grandparents to attend. Also being the last team to win a grand final at the SCG, how cool to continue that record over three decades later! But agree SCG is an awful ground to watch rugby league at. I was thinking could they bring in temporary seating (that blends in to some extent) to make it more rectangle/close to the action? I know ANZ they sometimes bring extra seating in for different events.

Truly poor planning by the NSW Government to have both ANZ and the SFS out of action. But no matter what, if (or should I say when ) Manly are in the grand final, I will no doubt be rocking up to the SCG. Just gonna have to get tickets as soon as they go on sale haha!

Getting a ticket will be a real issue , instead of the circa 65k tickets at ANZ, there will be about 30k.

I’ve taken out the members tickets.

Going to be an absolute ****fight at the last minute.

 

[StuBoot]

No other obvious choice really in my opinion.

As much as we keep getting told how much Qlders love their League does anybody seriously think that they'd be clambering to buy tickets to a match that may not have a Qld team in it?
They wouldn't give a rats.
The Brisbane media don't even really care about NRL teams south of the border (unless they're in the ****) so the us v them is perpetuated.
Why would they come to watch the Chooks v Raiders? There is no significance to Qld.
I know plenty of people in Sydney that don't watch games that don't involve their team and that would be magnified in Qld.

And how many regular GF goers would buy tickets to an interstate GF as well as flights/accommodation etc that would normally go because it's in Sydney?

Whilst ever there is the vast majority of teams in or close proximity to Sydney (11/16) then the law of averages dictates that.

 

[The Who]

I respectfully disagree.
If ever there was a time to test out the suitability of other cities to host the GF it is over the next two years because the SCG is not a good RL venue. It is a great cricket oval.
Frankly, I'd have taken Sydney out of the mix for 2020 and 2021 and put Brisbane, Perth and Melbourne in a bidding war. All three venues have larger stadia than the SCG and it was a chance for the NRL to live up to its name of NATIONAL Rugby League.
If Manly was in the GF in any of these cities I would have made a holiday of it with watching the mighty Sea Eagles as the centrepiece. I'm sure many of you would have done likewise, so holding the GF at the SCG is not a big incentive to me to attend.

 

[StuBoot]

I respectfully disagree.
If ever there was a time to test out the suitability of other cities to host the GF it is over the next two years because the SCG is not a good RL venue. It is a great cricket oval.
Frankly, I'd have taken Sydney out of the mix for 2020 and 2021 and put Brisbane, Perth and Melbourne in a bidding war. All three venues have larger stadia than the SCG and it was a chance for the NRL to live up to its name of NATIONAL Rugby League.
If Manly was in the GF in any of these cities I would have made a holiday of it with watching the mighty Sea Eagles as the centrepiece. I'm sure many of you would have done likewise, so holding the GF at the SCG is not a big incentive to me to attend.

But my counter is you wouldn't know if Manly ( or any other team ) was going to be in the GF.
Are you prepared to book a holiday in that city on the chance that the team we support will be there?
I'm also not saying that the SCG is an incentive to attend but for regular GF attendees then it doesn't matter too much.
Have the NRL done their research into how many interstate travellers attend the GF in Sydney? - probably not.

If Qld fans are such lovers of the NRL that they'd embrace a week long GF celebration without a Qld team playing then why is the need to have a Qld team playing every Friday night?
It's because they're not and the NRL know it.

 

[The Who]

I would book the holiday the minute I knew Manly was in the GF. I'd probably have to pay a premium but it would be worth it, and I'd make the GF the centrepiece of my trip which would be 4-5 days. It would be the same as playing at the SCG. I wouldn't purchase my ticket until I knew Manly was in the GF. Again, I'd be relying on Doesn'tmatta and Souffs' fans to be selling their now worthless GF tickets cheaply!

 

[PONTIAN SEA EAGLE]

Went to scg to watch all Sydney fc’s game there.Seriously if it wasn’t for the big screen we would have left.