MANLY would be prepared to appease the NRL by shifting two home games a season to a revamped Allianz Stadium - but only for a cool $1 million.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal Sea Eagles management has discussed shifting two matches into the eastern suburbs but the club would want to compensated around $500,000 a game.
The Sea Eagles position is in vast contrast to Cronulla, who as sole owners of their Southern Cross Stadium, have much less interest in relinquishing home games after they made almost $200,000 at their round two home game against St George Illawarra.
While fiercely committed to Brookvale Oval and its comprehensive upgrade, privately-owned Manly can see the financial benefit in moving games across the harbour. Manly chief executive Joe Kelly and chairman Scott Penn met with NRL chairman John Grant on Wednesday to discuss the issue.
Manly’s constitution states the club must play 10 of their 12 home games each season at Brookvale, the club’s spiritual home. The Sea Eagles will take two games interstate this season - to Brisbane and Perth - to raise revenue.
Those two matches could now be switched to Allianz Stadium, if the club could obtain a robust financial return and ensure there are benefits for members.
The State Government wants a 65-game commitment from Sydney clubs to play at three upgraded venues — Allianz Stadium, ANZ Stadium and Parramatta Stadium — before committing $1.6 billion. The NRL will need to convince Manly, St George Illawarra, Cronulla and Wests Tigers to shift at least 23 of their home games combined to the upgraded venues. NRL management hope Manly and Cronulla could combine to take seven games to Allianz Stadium.
Manly’s financial return from games played at Brookie - due to excessive ground fees imposed by Warringah Council - is minimal.
“We haven’t committed to anything yet but it’s incumbent on us to look at what is in the best interests for our members and supporters. We are still committed Brookie and we want to upgrade the facilities and we want to play the majority of our games at Brookvale Oval,” Kelly said. “Ultimately, our focus is retaining Brookie as our spiritual home but we need to upgrade the facility.
“We take two games interstate. We will contemplate other stadia approaching us to play those games in the future. Certainly two. That provides us with a commercial return. The concentration of our member base is around Brookvale. The challenges we face are unlike the challenges of most other Sydney clubs from a transportation point of view. Brookvale in its current state is a real challenge.”
Manly would need to alter its constitution to take any more than two games away from Brookie.
But following their meeting with the NRL on Wednesday, Sharks chairman Damien Keogh suggested the club wouldn’t be rushed into a decision.
“We’re not as far down the path as Manly, so it’s going to be challenging for us to make any type of committment at this stage,’’ Keogh said.
“Our prefferred situation is to continue to develop our own venue for our fans.
“We’ll discuss it as a board and determine how we move forward, but for us there’s a lot of aspects for this to be just a straight forward decision.
“We haven’t moved a game from the Sutherland Shire since 2013 because economically, it’s just not worth it.’’
The Daily Telegraph can reveal Sea Eagles management has discussed shifting two matches into the eastern suburbs but the club would want to compensated around $500,000 a game.
The Sea Eagles position is in vast contrast to Cronulla, who as sole owners of their Southern Cross Stadium, have much less interest in relinquishing home games after they made almost $200,000 at their round two home game against St George Illawarra.
While fiercely committed to Brookvale Oval and its comprehensive upgrade, privately-owned Manly can see the financial benefit in moving games across the harbour. Manly chief executive Joe Kelly and chairman Scott Penn met with NRL chairman John Grant on Wednesday to discuss the issue.
Manly’s constitution states the club must play 10 of their 12 home games each season at Brookvale, the club’s spiritual home. The Sea Eagles will take two games interstate this season - to Brisbane and Perth - to raise revenue.
Those two matches could now be switched to Allianz Stadium, if the club could obtain a robust financial return and ensure there are benefits for members.
The State Government wants a 65-game commitment from Sydney clubs to play at three upgraded venues — Allianz Stadium, ANZ Stadium and Parramatta Stadium — before committing $1.6 billion. The NRL will need to convince Manly, St George Illawarra, Cronulla and Wests Tigers to shift at least 23 of their home games combined to the upgraded venues. NRL management hope Manly and Cronulla could combine to take seven games to Allianz Stadium.
Manly’s financial return from games played at Brookie - due to excessive ground fees imposed by Warringah Council - is minimal.
“We haven’t committed to anything yet but it’s incumbent on us to look at what is in the best interests for our members and supporters. We are still committed Brookie and we want to upgrade the facilities and we want to play the majority of our games at Brookvale Oval,” Kelly said. “Ultimately, our focus is retaining Brookie as our spiritual home but we need to upgrade the facility.
“We take two games interstate. We will contemplate other stadia approaching us to play those games in the future. Certainly two. That provides us with a commercial return. The concentration of our member base is around Brookvale. The challenges we face are unlike the challenges of most other Sydney clubs from a transportation point of view. Brookvale in its current state is a real challenge.”
Manly would need to alter its constitution to take any more than two games away from Brookie.
But following their meeting with the NRL on Wednesday, Sharks chairman Damien Keogh suggested the club wouldn’t be rushed into a decision.
“We’re not as far down the path as Manly, so it’s going to be challenging for us to make any type of committment at this stage,’’ Keogh said.
“Our prefferred situation is to continue to develop our own venue for our fans.
“We’ll discuss it as a board and determine how we move forward, but for us there’s a lot of aspects for this to be just a straight forward decision.
“We haven’t moved a game from the Sutherland Shire since 2013 because economically, it’s just not worth it.’’