ARLC boss Peter Beattie claims the 2021 NRL grand final could be moved interstate due to delays upgrading Sydney's ANZ Stadium.
A deal was struck last year between the NSW Government and the NRL where it was agreed the NRL grand final will stay in Sydney until 2042.
However, this was on the provision the state's stadiums will be upgraded.
While the upgrades are underway, Beattie said on Wednesday the six-month delay to complete the new look ANZ Stadium, could be problematic.
This may mean both the 2020 and 2021 grand finals will be played at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
“The only issue is 2021 because ANZ is being delayed by six months so you’ve got to talk to the people you did the deal with first, that’s the NSW government,” Mr Beattie told The Today Show.
“Now, if we can’t reach a deal with them then obviously there are possibilities elsewhere with other governments, Queensland, maybe Victoria as well.
“If they want to put a proposal into (NRL chief executive) Todd Greenberg and I for 2021, go for it.”
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian responded to Beattie's comments with a simple "good luck to them".
“Our first obligation is to honour your word, talk to the NSW government first, if at the end there is no agreement, then obviously there’s possibilities for Suncorp (in Brisbane) and also for Melbourne.”
Beattie hopefully would have been shown the door way before then.
1st class tool.
“NSW is not the premier state”
Since when ?
I have never heard of NSW being superior to Victoria or Queensland in any way before. Is this something new or just B.S.
I should add that if either Queensland or Victoria got this GF you can pretty much guarantee that they will put on a better show than Sydney. Melbourne is well reknowned for putting on big events and Brissy did a pretty good job with the recent Magic Weekend.
We should ship beattie off to another state- the united states.
I hope so too. can’t stand the bloke.
Do you live in NSW? We’ve always been known as the premier or the first state. Is been our slogan since federation.
Melbourne??? No freaking way, Brisbane may be one off, but the RL Grand Final is Sydney full stop case closed
Meh, move it to Suncorp, who cares. Move it to Bankwest for all i care.
Can anyone tell me how or why Beattie ever got a job with the NRL. He has proved over several years that he stays long enough to completely stuff everything, then he moves on to some other place to do the same. As a Qld’er I believe the grand final should be in Sydney. Some pieces of the history of the game shouldn’t be sold to the highest bidder.
Its likely to be because of his contacts. I have seen some right fools appointed in business purely because of who they know.
When the rugby league commission was introduced I reckon we were all thinking it would supercharge our game. And then we ended up with John Grant and Peter Beattie. Forget about sacking Beattie. Sack the useless dopes who put them both in! It is possible to actually employ someone as chairman who is both an experienced executive, fan of the game AND not an ex player. Its just not that hard to do..
Doesn’t make it true. By your reckoning, if we always said that the sky was green, then it would be green instead of blue. The N in NRL doesn’t stand for new south wales, it stands for National and its a stupid idea to shun the rest of Australia by wasting the final on a state that doesn’t support their teams week in and week out.
What a load of crap.
Why? You can call it tradition, but they move it from stadium to stadium willy billy, so where’s the tradition in that? The NFL in the USA have the right idea by taking the final to the fans.
Try taking the GF to the fans instead of propping up NSW tourism and Airline coffers. Support those who actually go to weekly games. No one goes to the footy in Sydney. There’s always vacant space in the stands when they broadcast SYDNEY games. And NSW sucks at Origin too.
Spot on!
This just a way for the NSWRL, Sorry, NRL to drag more money out of the NSW government. Ha ha ha. This is fake news.
Shadow?