NRL threatens to take grand final away from Sydney over stadium demands

The NRL has threatened to take the grand final away from its traditional home of Sydney should the New South Wales government not meet its demands over funding for suburban stadiums.

Ahead of a meeting with the NSW premier Dominic Perrottet on Friday, Peter V’landys, the Australian Rugby League Commission chair, warned this year’s showpiece event could yet be staged in Brisbane for a second straight year.

The NSW government and league are at odds after Gladys Berejiklian’s administration went back on a promise to upgrade the Olympic stadium at Homebush, now called Accor stadium, as part of a deal struck in 2018 that would keep the grand final there until 2042.

The NRL now wants those funds to be reallocated to the upgrade of several suburban grounds – and appears willing to use the location of future grand finals as a high-value bargaining chip.

Related: NSW premier dismisses Queensland’s bid for NRL grand final

“We just want our suburban stadiums in NSW, we want that tribalism to occur,” V’landys told the Today show on Friday. “We want people to walk to the games. We want those promises honoured by the NSW government. If they don’t we’ll take it elsewhere.”

Last year’s grand final between Penrith and South Sydney was switched to Queensland due to the Covid-19 lockdown in NSW and was played in front of 39,000 fans at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium.

Annastacia Palaszczuk’s government on Wednesday would not be drawn on reports it had submitted an official bid to take the game from NSW, but said it was “happy to talk to the NRL about any proposal”.

The NSW government has moved to reassure fans that the grand final would stay in Sydney, and Perrottet claimed earlier in the week that “no one wants the grand final in Queensland,