Federal Government funding pledge set to stimulate upgrade program at Sydney's Leichhardt Oval

Proposals for a program to upgrade at Sydney's Leichhardt Oval appear to be set for a revival as a result of last week's Federal budget including a $20 million commitment to the ageing venue.

While ongoing requests by the NRL’s Wests Tigers and Sydney's Inner West Council for funds to improve the historic venue were dismissed as recently as March by NSW Premier Chris Minns, Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers' 2024/25 budget reportedly include the $20 million commitment to the stadium in its details.

With the NRL club believed to be set to announce their future stadium strategy this week, Tigers Chief Executive Shane Richardson was reportedly advised of the budget pledge when contacted by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese late last week.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Federal Government's commitment would be for a $50 million upgrade program to which the NSW Government and the NRL would each be expected to commit $10 million, on top of an already budgeted $10 million from the Inner West Council.

The plan previously put forward by the Tigers and Inner West Council is for a new grandstand at the northern end of the ground with sufficient corporate facilities along with four dressing rooms to accommodate NRL and NRLW teams and improved amenities and hospitality in a bid to increase the ground’s capacity to 19,000.

At this stage the Tigers are set to take the majority of their games to CommBank Stadium in Parramatta from next season.

Since being appointed Tigers Chief Executive, Shane Richardson has spoken of abandoning decades of tradition to move from the venue, advising “Leichhardt (Oval) is just nowhere near the standard (to host NRL games).

"We will play at the most commercially viable ground to grow our corporates and membership.”

Merivale Group at Allianz Stadium
In other Sydney stadium news, Justin Hemmes of the Merivale Group is reported in the media as having admitted the worst mistake he has ever made was in agreeing to run catering at Sydney's Allianz Stadium. With its contract with Venues NSW requiring the Merivale Group to operate all F&B outlets at the venue even when crowds are far below capacity, the caterer is understood to be incurring significant losses in its operations.