NRL announces six venues that will host restarted season fixtures

The NRL has announced that the 2020 NRL Telstra Premiership season will be played across six venues during ‘Phase 1’ of the competition as of its restart on 28th May.

With the new competition draw set to be released tomorrow, the six venues -  Bankwest Stadium and Campbelltown Stadium in Sydney, Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium, Central Coast Stadium, AAMI Park in Melbourne and Townsville’s new Queensland Country Bank Stadium - will host the entirety of matches for at least rounds 3-9, with a review set to be conducted at a later date for the rest of the season.

Advising that the venues will provide the safest possible environment for players and staff, in accordance with the NRL’s biosecurity protocols, NRL acting Chief Executive, Andrew Abdo advised “the competition will begin with a consolidated approach to venues.

“Each venue requires customised infrastructure to meet our strict biosecurity requirements.

“We’ve adopted a phased approach for venues should restrictions be eased in the future.

“We’ve chosen three consolidated venues for clubs in and around Sydney to ensure there are no double headers at venues and in different parts of the region to meet the geographical challenges we face.”

The NRL also released a structure for deciding the home teams for each venue, that sees up to five teams sharing a home venue during the seasons’ restart.

Image: Queensland Country Bank Stadium. Courtesy of Cox Architecture.