NSW Government budget delivers $3.5 million for Wollongong’s WIN Entertainment Centre but no money for new stadia

The NRL’s highly promoted ambition for the NSW Government to fund new suburban stadia in Sydney has been ignored in the NSW Treasurer Matt Kean’s 2022/23 budget.

While funds have previously been committed to the rebuild of the Penrith Stadium, the NRL has been unsuccessful in gaining money for up to four other stadia to be built across metropolitan Sydney.

However, the budget has included $3.5 million to investigate improving the WIN Entertainment and Sporting precinct in Wollongong.

In 2020, the Illawarra Hawks' final home game of the National Basketball League (NBL) season was embarrassingly called off mid-match after heaving rain caused the roof to leak at the WIN Entertainment Centre (WEC).

In March 2021, a backboard at the venue collapsed in a pre-game warm-up prior to a televised NBL fixture.

Other notable critics of the WEC include Tina Arena, who has raised issues about the standards of the dressing rooms and said the centre needed a makeover.

In Tuesday's budget, the NSW Government's Enterprise, Investment and Trade Cluster included a funding commitment of $3.5 million ($4.5 million recurrent expenses over two years) to develop a detailed business case and master plan for the precinct.

Wollongong City Council welcomed the investment as a "momentous step in uplifting the Wollongong entertainment and foreshore area".

Beyond previous announcements made in recent weeks, including $113 million for three new Rugby League Centres of Excellence, no other new commitments to sport were revealed in the budget.