Peter V’landys reveals NSW will hold on to 2022 NRL Grand Final

The long-drawn out process to decide where the NRL Grand Final will be held is finally over as the Peter V’landys revealed the call.

NSW will keep the Grand Final. Photo: Getty Images

The 2022 NRL grand final will be held in NSW, despite an ugly battle over funding for suburban stadiums that threatened to send the decider to Queensland.

After a week where the showpiece event of the rugby league season was thrown up in the air over a dispute between the NRL and the NSW government, the ARLC has decided to keep the decider in Sydney after the state fended off an audacious bid from Queensland.

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ARLC chairman Peter V’landys revealed the decision at a press conference on Thursday afternoon.

V’landys trolled everyone when he first made his announcement, saying: “We wanted to give it to a city that needs a major football event. And that’s why we’ve gone with Melbourne.

“Just kidding — greetings Gil (AFL boss McLachlan) if you're watching.”

V’landys confirmed Queensland was in the box seat to steal the match from NSW’s grasp until yesterday.

He added the deal with NSW was just for one year and said states would need to bid for the right to host the event in the future like America’s Super Bowl negotiations.

V'landys said there had been a discussion on a timeline for possible investments in the future but there had not been an agreement, instead committing to come to the table for negotiations in the future.

Accor Stadium is set to host the season decider. Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet and V’landys have been locked in a public war of words in recent weeks.

V’Landys accused the premier of backflipping on a handshake deal to hold the NRL grand final in Sydney until 2042 in exchange for an $800 million suburban stadium funding deal.

Perrottet argued the taxpayer dollars should go towards covering a $4 billion damage bill from floods that devastated NSW and parts of Queensland earlier this year instead.

A fired-up V’landys hit back at critics of the stadium funding on Thursday.

“We don’t want to be pitted against the flood victims, I think that’s not appropriate,’ V’landys said. “We’re the first ones that want to help the flood victims. And we did.

“I mean we deferred our launch this year to give all our money to the flood victims.

“The New South Wales Government has $123 billion infrastructure spend — ours was $300 million, it’s hardly a drop in the bucket. It’s not even a rounding error. So to say that, you know they needed it for the flood victims is a little bit rich.”

He also took a pot shot at NSW premier Dominic Perrottet.

“We’ll continue good faith negotiations. As I said, (NSW Minister for Sport) Alister Henskens has been fantastic to deal with,” V'landys said. “He’s a barrister. So at times, I felt like I was in a witness box. But other than that, he’s been very, very good to deal with.

“All you need is good faith. And that’s what we’ve had from the new from the new sporting minister.

“The Premier is a very good bloke. Dom and I, I believe we’re friends, well we were up until about a couple of weeks ago. So look, Dom is a very good premier, he’s a very good human being, but don’t have a bet with him because if you win he won’t pay you.”

He added he had a “pleasant relationship” with Perrottet but that there were times where they “were like the Road Runner and the Coyote, but at the end, we have a beer together and we’re back being mates”.

Peter V'landys at the press conference. Photo: Fox Sports

Perrottet has just held on to the match. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ Scott Powick

V’landys also said the issue the ARLC and NRL had was there “was a deal on the table” and the league just wanted the government to honour it.

He added it was also a promise the government went to an election with, but quibbled over the assertion the investment in stadium infrastructure was a gift.

“Everyone has this fallacy that these are handouts, they’re not handouts, they are investments into those local communities,” V’landys said.

“The amount of economic stimulus that’s put back into Parramatta is immense, so much salad that the stadium has probably already been paid for. So any anywhere where you invest, you’re investing in the local community. They’re not handouts.

“Queensland and the NRL always had an excellent relationship. And we’ve always dealt with them in a very professional manner. Up until yesterday, I can tell you, the media reports that were given out that Queensland was favorite were spot on the mark.”

The drama kicked off as the ARLC boss threatened to move the game's showpiece event to Queensland back in April after Perrottet said Sydney would continue to host the grand final for years to come.

The NSW government secured hosting rights for the grand final until 2042 back in 2018 on the condition it agreed to the $800m Stadium Australia redevelopment.

But it backflipped on its promise to redevelop the stadium in 2020, despite former premier Gladys Berejiklian’s admission it was this commitment that allowed the government to secure hosting rights.

V’landys has threatened to move the grand final. Picture: David Swift.

V’landys said on Friday the grand final could indeed be shifted unless the funds that had originally been allocated to the redevelopment of Stadium Australia were repurposed for suburban grounds.

However, the drama really hit fever pitch earlier this month when V’landys claimed Perrottet had backflipped on a handshake deal to fund stadium upgrades.

Perrottet’s decision to withdraw $250m in funding V’landys believed was coming to refurbish venues including Brookvale Oval in Manly, Cronulla’s Shark Park and Leichhardt Oval sparked the latest flashpoint.

Perrottet claimed the funds were redirected due to “recent natural disasters and the Covid-19 pandemic”.

V’landys slammed the government’s reasoning as “spin”.

“(When) they use the human tragedy of the floods to spin their way out of why they‘re reneging on it, it takes it to another level,” V’landys said.

“This is about the fourth or fifth excuse that has been given to us.”

Days later, a stand at Leichhardt Oval collapsed at a high school rugby union match.

Last week, the NSW government did decide to proceed with the $300 million rebuild of Penrith’s BluBet Stadium, a project which is already expected to blow out its budget.

However, the other community stadium projects are currently up in the air.

V’landys has been strong in his rhetoric this week, denying reports the ARL Commission was going to keep the game in NSW.

On Tuesday night the shift towards a Queensland Grand Final grew with The Daily Telegraph reporting Suncorp Stadium was rated a “60-40 chance” to steal the big game.

Queensland campaigned hard for the Grand Final, as Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk called for the NRL to move the season decider north of the border three times in the lead up to the 2032 Olympics in Brisbane.

Good news for the Sydney sides after the Panthers won in Brisbane last year. Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

The Courier Mail reported the NRL would make $10 million in revenue if the Grand Final was played at Suncorp Stadium, compared to $7 million if it was held in Sydney.

The NSW government also offered a last ditch offer of $8 million a year for Accor Stadium to host the grand final for the next 20 years.

“We put a very fair and reasonable offer to the NRL in relation to keeping the grand final,” Perrottet told The Courier Mail.

“That is commercially in confidence. It is probably not as much as Queensland have offered but it is more than we have paid in the past.

“I have made it very clear that the game should remain in our great state. It has been an institution for our people and that is where it should remain.

“The grand final has always been in NSW except for last year during Covid. Ultimately I have to make decisions in the best interests of NSW. We have gone through a very difficult time in our state over the last four years with bush fires, droughts, floods and the pandemic.”