The mayor of Campbelltown wants the Wests Tigers to continue playing NRL games in south-western Sydney – but says there is no way his council can meet Tigers CEO Shane Richardson’s ultimatum to have a $50 million stadium upgrade plan in place by June 30.
Tigers chief executive Richardson on Wednesday said his club was prepared to stop playing games at Campbelltown Sports Stadium beyond the 2026 NRL season if the facilities did not receive a major cash injection.
“I don’t do ‘Trumpian’ threats, but we won’t play there, it’s as simple as that,” Richardson told the club’s Behind The Roar podcast.
“At the moment, it’s not at a standard that’s required to be an NRL ground.”
Campbelltown mayor Darcy Lound said on Thursday it was important the state and federal governments helped his council find the money to keep the Tigers in the sprawling south-western Sydney corridor.
Lound, however, said that if government support was not forthcoming, there were “no promises” his council could satisfy Richardson’s demands.
Wests Tigers are no certainties to keep playing at Campbelltown beyond 2026.Credit: Getty Images
“It’s a bridge we’ll need to cross fairly soon if we don’t get some form of guarantee or something promising [from state and federal government],” Lound said.
“We definitely can’t make any promises as council for a $50 million or a $100 million contribution.
“We don’t want to lose the Tigers. We want them to call Campbelltown their main home, and to play more games here.
“But there will also need to be a big reliance on all three tiers of government to come together and come up with the money.
“We’ve had some conversations in the past, and I recently met with [NSW Minister for Sport] Stephen Kamper – that was a positive conversation, but there were no promises made.
“We don’t feel like we’ve had our fair share of upgrades to the stadium when you consider all the upgrades to stadiums elsewhere around Sydney.”
The Tigers are committed to playing four games at Campbelltown this year and next season, two at Leichhardt, one in Brisbane for Magic Round, and another four at Venues NSW grounds, including Allianz Stadium and CommBank Stadium.
Richardson wants a heads of agreement on a stadium upgrade in place by June 30, so that he has plenty of time to make alternative arrangements if no deal is forthcoming.
The money for Campbelltown would create seating for up to 24,000 fans and 1500 corporates. Richardson said if the council committed to the plan the Tigers would do likewise by playing a minimum of seven NRL games at the venue. The plan would be for up to $100 million to be spent on Campbelltown across the next 10 years.
Richardson took a similarly tough stance last year when he threatened to leave Leichhardt Oval if money was not spent on the inner-western Sydney venue. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and NSW Premier Chris Minns later announced a $40 million rescue package.
The plan for that money is to have 17,000 to 18,000 seats at Leichhardt, and an ability to host up to 1000 corporates.
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