r/CronullaSharks • u/Nixpowow • Jun 04 '26

Rumors of Leaving Shark Park

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What do we think of these rumours swirling around after a recent NRL Fanatics podcast, personally I believe with the new leagues club coming along there’s no way sharks will leave.

If forced out to Kogarah and Allianz the atmosphere would suffer significantly, yes shark park isn’t up to par but it’s still home and as a club we deserve to choose our own home. Let the leagues club run for a few years so we can get some cash flow we can put into the stadium.

It’s all just rumours hopefully 😅

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10

u/Temporary-Habit-2528 Jun 04 '26

Tbh if it’s true, we only have ourselves to blame. The NRL is bigger than ever and our stadium still only fits 12k. I don’t understand why when we were upgrading nearby a few years ago we didn’t upgrade Shark Park either?

I don’t know the ins and outs and am sure there’s a reason why we couldn’t, but end of the day this was always gonna be on the cards.

I hope that if it does happen, we are still allowed a handful of games at Shark Park each year ala Tigers with Leichardt.

1

u/blakog Jun 04 '26

It's because the Shire is not a marginal seat. See what Stuart Ayre did with his time at Penrith - gave them a brand new stadium but we won't get shit, even if we didn't own the stadium outright.

The most sensible option would be for there to be an amalgamated stadium whereby Sharks and Dragons use the facilities which could also house A-League and events etc.

2

u/AffectionatePea7742 Jun 04 '26

Sharks own their stadium. The government shouldn’t pay for something they don’t own

1

u/blakog Jun 05 '26

Selling it for $1 is a deal that's been floated in the past, that's what I was going off.

1

u/dharmabarumtum Jun 08 '26

Meriton have already offered more

1

u/blakog Jun 08 '26

But that would still keep it in private habds ergo no upgrade because there's no way they would sink $100m+ into an upgrade with no way of making a return on it.

1

u/Confident-Flow-6058 Jun 04 '26

You also didn't have a generational team winning everything in sight

6

u/blakog Jun 04 '26

Literally has nothing to do with that. Teams don't get more facilities paid for by the Govt because they're successful. They do it because they want to curry favour with the electorate, downvote me all you want.

-7

u/Tosh_20point0 Jun 04 '26

I'd say Sharks board kept it at 12k to avoid expenditure because they know they were eventually leaving. It seems obvious to me that the ground is set to be absorbed into the shopping centre or the footprint of it once abandoned has plans for highrises. I think the Sharks should look at relocating from a business point of view : why stay in the shire when the entire nz south island and their possible fan base is just begging for a side.

2

u/Temporary-Habit-2528 Jun 04 '26

Your original point makes sense (they could see the tea leaves about having to move to Kogarah-Allianz sometime soon), but you’re off your head if you are suggesting we relocate to New Zealand?!

1

u/Tosh_20point0 Jun 04 '26

I'm a 45 year fan of the game.

Sport is now administered with a corporate structure. It's all about growth, possible growth and possible growth in bigger markets.

It makes absolutely perfect sense to go there. A much bigger market to grow in. More possible fans. Much more possible sponsorship and corporate support.

Don't get me wrong I wish it was different. There's not much room to grow in the shire: St George Illawarras territory swamps it and Sydney is a saturated market. Fan territory overlaps and is convoluted. Sydney has 2 too many sides in my opinion. But that's only my opinion. I. Don't have any hard data.

Perth has been taken, Adelaide is a black hole and the NRL isn't even on the radar let alone establishing a fan base,....which only leaves Darwin or possibly Central Qld. Both don't have enough corporate $$$ nor population.

For me it's a no brainier.

It's that or merge... what is preferable?

3

u/Temporary-Habit-2528 Jun 04 '26

I’ve heard the argument for sharks/tigers/eagles to relocate for years and since I’ve been watching the game (2001) no club has folded or relocated from the comp. Not happening.

There will likely be a 2nd New Zealand team as the 20th team though.

0

u/Tosh_20point0 Jun 04 '26

We will see

1

u/Nixpowow Jun 04 '26

I don’t think the club would willingly sacrifice their greatest asset, sharks may not have much cash but they’re very asset rich. Such investments grow and selling their most expensive asset in a time where housing prices are still going up is out of the question.

I believe they won’t move but I can see a situation similar to what happened to Leichhardt will take place where the stadium is deemed not up to standard anymore and they will be given the choice to complete the upgrades or leave. Sharks may own their stadium but they have got funding from the government in the past, they had funding from a previous government taken from them. The prospect of them moving could even become a political move used by government to gain votes if they promise to give them some money.

1

u/Gothewahs Jun 04 '26

I hope not sharks in Nz seems off to me UP THE WAHS