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The NRL's Wests Tigers have threatened to leave Campbelltown Sports Stadium in Western Sydney unless the local council gives a $50 million guarantee to upgrade the facilities at the venue.

One of the West Tigers several home venues, Tigers Chief Executive Shane Richardson has given Campbelltown City Council until 30th June to reach a heads of agreement, otherwise he will explore moving the Tigers to one of Sydney’s other stadiums from 2026.

Home of the Western Suburbs Magpies from 1987 until 1999 prior to their merger with the Balmain Tigers, earlier this week Richardson told the club’s Behind the Roar podcast that if there were no plans to spend on the venue during the next three years, “we won’t play there”.

Currently Wests Tiger are committed through the 2025 and 2026 NRL seasons to four NRL games per season at Campbelltown, along with two at Leichhardt Oval and another four at Venues NSW grounds such as Allianz Stadium and CommBank Stadium.

However, while the club, Campbelltown Council, and the NRL are working together to try and ensure the it plays at Campbelltown over the next 10 to 15 years, team officials are becoming frustrated at what they see is a lack of progress as they plan for 2027 and beyond.

Wests Tigers say a significant investment of $50 million in the next three years, and $100 million over the next five to 10 years is required to bring Campbelltown up to a standard that makes it financially viable for NRL and NRLW games to be played there.

These upgrades would seat 24,000 fans, rising from the stadium’s current capacity of just over 17,500, and accommodate 1,500 corporate guests.

Improvements to dressing rooms, big screens, LEDs, and general fan comfort are also said to be required.

Richardson added “to be the great club we want to be, and to have the quality of players we need to have; to have the vision we need to have, we need a stadium to build ourselves around, other than just Leichhardt. If we don’t have that stadium, we need to find one.”

Richardson threatened to leave Leichhardt Oval last year if money was not spent on the inner-western Sydney venue, only for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and NSW Premier Chris Minns to later announce a $40 million redevelopment package. The plan is for that money to be spent on having 17,000 to 18,000 seats at that venue, and facilities to host up to 1000 corporates.

Richardson went on to say “a modern venue will unlock much-needed revenue through corporate hospitality, enhance match-day experience and increase broadcast value. As the game continues to evolve, so must the Wests Tigers.

“If we want to compete at the highest level against other NRL clubs based in modern venues, we need to address the financial advantage those clubs currently have.”

Image: Campbelltown Sports Stadium.

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