Penrith Stadium

And how much did the stadium cost up there? All for the Cowboys.

Yeah, well, I mean, people make the same argument about the Penrith Stadium, but when you look at that population corridor, that western corridor, they definitely deserve that stadium.

No question about it.

Yeah, your constituents like that stuff.

What's good for the Goose is good for the Gander.

If regional teams can have home semifinals, why can't we? Penrith, one of the host games at Penrith Park.

And, you know, Parramatta, one of them at Parramatta Stadium.

Do

We should never have created a scenario where that was possible, ever.

The argument was that if Penrith played Cowboys in a semi-final, why would you take it to a big stadium? No one's going to go there.

You know, we might as well have it at Penrith Park and try and fill that.

Well, they wouldn't.

And they said, what do you mean? He goes, the game's not getting a good enough deal from the stadiums.

Now, Venues New South Wales controls Allianz, it controls Accor, Combank, Newcastle, Wynn Stadium, it'll have the new Penrith Stadium.

And he said, look, unless I get a new deal, and he wanted more money from signage, the LED signage of the ground, he wanted more money from the ads that are on the big screen.

He wanted more money, a bigger percentage of food and beverage.

You know, obviously the game was very grateful when Allianz was built.

It wasn't very grateful when a call wasn't fixed up, but the game's grateful that they've done.

Penrith Stadium and they did Combank Stadium.

So maybe those early deals were weighed in more favour of the venues.

But really the big thing here is to focus on getting that product that's partway through construction to the end of construction.

Now, talking construction, you were the big proponent of Penrith Stadium, which is going to open next year for the first match of the NRL season.

I've got my doubts about the stadium that I've made clear on air, that it's $300 million that's not getting us, forget just a roof on a stadium, it's effectively two new grandstands, replacing a stadium that, to be honest, was not the worst in Sydney.

Yeah, look, it's not the stadium that I committed to nor the stadium that I wanted to see built in Penrith, but it is the stadium they've got.

Go in and watch the Cronulla Sharks beat the Queenslanders.

And then you can double up the following week.

We'll talk about Penrith Stadium a lot, I think, in the coming months.

Good on you, Stuart.