The "fallout" from New South Wales Sports Minister Stuart Ayres' "failed stadium campaign" has continued with National Rugby League side Penrith Panthers set to withdraw its "commitment to move home games to Parramatta," according to Michael Chammas of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. With the NRL "struggling to reach a 65-game commitment from the Sydney clubs last month," the only team to pledge matches at the network of major venues was Penrith, which was "willing to take two games to the new stadium at Parramatta" in '19. The Panthers were "originally exempt from having to move matches" but the club showed its support for Ayres by volunteering to "take at least two matches to Parramatta." However, no other club made a commitment before the April 1 deadline, which forced NSW Premier Mike Baird to "step in and overturn his minister's proposal" and allocate the majority of the A$1.6B ($1.2B) to ANZ Stadium over a new stadium at Moore Park. The "much talked about 65-game figure was never reached," and the only assurance the state government has from the NRL "is a commitment to play Origin matches and grand finals in Sydney for 20 years" after ANZ Stadium renovations are complete in '23. The Panthers decided to support Ayres "in the hope of being rewarded with a stadium of their own in the future." While the club has "no intention of leaving the Penrith region, Penrith GM Phil Gould admitted the financial incentives of taking games away is too difficult to turn down." Gould said, "At the moment we take games away to Bathurst and Christchurch. There's a commercial reality that we had to take those games away. It also helps with our branding and extending it beyond just the Penrith area. Commercially, we'll actually do better out of those two games than we will out of the 10 home games. That's just the reality of what we do" (SMH, 4/17).
