Wests Entertainment Group CEO Rod Laing hopes to have a clearer picture about whether next month's NRL clash between the Wests Tigers and Cronulla Sharks will be played at Scully Park, within the next couple of weeks.
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In response to the worsening COVID situation in Sydney, the NRL late on Sunday announced that all nine Sydney clubs, along with the Warriors, Newcastle and Canberra would be relocated to hubs in Queensland for at least a month and all games for the next four rounds would be moved to Suncorp Stadium, Cbus Super Stadium and Sunshine Coast Stadium, raising some uncertainty about the August 21 fixture.
When the Leader spoke with Laing on Monday, he had just been on the phone with Tigers CEO Justin Pascoe.
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"We're going to revisit the current situation in two weeks' time to determine where we're up to," he said.
"They will have an update on that in a fortnight, so they will know if they are staying the full four weeks or might be looking at extending."
He added: "That fortnight, because it's pretty raw news, will give us a bit more light on what's happening."
"Plus, by that stage, we'll know what's happening in Sydney with their outbreak and hopefully there's nothing happening in regional areas."
In light of changes to the restrictions for outdoor sporting events, Wests has already suspended ticket sales for the game.
"We've basically exhausted the allocation of areas that we're able to sell," Laing said.
As the current restrictions stand they are actually oversold.
"On the previous health act if it was a fixed seat, that capacity was 100 per cent. Today it's 50 per cent," he explained.
Furthermore, he said "quite a large number" of the current ticketholders "would not be able to attend the game if it was held today".
"We'll wait until we get a bit more clarity on what's happening with the NRL with their bubble etc," he said.
"By the same token, we have to take in our own situation and keeping our own community safe as well, so that's part of our conversation with the Tigers."
The financial viability of hosting the game is also something Wests is weighing up.
Late last month Laing told the Leader "if there's only a small crowd there, it would place that game, as far as covering costs [is concerned], at a great risk."
He has requested an exemption to increase crowd capacity from 50 per cent to 75 per cent, as other regional centres that have hosted games have been granted.
"But we're in a different era right now," he conceded on Monday.
"In light of the current COVID outbreak in Sydney I'm predicting that increase will not occur."