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'Spectacular failure': NSW Opposition Leader criticises NSW Government for not securing NFL hosting rights
Sam Kosack • February 6th, 2025 7:46 pm
The NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman has criticised the NSW government for a 'spectacular failure' for allowing Victoria to claim hosting rights to the first-ever NFL games played in Australia.
The NFL today announced a multi-year deal with the Victorian government to host an NFL game at the MCG.
Criticisms have emerged from parties in NSW, citing that rectangular venues such as Accor Stadium would be better suited to host the match, as opposed to the circular MCG.
NSW Liberal leader Mark Speakman believes the Labor government should have invested more in trying to secure hosting rights to the game.
“It’s a spectacular failure by the Minns-labor government,” Speakman told Jimmy Smith on SEN 1170 Afternoons.
“This was a golden opportunity to bring millions and millions of dollars of income to NSW, probably tens of thousands of tourists, and they've stuffed it up and they don't really seem to have tried.
“We have better facilities in NSW for a rectangular game and we've lost this opportunity… to put Sydney on a world map. You'd have hundreds of millions of viewers possibly watching this game.”
It was revealed that Premier Chris Minns met with the NFL in August but didn’t offer any investment at the time.
Speakman said this was down to the government not understanding the value the game could offer.
“What seems to have happened here is the government hasn't put any money at all on the table,” Speakman said.
“Obviously, governments around Australia have difficult financial issues to deal with and you’ve got to get value for taxpayer money, but the government doesn’t seem to have offered a single cent to the NFL to come here.
“I would have thought you'd want to look at investing a bit of taxpayer money to get this big return of tens of thousands of tourists, worldwide coverage, and millions and millions of dollars in revenue.
“We would have done a business case and worked out how much revenue would have been brought in, what's the value of worldwide publicity, and made an offer appropriate to that.”
The Los Angeles Rams will be the home team for the series of MCG games with an opponent yet to be confirmed.
