Ben Fordham has revealed the NSW Government will give the NRL an extra $12 million to keep the grand final in Sydney.

Due to the construction of the ANZ Stadium and Allianz Stadium, an opportunity existed for Queensland’s Suncorp Stadium to host the grand final.

But that dream has now been quashed.

A deal has been struck with the NSW government to hold the grand final at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 2020 and 2021 but the 2022 grand final is expected to be played at Allianz Stadium.

The NRL has announced all grand finals will be played in Sydney until at least 2046.

Ben tells Luke Grant the deal wasn’t met with cheers by all members of parliament.

“Not everyone was a fan of it… particularly some bush MP’s who feel like $12 million would be better spent propping up sport or other things in the bush at the moment, considering we’re going through a drought.

“There’s one senior member of the NSW government who said to me today, ‘the NRL are greedy bastards for getting an extra $12 million out of us when we’ve just spent $1.9 billion on the big stadium policy.'”

But Ben says the NRL can’t be blamed.

“Todd Greenberg doesn’t want to be the boss of rugby league who loses money, so that’s why you can’t blame him for going for a little bit more.”

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EXCLUSIVE – The @NRL has squeezed an extra $12 MILLION out of NSW Govt to keep the Grand Final in Sydney over coming years. It has caused a blow up.. with one MP describing NRL as “greedy bastards”. Full story on @BenFordhamLive this arvo on @2GB873 @NewsTalk4BC #NRL

— Ben Fordham (@BenFordham) October 16, 2019

Image: Getty/ Ryan Pierse