Shark Park will reportedly be killed off at the end of the 2026 NRL season.
That’s the rumour running around the game as the Sharks prepare for the their local derby with the Dragons on Sunday.
According to Fanatics TV host Warren Livingstone, the Round 14 grudge match will be the final time the derby will be played out of the Cronulla stadium.
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The NRL has been wrestling with the issue of outdated suburban grounds for 20 years as the league heads into the next round of TV rights negotiations as a $4 billion industry.
With the league repeatedly flip-flopping in recent years over proposals to force all clubs to play out of bigger venues, Shark Park, Manly’s Brookvale Oval and the Wests Tigers’ iconic Leichhardt Oval have been in the gun.
Now it appears, Cronulla’s Ocean Protect Stadium has been given the bullet.
“There is a bit of mail going around this weekend will be the last local derby at Shark Park,” Livingstone said on the Kenty Blitz podcast.
“There’s a bit of news coming out of the NRL. A couple people at the NRL aren’t that happy with Endeavour Field, Shark Park, with the state of the game and the state of the play there.
“So this year they lose their semi-finals. My mail is next year they will be playing their games, all their games, at Allianz (Stadium) and Kogarah Stadium.”
According to the report, the Sharks are highly unlikely to get support from Venues NSW to upgrade the stadium, which has hosted Sharks home games since 1968.
“Quite a few influential people have said enough’s enough,” Livingstone said of the NRL.
“My mail is this year will be the last year that Cronulla play at Shark Park.”
The Sharks said goodbye to the stadium as a finals venue when they knocked out the Roosters in the opening week of the 2025 NRL finals series.
Nostalgia and emotional connection with the venue poured out from local fans during the game, but the sight of a blockbuster finals series match being played at a suburban venue with a capacity of 13,000 resulted in fierce criticism being directed at the NRL.
Outgoing NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo said in September the league would be conducting a review into the stadium’s future as a top tier NRL venue.
“I have a view that we need to focus on the fans and fan experience,” Abdo said.
“There comes a time where you have to consider a minimum standard – potentially for finals – that might be above the regular season.
“It’s not unusual in terms of professional sport. I think the time is right to have a close look at that. We haven’t actually changed or reviewed the home finals policy for a while.
“I think we’re due for that and that will be a conversation we will have with the ARL Commission at the end of the season.
“It’s two things that we are trading off here. One is being able to play in your regular home stadium and the other is a good experience for our fans.”
Leading NRL reporter Brent Read at the time called the Shark Park facilities “an embarrassment given it is the home of a professional rugby league club”.
Veteran Code Sports reporter Dean Ritchie also wrote in The Daily Telegraph in March the game has outgrown venues like Shark Park and Brookvale Oval.
He said the proud venues will likely close in 5-7 years unless they are able to secure funding for redevelopments.
“There’s as much chance of the state government giving money to Cronulla as there is me climbing Mount Kosciuszko in cheap thongs,” he wrote.
He went on to write: “Take it as read, some clubs are holding private meetings about taking more games to Allianz Stadium. If you procrastinate, your club will get left behind.
“Shark Park is an embarrassment to rugby league. At best, it is a NSW Cup venue.”
The only reason Leichhardt Oval has escaped the noose is a $40 million redevelopment confirmed last year.
The plan to upgrade the inner west venue is jointly-funded by the Albanese Government ($20 million), NSW Government ($10 million) and the Inner West Council ($10 million).
Originally published as Iconic Australian sporting venue given death sentence