Wakefield Trinity owner Matt Ellis has admitted that, should the club win Saturday’s Super League Grand Final, then they will have to undertake stadium redevelopments, though that may also prove a problem.
Trinity will contest their maiden Super League Grand Final on Saturday evening when they face Warrington Wolves, another side aiming to break a long drought without winning the top division title.
For Wakefield, their drought goes back to 1968, almost 60 years ago but Matt Ellis and his family’s investment in the club has allowed them to dare to dream. That investment across the entire club is evident in terms of the playing squad and the redevelopments of Belle Vue, now named the DIY Kitchens Stadium.
However, further redevelopment – which Ellis admits would be necessary should his side win on Saturday – are expected to both cost a lot and be very difficult given the ground’s age, which is well over 125 years.
“We’ve done some obvious quick wins. Now we’re into stadium rebuilds and a training facility, we’ve got a training facility still to do,” Ellis admitted when speaking to media, including Serious About Rugby League’s sister site The Yorkshire Evening Post on Wednesday.
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Matt Ellis aiming to re-develop Belle Vue amid growing fan base
On the difficulties of future stadium development, Ellis said: “Stadium-wise, it’s bad timing because the cost of revamping the stadium now is the worst it’s ever been. Some of the clubs that built stadiums 20-odd years ago have got it for peanuts compared to what it is now.
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“This stand here costs nearly as much as one in a stadium. I know inflation and all that changes, but it’s timings but I think after this, if we can get this [Grand Final win] done, I think we’ve got to do something because I see next year as sell-outs. We’ll hopefully sell-out every game. That’s the challenge to the fans.”
Those fans will surely come in their droves if Wakefield taste success at Old Trafford, with Ellis admitting: “If we’re selling-out every week next season then I’ll be adding 2,000 or 3,000 on here definitely.”
Saying that is far easier than doing it though, and not just from a financial standpoint, with the dilemma, as Ellis put it, being how and where to upgrade and expand facilities. He explained: “It’s a tough stadium to redevelop but if we can win it, the season tickets will fly out. It’s all steam to see what we can do to get the ground up. A couple of games this year we could have sold that to 11,000+ so let’s do it.
“The North [Stand] is the obvious one and the easiest one to develop but then your West is really the one you want to develop,” he added.
“We’re an old school rugby stadium, aren’t we? The oldest rugby stadium. It’s probably going to be the North that we’ve got to increase. I’d ideally do both but probably the North.”
Supporting the fact that Wakefield may well need to increase their capacity is just how well the Super League Grand Final has sold, with less than 1,000 tickets available at the time of writing and Trinity were responsible for over 15,500 of those by Monday evening – just 48 hours after their semi-final win.
Where Wakefield Trinity would love to host the World Club Challenge
Whilst the Grand Final will create history for the club and possibly trigger a stadium redevelopment, it would also qualify Wakefield for the World Club Challenge – the game contested between the champions of Super League and the champions of the NRL.
No nailed-on date or venue has been confirmed but the early suggestions are that it will take place, with Ellis admitting which two grounds he would prefer to host the game should Wakefield win on Saturday and book their place into the World Club Challenge.
“I’ve never thought about that,” Ellis admitted, adding: “I want to stay respectful and not talk about it too much [out of respect] to Warrington.”
However, he did concede that he would have two dream venues for the event, with one of those being Belle Vue of course, as he said: “There would be two places I’d want it. Here or at Oakwell, obviously, where I first saw my first game. They’re the two.”
Oakwell, which is the home of Barnsley Football Club, has been used twice for rugby league with Wakefield playing there on both occasions – in 1990 when they lost to Sheffield Eagles, and in 1999 when they edged St Helens 23-22 in a thriller in just the fourth season of Super League.
Whether either ground could host the event is to be seen with Rugby League Commercial, who would run the event, sure to want to maximise the crowd. That, as well as Hull KR’s desire to allow as many fans as possible to watch their own World Club Challenge clash with Brisbane, saw the 2026 edition hosted at the MKM Stadium, which holds over twice the capacity of KR’s home ground.
Ellis revealed that the RL Commercial Managing Director Rhodri Jones has already suggested Elland Road as a venue – something that would suggest we could be getting a World Club Challenge in 2027, with plans presumably in place should Warrington win on Saturday.
