{"id":789032,"date":"2026-10-01T23:08:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T23:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/789032\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T23:08:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T23:08:11","slug":"wakefield-trinity-facing-stadium-dilemma-amid-surging-fan-base-as-owner-identifies-world-club-challenge-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/789032\/","title":{"rendered":"Wakefield Trinity facing stadium dilemma amid surging fan base as owner identifies World Club Challenge dream"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Wakefield Trinity owner Matt Ellis has admitted that, should the club win Saturday\u2019s Super League Grand Final, then they will have to undertake stadium redevelopments, though that may also prove a problem.<\/p>\n

Trinity will contest their maiden Super League Grand Final<\/a> on Saturday evening when they face Warrington Wolves, another side aiming to break a long drought without winning the top division title.<\/p>\n

For Wakefield, their drought goes back to 1968, almost 60 years ago but Matt Ellis and his family\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

However, further redevelopment \u2013 which Ellis admits would be necessary should his side win on Saturday \u2013 are expected to both cost a lot and be very difficult given the ground\u2019s age, which is well over 125 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve done some obvious quick wins. Now we\u2019re into stadium rebuilds and a training facility, we\u2019ve got a training facility still to do,\u201d Ellis admitted when speaking to media, including Serious About Rugby League\u2019s sister site\u00a0The Yorkshire Evening Post on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Super League Grand Final Preview Show and Man of Steel winner debated \u2013 Click here to watch the latest episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show!<\/a><\/p>\n

Matt Ellis aiming to re-develop Belle Vue amid growing fan base<\/p>\n

On the difficulties of future stadium development, Ellis said: \u201cStadium-wise, it\u2019s bad timing because the cost of revamping the stadium now is the worst it\u2019s ever been. Some of the clubs that built stadiums 20-odd years ago have got it for peanuts compared to what it is now.<\/p>\n

Most Read on Serious About Rugby League<\/p>\n

\u201cThis stand here costs nearly as much as one in a stadium. I know inflation and all that changes, but it\u2019s timings but I think after this, if we can get this [Grand Final win] done, I think we\u2019ve got to do something because I see next year as sell-outs. We\u2019ll hopefully sell-out every game. That\u2019s the challenge to the fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those fans will surely come in their droves if Wakefield taste success at Old Trafford, with Ellis admitting: \u201cIf we\u2019re selling-out every week next season then I\u2019ll be adding 2,000 or 3,000 on here definitely.\u201d<\/p>\n

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: \u201cIt\u2019s a tough stadium to redevelop but if we can win it, the season tickets will fly out. It\u2019s 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\u2019s do it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe North [Stand] is the obvious one and the easiest one to develop but then your West is really the one you want to develop,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re an old school rugby stadium, aren\u2019t we? The oldest rugby stadium. It\u2019s probably going to be the North that we\u2019ve got to increase. I\u2019d ideally do both but probably the North.\u201d<\/p>\n

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 \u2013 just 48 hours after their semi-final win.<\/p>\n

Where Wakefield Trinity would love to host the World Club Challenge<\/p>\n

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 \u2013 the game contested between the champions of Super League and the champions of the NRL.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never thought about that,\u201d Ellis admitted, adding: \u201cI want to stay respectful and not talk about it too much [out of respect] to Warrington.\u201d<\/p>\n

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: \u201cThere would be two places I\u2019d want it. Here or at Oakwell, obviously, where I first saw my first game. They\u2019re the two.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oakwell, which is the home of Barnsley Football Club, has been used twice for rugby league with Wakefield playing there on both occasions \u2013 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 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\u2019s home ground.<\/p>\n

Ellis revealed that the RL Commercial Managing Director Rhodri Jones has already suggested Elland Road as a venue \u2013 something that would suggest we could be getting a World Club Challenge in 2027, with plans presumably in place should Warrington win on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wakefield Trinity owner Matt Ellis has admitted that, should the club win Saturday\u2019s Super League Grand Final, then…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":789033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-789032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=789032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/789033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=789032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=789032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=789032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}