The rugby league grand final is a sellout, and Sharks fans are expected to fill at least 50,000 of the 80,000 seats at ANZ Stadium.
Sharks chief executive Lyall Gorman revealed this today when he joined federal Treasurer Scott Morrison and mayor Carmelo Pesce to inspect Cronulla businesses that have been decorated for the occasion.
The Sharks and Mr Morrison have offered two grand final tickets for the best display, with the winner to be announced on Friday night.
Mr Gorman said the NRL would announce on Thursday the game was a sellout.
“It will be a sea of blue,” he said.
“It looks like the shire is going to dominate the colour and noise in the stadium, as was the case at Alliance Stadium on Friday night,” he said.
”It sounds like we will have 50,000 to 60,000 supporters.”
Mr Gorman and Mr Morrison played down a report the Sharks would use a grand final win as a springboard for seeking federal government funding to upgrade Southern Cross Group Stadium to expand capacity and improve facilities.
A centre of excellence is part of the stage four plans for the Woolooware Bay Town Centre development.
Mr Gorman said the club wanted to improve grandstand capacity and facilities for players, fans and corporate supporters, but would work with the community, the corporate sector and all levels of government.
Mr Morrison said no request had been made, and the previous Coalition federal government had given the Sharks $10 million to build the Monty Porter Stand at the southern end of the ground.
”The development, as I understand it, is built on that infrastructure and it is a commercial project, and their first port of call would be to the state government on this sort of thing,” he said.
Mr Morrison said Mr Gorman and chairman Damian Keogh had done an outstanding job in the “commercial running of the club”.
“You don’t have success on the field if you don’t have it off the field,” he said.
“I am liking the economic measurement of the club – their surplus is looking a bit better than mine.”
Mr Morrison said the grand final was “a real tribute to the Sharks fans, who have stuck in there over [the club’s 50 years], and supported the club in good seasons and bad seasons”.
He said the players also deserved to win.
“You look at a guy like Paul Gallen, who has spent his whole career at this club, and I just hope on Sunday his, and the commitment of people in the shire, will be rewarded in the best possible way,” he said.
