Quote: JB Down Under "Lol, they do not have govt guarantee of funding, and without going into the ethical discussion on if a developing nation with massive health, education, crime and infrastructure problems should be spending oz aid on a professional sports team, they do not have the money to guarantee the $5-7million a year they would need to cover the revenue shortfall they would face.
They are refurbing a 15,000 athletic stadium, if they wanted to be in the NRL they would need a 30-40k rectangular stadium and they can not afford to build one.
They have been told they will not be considered, hence why they have stopped calling themselves the png NRL bid!
NRL is a billion $ business, they can aspire all they like but it won't get them a team in the next two decades if ever, IMO.'"
Their bid did have government funding guarantees, and all the 'ethical issues' are not your business or the NRL's business.
A 30-40k all seated stadium up to Australian standards would never work in PNG. The vast majority of the population can only afford to sit on a grassed hill, which would be cheap to build. The grandstand would only need to sit 5k tops.