In March 2010, NRL chief executive David Gallop took a call from the NSW minister for major events, Ian MacDonald, who had been in the role just six days.
“Can you to come to my place, urgently?” MacDonald asked. “I’m having a colonoscopy tomorrow and want to discuss the grand final.”
Competitive tension between the NSW and Queensland governments had been brewing for some time over which city should host the grand final from 2012: the traditional home of Sydney or self-appointed new heartland of Brisbane?
Gallop visited MacDonald at his Northbridge home on Sydney’s north shore and, after very little negotiation, left feeling like he’d won Powerball: $50 million over 10 years.
As this masthead reported at the time, the offer was $20 million more than MacDonald’s department had imagined, which was staggering given Queensland hadn’t tabled an offer.
Those involved with …