The Sharks have stood by their word and made sure Kings Park will remain the home of Sharks rugby.
Rugby365
Kings Park Stadium – home of the Currie Cup champions. (c) Gallo The Sharks have politely told the city council of Durban, also referred to as eThekwini, to get lost.
In a statement on Friday the Sharks confirmed that they will continue to play their rugby at their long-standing home ground Kings Park (the sponsorship part of the name has now expired) and will not move to the neighbouring Moses Mabhida stadium. Speculation over the future home venue of the Sharks has been rife due to the building of the Moses Mabhida Stadium for the 2010 soccer World Cup – right next door to Kings Park.
The need for the soccer stadium to have an anchor tenant to offset building and maintenance costs has caused much of the speculation about a possible move by the Sharks.
However, the Sharks have made it clear that they are determined to stay put. “The Sharks [Pty] Ltd would like to advise all stakeholders and interested parties that – to put an end to any further speculation and uncertainty as to the future home ground of the Sharks – they will continue to operate from Kings Park Stadium,” the statement said. “A number of issues were taken into account and after careful consideration, the Sharks decided that they will not be relocating to the Moses Mabhida Stadium.
“The Sharks [Pty] Ltd enjoy a long lease on the entire [Kings Park] property [including the surrounding grounds at the stadium], a lease which only terminates in 2056. “As a company, the Sharks [Pty] Ltd are debt-free and have financed the cost of the stadium which is currently insured for ZAR500-million.
“Thus far, the eThekwini [Durban] Municipality has not been able to provide any incentive to move to the new Moses Mabhida Stadium or been able to demonstrate that the Sharks [Pty] Ltd will not be worse off should they relocate.”
Well looking at it financially it would be a mistake to move over to MM Stadium, but I went there for the Brazil/Portugal game during the wc and it was hands down better than King Park. I LOVE Kings Park always will, but it is dated now. The MM Stadium has so much more to offer. The only problem is they were foolish when building the stadium by only having 135 suites to Kings Park 400 suites and that is where Kings Park makes its money. So for that reason don’t ever see Sharks moving over to MM Stadium and that is a pity, cause that is a hell of a beautiful stadium. Also your view of the players is very good. I first thought when they built it it would never be, but after watching the soccer game, have now changed my mind. To view a rugby game there would be very good. Not as close up as Kings Park but not far off it. The facilities there are just way better.
We could still use the fields over the road for our braais too.
Also watched some soccer at the MM stadium. Beautiful and very spacious, my problem with the stadium is that you sit to far from the field. I love Kings Park and I’m glad we are staying there.
ja die guppies sonner kings park sal nie die selle wees nie,well done on not moving
Well the clowns should have consulted the Sharks Rugby Union before doing anything but that would have been far too much effort..
@ Winston:4 – Winnie, They should have before they started building the stadium, knowing they wanted us to use it after. Think if they put in the 400 suites think we might have moved over. That is the biggest reason we not going over. Also we have no debt at Kings Park. But what a beautiful stadium MM is. The facilites there too are superb.
Kings Park has a lot of soul and a vibe of it’s own which can not be recreated.Having watched rugby there since the 80’s I think they have moved on but have kept a lot of the old.
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