The Tigers will play five of their 12 home games this season at Leichhardt Oval but have long held concerns for the condition and facilities at the hallowed inner west ground.
Leichhardt has insufficient change rooms to host NRL men's and women's double-headers, regularly features some of the NRL's longest queues for refreshments, and pales in comparison to other Sydney stadiums when it comes to corporate and media facilities.
The love that Tigers fans have for Leichhardt may not be enough to save it as an NRL venue. (Mark Evans/AAP PHOTOS)
On Monday, Tigers chief executive Shane Richardson and Inner West Council Mayor Darcy Byrne bandied together to request Leichhardt Oval receive 10 per cent of funding allocated to Penrith's stadium upgrade by the NSW government.
The Panthers' BlueBet Stadium will receive a $309 million face-lift in 2025 that expands the ground's capacity to 25,000 with an all-new western grandstand and refurbished eastern grandstand.
The Tigers, who have also hosted home games at CommBank Stadium, Campbelltown Stadium and Accor Stadium in recent years, have yet to commit to any home ground beyond 2024.
Richardson threatened to move the Tigers out of Leichhardt altogether if the request went unfulfilled, having relocated South Sydney's home games from Moore Park to Homebush during his time in charge of that club.
But on Tuesday, NSW Premier Chris Minns pointed to the state's financial situation as grounds for blocking the Tigers' audacious request.
"I appreciate that (the Tigers) have got to make a decision about their club and where they play their home games," Minns said.
"But we, as everybody knows, have got $180 billion worth of debt in NSW.
"We've got massive pressure on the hospital system, education system, (and) in addition to that we're rolling out the biggest public transport projects in the state's history."
Chris Minns says the NSW government won't stump up more cash for a revamp of Leichhardt Oval. (Bianca De Marchi/AAP PHOTOS)
Leichhardt Oval's status as a part-time NRL venue also influenced Minns' decision.
This season, the Tigers are playing five of 12 home games at Campbelltown Sports Stadium, one at Scully Park in Tamworth and one at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium as part of Magic Round.
"I don't have spare dollars at the moment to pump into Leichhardt Oval, particularly as the Tigers' games are split between those two home grounds (Campbelltown and Leichhardt)," Minns said.
"My real fear is that we put money into Leichhardt and the week afterwards they say now we need the money for Campbelltown.
"These things have got to be finely balanced and I'd love to have the spare revenue to pump into a suburban stadium at the moment, but I don't have it."
The Tigers scored an emphatic 32-6 win over Cronulla on Saturday in their first match at Leichhardt Oval for the season.
They will next return on June 15 to host Gold Coast.
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