Western Sydney Wanderers have expressed interest at playing in Dubbo

It may happen in the future after the club had approached Dubbo Regional Council about bringing a game out to the city.

The A-League club put out a two-year offer to the council to run clinics with juniors and host games but wanted a hefty price tag.

At the last council meeting, the councillors were in support of continuing negotiations with the club going forward.

Dubbo mayor Mathew Dickerson in the past has expressed his views on the price professional sporting clubs want to come out to regional areas and said the Wanderers were after too much money.

"They had a deal they put to us over a two-year time frame which involved some clinics, talk about ways to promote the game and bring matches here which all sounded great," he said.

"But they wanted a big chunk of change to do that. So as a council, we said we would keep working with them but we didn't agree to hand over the money to them."

Dubbo hasn't hosted a professional sporting match since 2022, when the South Sydney Rabbitohs played Canberra Raiders at Apex Oval, a match which cost $350,000 and reported a loss of $67,000.

Dubbo has hosted an A-League trial fixture in the past with the Central Coast Mariners taking on the Wellington Phoenix in 2009.

"From our perspective, we need to try and justify the cost," Cr Dickerson said.

"South Sydney charged $350,000, some clubs charge less than that whereas Penrith now would be charging more to bring a game out here.

"It's a lot of money and soccer is no different."

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The Wanderers currently have a deal with Bathurst Regional Council which will see the club play one match at Carrington Park in the upcoming season.

The club will bring their Liberty A-League (women's) side to Bathurst on November 18 to play against Canberra United.

"It's something I suspect as much as we would like to feel special that they have approached other councils with," Cr Dickerson said.

"We will keep our grounds to a high standard and promote things locally to help that way but it's just a tough ask to take money from ratepayers," he said.

"When you say to a pensioner who is struggling to pay their rent that I'm going to give it to Russell Crowe (South Sydney owner), it doesn't really sit that comfortably with the community."

Dubbo Regional Council will continue their negotiations.

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