NRL boss David Gallop says Melbourne's new purpose-built rectangular stadium holds the key to the future of the Storm.

The NRL premiers, despite being a raging success on the field with three titles since their inception in 1998, are losing millions of dollars each year and require financial assistance from News Ltd to stay afloat.

But Gallop says the club's switch to the new stadium from next season could be the missing element to enable them to compete in a tight Melbourne sporting market.

He believes the Storm's former home of Olympic Park just wasn't up to the standard required by fans and television from an elite sporting club.

"The turning point for them may well be the new stadium," Gallop told NRL club members at a special forum in Sydney on Thursday.

"When you're going to AFL, cricket or tennis, you're going to the best facilities money can buy and then you're going to a warm-up track from the 1956 Olympics, that hasn't helped.

"Maybe there's a turning point when we get into the new stadium. The fact is, every dollar that you spend down there at the moment is a dollar that is being put on a red bottom line, not a black bottom line."

Keeping the financial struggles of the Storm in mind, Gallop told those at the second annual club member's forum the NRL wouldn't even discuss expanding the competition until the middle of 2011.

He says the game's previous forays into Adelaide and Perth with the ill-fated Rams and Reds in the late-90s was a warning not just to his code but also to the A-League, Super 14 and AFL, which are all setting up new teams in the next few seasons.

"I don't think we should seriously consider expansion until we see how the next 18 months go," he said.

"To be frank, I think some codes are getting in a race to put dots on a map without carefully considering the impact on the current clubs.

"Rugby league's been down that road and made those mistakes and I wouldn't like to see it make those mistakes again.

"There's nothing worse for your competition than to add teams and have them fall over.

"It not only is bad for the area but it has a ripple effect across the whole game."

Gallop discussed several other topics with the club members, with every NRL club represented at the forum.

He emphasised his support for the game's controversial McIntyre finals system and said there was no chance of State of Origin being played on a stand-alone weekend.

Gallop said having the chance to discuss issues that are important to the game's fans was significant.

"I think it's critical that we have interaction with fans and obviously members are people that have got real skin in the game," he said.

"They often have strong opinions, we can give them our views on issues and hopefully they can go away comfortable about how the game's travelling."

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