I can understand the move to Cambridge. In fact I was half expecting it (or if not Cambridge, then Ngaruawahia).
To use N Bomb's terminology, the problem is actually that there is not really much of a CORE to this franchise... ie a club base nursing it along.
There is a lot of stuff that has to be done in preparation for a national league match, and you need a certain amount of infrastructure and hands on deck.
Cambridge as we know it, is well short of what you would expect of a national league venue (imagine NZF were non-plussed but would find it harder to bully a federation than an independent club entity)... Ngaruawahia got complaints and Centennial Park is much more advanced. But then Beetham Park is not really set up either, and at least at Cambridge you have clubrooms.
But beyond infrastructure, you need a certain number of arms and legs to make it happen. The Waikato board is more focused on governance, and doesn't have foot soldiers beyond its paid employees. Beetham Park would have been a huge logistical undertaking on every front.
In Hamilton Melville have Gower Park being dug up and relaid with a sand carpet over summer, Wanderers lost enthusiasm when Cossey got the arse, Claudelands Rovers are Cricket Central over summer.
Anyway, good on Cambridge for stepping up to the plate... out of towners may be interested that one of the driving forces at Cambridge these days is Josh Easby, who was arguably the leading football writer in New Zealand back in the late 70s - now better known as a Radio NZ deputy chairman.
Hopefully Cambridge can use hosting to wrangle some facility development out of local government as Ngaruawahia managed to do in scorign a $100,000 makeover a couple of years back. Wanderers, Melville and Ngaruawahia have all had spells of supporting national league operations over the years. Nice to see a new recruit...
The other good thing is match fee money will be going back into the code, rather than to the Ham City Council, who usually charge way over the odds for Beetham Park.