Proposed Redevelopment of Barlow Park Carins for Olympic Games 2032……
Carins Stadium
Cairns Regional Council staff present rectangular sports stadium dream. The tantalising prospect of Cairns building a $100m rectangular sports stadium and precinct ahead of the 2032 Olympic Games has taken a giant leap forward. THE TANTALISING prospect of Cairns building a state-of-the-art rectangular sports stadium and precinct ahead of the 2032 Olympic Games has taken a giant leap forward following a meeting between influential stakeholders.
Key Cairns Regional Council staffers have endorsed a bold plan to transform the Barlow Park and Cairns Showgrounds into a major events mecca including a 20,000-seat stadium set to rival Townsville’s Queensland Country Bank Stadium.
Council chief executive officer Mica Martin said a meeting was held with council representatives and a coalition of community leaders who all confirmed support for the “catalytic” development that would announce the city as a global events draw. It’s estimated the precinct will cost in the vicinity of $100m, with Federal MP Warren Entsch reaffirming council could pounce on a 50:50 state and federal Olympic funding proposal.
Ms Martin said a key feature of the Barlow Park plan would be a flash new stadium capable of attracting leading sports and entertainment events “while still accommodating local needs.”
The Cairns Showgrounds would remain a key feature of the precinct with other complementary facilities, services and connections to be further considered to ensure competitive alternatives for national and international promoters.
“There is a lot more to be done, critical people to talk to and a proposal to develop but we are off to a positive start,” Ms Martin said following the meeting.
Ms Martin said a detailed plan would be formally presented to Cairns Mayor Bob Manning and councillors “at the earliest opportunity”.
The meeting involved Ms Martin, Mr Entsch, Advance Cairns chief executive Paul Sparshott, Cairns Chamber of Commerce CEO Patricia O’Neill, Tourism Tropical North Queensland CEO Mark Olsen and the Advance Cairns director and the Chair Olympics Infrastructure Taskforce Michael Delaney.
Mr Entsch said locking in Barlow Park as the location “no ifs, buts or maybes” was a landmark moment.
“The Cairns council officers have done a lot of good work and they have shown that we can build a catalytic world class tropical stadium without destroying the athletics track,” he said.
“It’s quite amazing the concept, and we are not talking about a single building, this is creating an entire precinct.
“The officers now have something to take back to councillors and it’s very exciting.
Mr Entsch said council officers made it “very clear” the vision was not mutually exclusive to plans to invest the city’s water supply – estimated to cost around $215m. Mackay, Bundaberg and Rockhampton already have rectangular stadiums at their disposal and the Gold Coast recently got an Olympic commitment for two new small stadiums. Ms O’Neill said the city deserved to add a world class entertainment and events space.
“It is going to be a game-changer,” she said.
Mr Sparshott said he was “very impressed with the presentation” by councillors.
“This is something I believe the city wants and can get behind,” he said.
Cairns MP and Assistant Tourism Minister Michael Healy said he had been briefed on the outcomes of the meeting and was “very supportive. This is something I spoke to council about the moment the Olympics were announced and it’s all very positive,” he said
Cairns rectangular stadium: Leaders urge Far North to act on sports precinct plans. Northern leaders are cheering for Cairns to capitalise on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build an Olympic venue and ignite the region’s capacity to attract world-class events. Mayors from Townsville, Mackay and Port Douglas have backed the Cairns Regional Council’s endorsement of the construction of a rectangular stadium and the opportunity to pounce on federal and state funding in the lead up to the Brisbane Games.
It comes after a meeting was held last week between council and key stakeholders about a future project, which would be built next to Barlow Park. The state government has already earmarked a $40m-plus allocation to Cairns as a 2032 Olympics satellite city, with Barlow Park to get a major grandstand and lighting upgrade.
Mackay Mayor Greg Williamson said their 12,200 strong BB Print Stadium – which hosted five NRL games this year including two across the semi-final weekend – had been a catalytic development for the city since its construction in 2011 for $12m. He said Cairns should “grasp the opportunity” to add a state-of-the-art stadium to its list of assets, using a mix of government funding, lucrative sponsorship agreements and ratepayers to fund it. The Enterprise North proposal for a 20,000 seat stadium in Cairns would cost around $100m, $80m of which could come from the commonwealth and Queensland government.
“This is your chance, and I think Cairns and all regional centres in Queensland should be looking to try and grasp the opportunity,” he said.
Regardless of its seating capacity size, to have a stadium that you can actually present as an attraction to get entertainment and good sporting events I think is critical.
“Major cities on the Queensland coast need an ability to have sporting facilities that will attract elite sports and events and sports people over the next 10 years in the lead-up to the Olympics.”
Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill said the Queensland Country Bank Stadium, jointly funded by council, state and federal governments, has been a crucial addition to Townsville and its CBD. “It is attracting world-class sporting and cultural events to our city much in the same way as the Cairns Convention Centre, which was recently and significantly refurbished and expanded thanks to funding from the Queensland Government,” she said. Douglas Shire Mayor Michael Kerr, who wants to transform Port Douglas into a major training base for elite sport through infrastructure upgrades and a new sports master plan, said the sky was the limit for the Far North if a new stadium was built.
“Cairns is like our region’s capital city, it is the entrance as far as connectivity and airlines go,” he said.
“Other than Darwin we are the access point of Asia to this country.
“So the events we could hold here would just be another reason for people to fly into Cairns first before heading south.
“Any major infrastructure such as a stadium would only benefit us as a tourism region and be very advantageous for Cairns.”
Cr Williamson said Mackay ratepayers were happy to fork out a bit extra to attract world-class sport to their rectangular stadium and city, with the NRL already locking matches in for 2022 and three One Day International cricket matches on the way for the city
He said he would be using the Olympics to draw on cash to increase the venue’s capacity, saying it was a “council asset we could not do without.”
“We couldn’t imagine not having it,” he said.
“We are now looking for expand and increase the size of it to make it a much grander stadium.
“But to have the stadium as it is right now as the starting point, it is an excellent facility in our district.
“It does cost the ratepayers a significant amount of money to run every year, but the return to ratepayers is the ability in our region to have a facility like that to host NRL games and big events.
“It has proved its worth as a community asset many times over