Future Cairns rectangular stadium remains up in the air
A new rectangular stadium in Cairns has long been spoken about, but a new facility is far from locked in for the tropical city.
Proponents pushing for Cairns to finally get a rectangular sports stadium have called for the city to unite behind the concept and settle on a preferred location.
Various leaders have flagged three potential locations – Barlow Park, the Cairns Showground or beside the Cairns Convention Centre.
Last year, lobby group Enterprise North presented concept plans for a 20,000-capacity, $130 million rectangular stadium for Barlow Park, to transform the surrounding area into a sporting mecca for Cairns.
The Cairns stadium concept plans as shown in the image and video within this article were developed by Gordon Gould Ipson Architects.
Plans also included relocating athletics to a new facility at the nearby Cairns showgrounds featuring a 5000-seat grandstand, new indoor sports facility where the Pop-Up Arena is located (or retain the current arena), new tennis centre and various upgrades to the showgrounds. $50 million would fund these additional facilities.
At the time, the Cairns Regional Council refused to commit to building a rectangular stadium in the near future, with the timing not right to undertake the major infrastructure project.
With Brisbane awarded the 2032 Olympic Games, Cairns has been selected to host matches as part of the football tournament, with the bid document mentioning a 20,000-seat stadium, while there was also talk of leaving 5000 seats as an Olympic legacy at Barlow Park.
The 15,000-capacity Barlow Park includes seating for just 1600 and last hosted a regular-season NRL game in 2018, with a trial game held there last year. Almost 15,000 fans attended a game between Rabbitohs and Cowboys in 2016, with temporary seating used to boost capacity.
The push for a new stadium follows a decade of talk, with a $100,000 feasibility study commissioned by the council in 2011 which identified significant demand for a stadium and 20 potential locations. In 2016, the Unity-led council commissioned another study - this time costing $200,000 - into the project.
Enterprise North executive manager Kevin Byrne is leading a group trying to drum up support for a stadium in Cairns and plans to launch a social media campaign in October.
“There is an undeniable fact staring at us and that is we are very poorly served with the absence of a suitable stadium for rectangular sports with the requisite capacity and facilities currently which sees the NRL not even programming NRL trial games here let alone premiership fixtures,” Mr Byrne said.
