Gold Coast continues rise to the top of Australian sport

18 October 2009 | Posted in Infrastructure, Miscellaneous | By Adam Fraser

Work is underway on the new US$116 million stadium in Gold Coast, Australia's sixth-largest city, that will be the new home of the Gold Coast AFL club.

The stadium, which will also be capable of hosting cricket matches and concerts, will have a capacity of 25,000 and is expected to be a central part of a Commonwealth Games bid. It will be designed by Populous, the company that designed the Olympic stadiums for the London 2012 and Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and recently won the contract for Sochi 2014's main arena.

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"This is an exciting time for Australian Football on the Gold Coast and we can't wait to see the stadium take shape," said AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou. "As well as being the home base for our newest AFL club, the new stadium will provide a great facility for our representative teams like the Scorpions and Stingrays and for major community events.

"The Gold Coast Football Club is also going from strength to strength. In their first year, they played in the TAC Cup finals series and have just extended the contract of their senior coach Guy McKenna, through until 2012. So the group of young men from the Coast and around Australia will have the chance to work together under the same leadership team right through to their first AFL season in 2011."

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Gold Coast mayor Ron Clarke added: "At last, after so much hard work, it is all starting to come together. The new stadium will give a fantastic boost to the sport, delight local fans and provide a big shot in the arm to our local economy. After 50 years of travelling all over Melbourne every Saturday in the rain and the cold, I cannot think of anything better for southern footy fans than escaping to the beautiful Gold Coast in the middle of a freezing Melbourne winter to follow your team? They can come for a game and stay for a holiday. I think it's fantastic."