Eureka Stadium

Eureka Stadium, known commercially as Mars Stadium, is an oval-shaped sports stadium located in the Eureka Sports Precinct of Wendouree, 2.9 km north of the CBD of the city of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.

History
The first permanent oval used by the North Ballarat Football Club was established in 1963 in the centre of the Ballarat Showgrounds show-ring and Harness Racing track that was used by the Ballarat Trotting Club as its main venue between 1952 and 1966. In 1990 a new large all-weather oval (dimensions 170 x 140 m) replaced the old harness racing track. The new oval was complemented by a new club pavilion (The North Ballarat Sports Club) which was constructed on private land immediately to the oval's northern flank.

Between 1990 and 2015 the oval was used for many sporting and entertainment purposes although mainly as an Australian rules football and cricket venue. It annually hosted the Ballarat Gift (Athletics Carnival) and the Ballarat Agricultural and Pastoral Society's show-ring events during their annual Show. During this time the North Ballarat Sports Club pavilion underwent a series of expansions and upgrades.



During the 1990s and early 2000s various proposals to play AFL football at the ground had been discussed by the Ballarat football community, media, and business groups in isolation. However, in 2008 a proposal to develop the stadium for use by AFL team North Melbourne and the North Ballarat VFL team was put forward to the Victorian State Government by the Ballarat Council and the North Ballarat Sports Club. The proposal received support from the ALP Government during the 2010 State Election with the LNP opposition providing only conditional support. After the election the new LNP Government quickly abandoned the proposal. The Ballarat Council, media, sports groups, tourism and business groups continued lobbying under a promotional campaign titled "Think Big Ballarat" until the 2014 State election when the ALP State Opposition announced that they would fund the development as an AFL Level 3 stadium with the first AFL seasonal game to be played from 2017 if elected. Once elected, the new ALP government immediately committed funding in the 2015 State Budget allowing the first stage of development of the stadium to commence.

In order to accommodate grandstands and other facilities the oval was completely rebuilt being re-oriented to a NE-SW axis in preparation for the first stage of construction. The newly rebuilt oval featured state of the art irrigation and drainage systems, a 4000 capacity spectator berm on its South-Eastern flank, and four 37 m light towers rigged to illuminate the playing arena to 300 lux (sufficient for non-televised State level Australian Football night competition).

In June 2017 naming rights for the venue were granted to Mars Confectionery Australian division. From April 2017 to June 2018 the City of Ballarat and North Ballarat Sports Club negotiated for Council to purchase the Club's freehold land title to ensure that the newly built stadium and existing sports club would be co-developed and future-managed as a singular entity.

The facility today remains the home of the North Ballarat Sports Club including the Greater Western Victoria Rebels of the NAB League and the North Ballarat City FC of the Ballarat Football League. It is also used as a venue for Central Highlands Football League and Ballarat Football League for both seasonal games and finals in addition to hosting two AFL seasonal games per-year since 2017.



Australian rules football
In 2006 professional football club North Melbourne established a successful partnership with the North Ballarat Football Club to enable its reserve-grade players to play alongside the North Ballarat players in the Victorian Football League. North Melbourne also played pre-season games in the Australian Football League (AFL) at the ground during this time. In 2014 the Victorian Government and AFL approved the request of fellow AFL club the Western Bulldogs at least two AFL premiership matches at the ground from 2017, though without an affiliation with North Ballarat as North Melbourne had been. At that point North Melbourne was forced to cease its association with Ballarat and instead commit to playing a percentage of their AFL premiership matches in Hobart, Tasmania.

In August 2017, the Bulldogs hosted the first AFL match for premiership points at the venue against, with the latter winning the match by 17 points. The Bulldogs have also played pre-season and regular-season AFL men's and AFL Women's games at the ground. In November 2021, the Western Bulldogs and the Ballarat Council announced that the club would continue playing two AFL and one AFLW home games per season. This arrangement will be reviewed in late 2024.

In July 2021, the stadium hosted the Round 17 AFL match between the GWS Giants and the Gold Coast Suns that was originally scheduled to be held in Sydney when a COVID-19 outbreak in New South Wales necessitated a last-minute change of venue.

Association football
The stadium hosted association football (soccer) with A-League club Western United FC playing some of its Victorian home games in Ballarat between 2019 to 2024. The first game was played against Wellington Phoenix on 28 December 2019 with the Phoenix winning the match 3–1 in front of 5,084 fans. This arrangement ceased when a new dedicated home soccer stadium opened in Tarneit in Western Melbourne. Of note, in October 2020 A-League Players voted the stadium as having equal to or the best surface of all A-League venues.

Cricket
From 1990 to 2015 the main oval hosted Ballarat Cricket Association matches with the individual highest batting score on the ground (226 runs) being accredited to Mr Tom MacDonald (of the Wendouree Cricket Club) on the 18th February 2006 against the North Ballarat Cricket Club. The main oval has not been used for cricket since redevelopment in 2016, however provision was included with its reconstruction to permit the use of drop in wickets to be installed if the venue hosts future large scale cricket games. The Ballarat North Cricket Club currently play home matches at the Frank Bourke Oval (Also referred to as the Number 2 Oval) adjacent to the stadium, while First Class cricket matches in Ballarat are generally hosted at the city's historic Eastern Oval which has recently undergone a series of Cricket Australia First Grade endorsed upgrades.

Rugby union and rugby league
The stadium successfully hosted Melbourne Rebels Super Rugby AU pre-seasonal and seasonal games against Queensland Reds and the Durban Sharks during 2019 and 2020 respectively, and Melbourne Storm and Newcastle Knights of the Australian National Rugby League in February 2022 in a pre-season trial game before 5,127 fans.

Redevelopments in the 2010s
In 2015 the Ballarat Council prepared a development document titled the "Ballarat Major Events Precinct Master Plan" that detailed plans for a long-term multi-staged development of the Eureka Sports Precinct which encompasses Eureka Stadium, the former Ballarat Showgrounds, neighbouring sports ovals, netball courts and club pavilions as well as the re-development and expansion of the former Wendouree Netball Centre as the Ballarat Sports Events Centre.



In June 2015 the Victorian government committed $38.5 million to the first stage development of the precinct, with approximately half of the funding allocated to the first stage of development of the Eureka Stadium.

Planning for construction was significantly fast-tracked, occurring whilst the reconstruction of the oval was underway during 2015. Initial design concepts for the grandstands were released for public feedback in late 2015 resulting in significant revision to the final design before approval in May 2016. Almost immediately tenders for construction were announced and construction works for new grandstand and terraced seating for 5000, player races, a video scoreboard, new coaches boxes and media broadcast suites had commenced. Those construction works were completed by July 2017.

In May 2018 the Victorian State Government commissioned a $500,000 Ballarat Council study to identify works considered necessary to immediately address the facility's identified limitations in addition to making recommendations for the stadiums long-term development. The report was submitted to the State Government and informed parts of the Victorian State Government's "Home Ground Advantage - Victoria's Major Stadia Strategy" document.

From September 2020, a $6.6 million second stage of development provided upgraded player and umpire/referee change-rooms as uni-sex facilities, two new covered entrances with ticketing facilities, a new food and beverage outlet, permanent public conveniences at the southern boundary of the stadium, and partial concreting of the south-east viewing berm. These works were completed in March 2022 for $6.35 million (Some $265,000 under the allocated budget).

Since 2018 various sports users and television sports broadcasters have lambasted the stadium's present lighting highlighting its ineffectiveness for any professional competition and television broadcasting. In January 2022 the Ballarat Council lobbied the State and Federal Governments for replacement of the stadium's lighting with four 50 metre towers fitted with modern LED fittings for a total cost of $3.5 million (AUD). Similar towers recently installed at Melbourne AFLW venues have a 1000 lux output and meet the guidelines for digital TV broadcasts for professional sports. To date no funds to upgrade or replace the existing lighting have been secured.

2026 Commonwealth Games. The State of Victoria was awarded rights to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games in April 2022, with Eureka Stadium announced as the main track and field athletics venue. The Commonwealth Games would have seen the stadium temporarily upgraded to 30,000 capacity. However in July 2023 the Victorian State Government withdrew Victoria from its hosting commitment citing an unacceptable escalation of the projected costs to prepare for and to host the event. However, as a concession to nominated host cities, the Premier of Victoria stated that the stadium and all other proposed Games venues would be still upgraded or built to what was originally to become their post-Commonwealth Games configurations.







On 11th April 2024, the State Tourism Minister Steve Dimopoulos announced the construction of an additional 5000 permanent undercover seats on the Eastern side of the stadium arena on the area currently occupied by the main standing hill. This announcement was accompanied with architect's renders confirming the positioning and proposed design of the stands as well as a new level 1 standard competition athletics field and club pavilion to be sited on the former Ballarat Showgrounds. Construction of the Athletics Centre and Eureka Stadium upgrades are due to commence in January 2025 and be completed by April and September 2026 respectively.

Attendance records
Top 5 Attendance Records