Dyldam Parramatta Eels Chairman Steve Sharp, Acting CEO John Boulous and Eels legend Nathan Hindmarsh joined Minister for Sport Stuart Ayres, Member for Parramatta Geoff Lee and Cr Scott Lloyd, Parramatta Lord Mayor earlier this week to discuss plans for the brand new 30,000-seat stadium coming to Parramatta.
The new rectangular stadium is scheduled for completion by 2019, and Eels Chairman Steve Sharp said the new stadium would lay a platform for sport in the heart of Parramatta for decades to come.
“It will give the Members and fans opportunity to a state of the art facility like Suncorp Stadium, AAMI Park, where you come to the game and have an absolute ball.”
“The environment created at those stadiums is second to none in the world and if we get the right concept here, fans will be really proud to come to the game.”
The plans for a brand new 30,000 seat stadium coming to Parramatta was key in allowing to accommodate for the growing Blue and Gold Army.
“We want to be a leader in the NRL as far as Memberships go. We have a great supporter base that are very wide spread, and we want to give them an opportunity not only to come to the game, but get a great seat at the game,” Sharp said.
“The new concept of the new modern stadiums gives everybody the opportunity to enjoy that environment.”
Pirtek Stadium, and Cumberland Oval before it, form a big part of the history at the Blue and Gold, and Sharp was looking forward to continue to write new milestones when the new stadium opens.
“It was a great honour at the time to be able to score the first try at Pirtek Stadium, but that is 30 years away now and somebody else will have the honour of scoring the first try when the new stadium opens,” Sharp said.
“History and heritage is rich in our club, people can remember going back to Cumberland Oval and pulling splinters out of their backside sitting on the benches there, then coming to Parramatta Stadium in 1986 and that being a wonderful experience,” Sharp added.
“We won a premiership in that year, and hopefully we can mirror that when the new stadium opens and win a third consecutive Premiership.”
NEW STADIUM FAQs:
What will the new Stadium look like?
The Stadium will be rectangular and seat 30,000, with final plans and designs expected to be available in the final quarter of 2016.
When will the new Stadium be ready?
Parramatta’s new stadium is anticipated to be completed by 2019, and will be the new long-term home for the Dyldam Parramatta Eels.
When will construction begin on the new stadium?
With plans for the venue at least 12 months away, construction will not begin until at least the end of 2016. This means the Dyldam Parramatta Eels will continue to play out of Pirtek Stadium in the 2016 season.
Where will we play during the construction period?
At this moment, the Eels have not committed to a specific venue or venues during the construction period. We will continue to ask our Members for feedback over the next 12-16 months as we plan the venues for our upcoming seasons.
What will happen to my seats/ticketed Eels Membership?
Currently, the Eels play across two venues in Sydney (Pirtek Stadium and ANZ Stadium) and while Members seats cannot be identical in the different locations, we work hard to ensure that Members with adjoining seats remain together, seat views are of similar quality etc.
Similarly, over the next 12 months we will communicate with all our ticketed Members to ensure that the process around seating at any future venues gets the best possible result for our Members.
