Great Barrier Reef Arena, Mackay Airport enter partnership as Olympic hope beckons
Mackay hosting Olympic events isn’t as far-fetched as you might think. Discover why, and go inside the new partnership that plans to make it a reality.
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Olympic events in Mackay?
What was once a pipe dream to many in the region is now inching closer to reality following the announcement that cricket will be included in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
With Australia being one of the world’s largest cricket nations, the likelihood of the sport continuing into the 2032 Brisbane Olympics is immense.
The announcement was met with great optimism by Harrup Park CEO Adrian Young, who has high hopes for Mackay’s showpiece Great Barrier Reef Arena.
“This announcement presents a fantastic opportunity for Mackay and the Greater Whitsunday Region to be involved in the 2032 games and host Olympic competition events,” said Young on LinkedIn.
“The Great Barrier Reef Arena could be a key Olympic venue. (It) has a proud history of successfully hosting international and national cricket for men and women.
“The venue could host Men’s and Women’s T20 Olympic cricket games, significant pre-Olympic training, elite content that will be displaced from the Gabba redevelopment, as well as create a post-Olympic sports, tourism and community multi-sport performance facility that will benefit our region for years to come.
“This may be Mackay and the Greater Whitsundays’ best chance to host Olympic competition events. Playing to our strengths and pushing to develop the already world-class Great Barrier Reef Arena could ensure we aren’t looked past to be a part of this monumental event.”
Less than two months ago, GBRA hosted a pair of Australia A games against New Zealand A, with some of the country’s best cricketers descending on Mackay.
And in the past week it’s played host to domestic cricket action, with Queensland taking on Victoria in Marsh Sheffield Shield and One-Day Cup.
In the coming months, AFLW and Women’s Big Bash games are scheduled to be played at GBRA.
Prior to the 2032 Olympics, Young revealed his hopes for the venue to host international cricket in 2025 when speaking to the media earlier in the week.
“There’s some Australia v South Africa men’s one-day and T20 games flagged for the north of Australia, we’re really trying to target that,” Young said.
“With the content that we’ve had this year we’re putting ourselves in the best position to do that.
“Both Queensland Cricket and Cricket Australia have told us this is the best facility for regional cricket in Australia.
“We’ve had the pitch rated as excellent and the outfield rated as excellent. The Queensland captain said this is the best pitch and outfield outside of the Gabba.”
GBRA has also entered into an exciting new “strategic partnership” with Mackay Airport, with the hopes of bolstering the region‘s major events and strengthening its chances at hosting 2032 Olympic events.
“The main focus of this is to grow our major sporting events calendar for the region and also increase visitation,” said Adrian Miles, the head of operations at Mackay Airport.
“There‘s fantastic potential to grow the sports tourism market leading into the Brisbane Olympics in 2032.
“We’ll look, with Great Barrier Reef Arena, for potential opportunities with national and international stakeholders to bring as many opportunities to the region as we can.”
With the Gabba set to be redeveloped prior to the Olympics, Young said that would open more opportunity to host additional major events in the years leading up to 2032.
And he believes that if the opportunity to host Olympic events such as cricket is to present itself, the benefits would extend far beyond the fortnight of Olympic action.
“It might be two or three years of teams coming to Mackay and playing here and training here so they can get used to the conditions,” said Young.
“That is a huge opportunity.
“We have to go on a journey now to convince the Olympic Committee and the state government that we are the best regional venue in Queensland outside of Brisbane to try and attract cricket to be played here in the Olympics.”
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