Packed pre-season pumps up stadium case

Fantastic turn-out by footy lovers is the NRL's feel-good story of what has been a turbulent off-season.

HUGE CROWD: More than 10,000 people turned out to Saturday's NRL pre-season trial. Picture: Eyes Wide Open Images

OPINION:

TALK about a ringing endorsement.

In an off-season marred by one scandal after another, the NRL would be silly not to be using what happened last Saturday as the feel-good story of the past four months.

Almost 11,000 people crammed into every crevice of Sunshine Coast Stadium to see a trial game between the Cowboys and Titans on Saturday afternoon.

At a time where the public could be forgiven for becoming pretty jaded with the behaviour of these well-paid athletes, the region clearly showed there is an unbridled passion for rugby league back and bubbling on the Coast.

The Sunshine Coast Falcons deserve a fair bit of credit for that.

After early success, years of well-documented struggle followed, but those seasons seem like a distant memory these days, after a recent Intrust Super Cup grand final appearance and the Melbourne Storm affiliation.

There is a legitimate pathway to elite rugby league here and we have arguably the best-structured club in the NRL overseeing our region's talents.

Local league also needs plenty of credit.

It isn't easy being administrators of amateur sporting codes on the Sunshine Coast.

Renowned for our transience and with work pretty hard to come by, it's always been a challenge keeping any code flourishing here.

Combined, the efforts of all involved have clearly helped foster a passion for the sport and the 10,680 people at the stadium on Saturday night were as good an advertisement for rugby league as the game will get this year.

The case for stadium expansion was significantly bolstered by the attendance, a sell-out even amidst a cyclone warning.

At a time when a southeast Queensland Olympic bid is gaining more and more traction and the Coast's prospects as a potential host are being touted, the ambition to expand and upgrade our region's premier facility suddenly doesn't seem so lofty.

Considering we'll have NRL season-proper games here for the next three years, one could expect we'll well and truly sell those out, and could probably sell out an even greater capacity facility, based on the response.

The issue is, of course, usage, without a national football team in the region, and whether an expansion would be justified.

But an expanded venue opens the door to more high-profile events being held.

A 20,000-25,000 person capacity stadium would become fairly attractive to some decent names in music and entertainment, and the venue has already proven a popular one for music events.

If we continue to fill the stands it continues to press the case to attract more regular-season games of major sporting codes to the region.

A-League, Super Rugby and NRL could all be successfully accommodated here and when the expansion conversations come up in future, it may help to throw the Coast forward as a genuine option.

Originally published as Packed pre-season pumps up stadium case