North Queensland Cowboys stadium upgrade approved for $45M renovationUpdated

The Queensland government has confirmed a $45 million commitment to the renovation of the North Queensland Cowboys' Queensland Country Bank Stadium, ensuring the NRL club remains in Townsville through its current broadcast deal period and preserving the sporting anchor that has been central to Townsville's identity as a major regional city for the past three decades.

The renovation will upgrade the stadium's corporate facilities, add 3,000 new covered seats to the stadium's eastern stand, install a new LED lighting system that meets broadcast standards for night games, and refurbish the amenities and concessions infrastructure that has been showing its age after 25 years of intensive use.

Cowboys chairman Laurence Lancini described the government commitment as "a partnership that reflects the Cowboys' role in North Queensland's cultural and economic life," noting that the Cowboys consistently generated more than $50 million in economic activity in Townsville annually through game-day spending, tourism, and the commercial activity associated with the club's NRL profile.

The Stadium Townsville Trust, which manages the facility on behalf of the Queensland government, confirmed that the renovation works would be staged to allow the Cowboys to continue playing home games throughout the construction period, with the most disruptive works scheduled for the off-season months of October to January.

The Cowboys' current NRL broadcast deal runs to 2030, and the stadium renovation provides the facility standards that the NRL requires of home venues under its venue standards policy for games broadcast on its free-to-air and subscription television partners.

This article was compiled by AI from the sources linked above and screened before publishing. See our editorial standards.