Eureka Stadium

The first permanent oval used by the North Ballarat Football Club was established 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 by 140 metres (560 ft × 460 ft)) replaced the old harness racing track. The oval was complemented by a new sports pavilion (The North Ballarat Sports Club) which was constructed on private land 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 underwent a number of expansions and upgrades.

The stadium oval in its original configuration during the annual Ballarat Show, November 2011

The 1990 oval lacked elevated vantage points bordering the main playing arena and its configuration and large footprint limited options for development of grandstands and other facilities. Throughout 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 Labor State Government by the Ballarat Council backed by the city's leading business and civic leaders under a campaign titled "Think Big Ballarat". The proposal received support from the Labor Government in 2010 during the State Election, however when not returned to office the new incoming Government only gave conditional support to the project finally dropping the proposal in 2011. The Ballarat Council, media, sports groups and Chamber of Commerce continued lobbying until the 2014 State election when the then State Opposition announced that they would fund the development as an AFL Tier 2 stadium with the first AFL seasonal game to be played from 2017 if elected. Once elected, the new government immediately committed funding in the 2015 State Budget thus green lighting the development of the stadium.

In order to accommodate grandstands and other facilities the oval was completely rebuilt being 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 metres (121 ft) light towers rigged to illuminate the playing arena to 300 lux (sufficient for non-televised Tier 2 Australian Football night competition).

In June 2017 naming rights for the venue were granted to Mars Confectionery Australia. From April 2017 to June 2018 the City of Ballarat and North Ballarat Sports Club negotiated for Council to purchase the freehold 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.

Mars Stadium Ballarat - April 2022

In 2006 the Australian Football League club North Melbourne established a partnership with the North Ballarat Football Club where some of its Reserve Team players played alongside the North Ballarat FC players in the VFL competition. North Melbourne also played AFL pre-season games at the ground during this time with strong and growing local support. In 2014 the State Government and AFL endorsed the Western Bulldogs AFL club to play at least two AFL Premiership home games per-season in Ballarat from 2017, though not affiliated with North Ballarat Football Club as North Melbourne had been. North Melbourne Football Club ceased to be sponsored in Ballarat and subsequently broke its association to the Ballarat region instead committing to play a percentage of their AFL Premiership season home games in Hobart (Tasmania) until 2022.

In August 2017, the Western Bulldogs hosted the first AFL match for premiership points at the venue against Port Adelaide with Port Adelaide winning the match by 17 points. The Western Bulldogs have also played pre-seasonal men's (AFL) and Women's (AFLW) games at the ground. In November 2021 the Western Bulldogs and the Ballarat Council announced that the Western Bulldogs would continue playing two senior mens plus one AFLW home games per-season (to be reviewed in 2024).[2]

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.[3]

Since 2019 the stadium has hosted association football (Soccer) with A-League club Western United FC playing some of its Victorian home games in Ballarat. The first game played against Wellington Phoenix on 28 December 2019[4] with the Phoenix winning the match 3–1 in front of 5,084 fans. Since 2019 the club has continued to utilise the venue for some home seasonal games and has further committed to do so until construction of a new dedicated home soccer stadium in Tarneit in Western Melbourne is completed. In October 2020 A-League Players voted the stadium as having equal to or the best surface of all A-League venues.[5]

From 1990 to 2015 the main oval hosted Ballarat Cricket Association matches. 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 made for drop in wickets to be installed if the venue hosts future large scale cricket events. 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 mostly hosted at the city's historic Eastern Oval which has recently undergone a series of Cricket Australia endorsed upgrades.

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.

The 2015 Ballarat Major Events Precinct Master Plan was a Ballarat Council strategic document detailing a ten-year plan for a three-stage development of the Eureka Sports Precinct, including Eureka stadium, the Ballarat Showgrounds, neighbouring sports ovals and club pavilions; netball facilities and construction of the Ballarat Sports Events Centre.[6]

The Eastern Stand

In June 2015 the Victorian government committed $38.5 million to upgrade the stadium and the wider Eureka Sports Precinct, with approximately half of the funding allocated to Stage-One development of the stadium.[7]

The Eastern Stand and main viewing berm

Planning for construction of the stadium's first stage was significantly fast-tracked and occurred whilst the reconstruction of the oval was underway during 2015. Initial design proposals for the grandstands were released for public consultation in late 2015 resulting in significant revisions before the final designs were confirmed in May 2016. Almost immediately tenders for construction were announced and the building works for new grandstands to seat 5000, installation of a video scoreboard, construction of player races, coaches boxes and new media broadcast suites had commenced by July 2016. All Stage-One construction works were completed on time and budget by July 2017.

In May 2018 the Victorian State Government commissioned a $500,000 Ballarat Council study to determine priorities, scale and timing for future stadium development. The results of the study identified works considered necessary to immediately address the facility's known shortcomings as well as long-term development options. The recommendations were delivered to the State Government and informed the Victorian State Government's "Home Ground Advantage - Victoria's Major Stadia Strategy" document.[8]

New Gate 2 entrance

From September 2020 to April 2022 a $6.6 million works program provided upgraded player and umpire change-rooms as uni-sex facilities, two new permanent covered entrances and ticketing facilities, new food and beverage outlets, permanent public conveniences at the southern boundary of the stadium, and partial concreting of the south-east viewing berm.

Since 2018 various AFL clubs and coaches, A-League soccer coaches and broadcast television media commentators have publicly criticised the ineffectiveness of the stadium's existing lighting during twilight and inclement weather conditions. In January 2022 the Ballarat Council advocated for replacement of the stadium's lighting with modern TV broadcast standard towers under a $3.5 million submission to Federal and State political parties ahead of 2022 Federal and State elections. [9]

On Tuesday 12th April 2022, the State Premier of Victoria announced that the stadium will be expanded and upgraded to host the athletics events at the 2026 Commonwealth Games.[10] Whilst the details of the budget and what upgrades will be made are yet to be announced, it has been reported that upgrades will include construction of new and expanded permanent grandstand seating, a significant lighting upgrade and temporary scaffold stands to bring total capacity to approximately 30,000 during the Games.

Top 5 Attendance Records

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Eureka Stadium.

• Eureka Stadium at Austadiums
• Ballarat Major Events Precinct Masterplan Final Report