Barlow Park upgrade, Cazaly’s roof show Cairns is serious about hosting big sport

Barlow Park’s new western grandstand opens next month, and the Cairns Regional Council has signed off on a $12 million lighting upgrade at the same venue. The work, part of the council’s 10-year sport and recreation infrastructure plan, is aimed squarely at keeping Cairns in the running for pre-season AFL fixtures and A-League pre-season matches.

Cairns has been chasing a bigger slice of the national sport calendar for years. The city’s tropical climate and tourism base make it a natural fit for winter training camps and pre-season trials. But until now, ageing lighting and cramped seating have held it back. Barlow Park, on Mulgrave Road in Manunda, will have 2,500 extra seats once the grandstand is finished. The council’s Parks and Sport Committee chair, Councillor Brett Moller, told The Daily Cairns last week that the upgrades were ‘about making Cairns a year-round destination for elite sport’.

Cazaly’s roof gives AFL a foothold

Over at Cazaly’s Stadium, the $6 million retractable roof over the western stand is nearly complete. The project, funded partly by the State Government’s Active Infrastructure Program, means the venue can host night AFL pre-season games without the weather cancellations that plagued past events. In March 2025, a Gold Coast Suns pre-season match at Cazaly’s was abandoned after heavy rain flooded the playing surface in the third quarter.

Cazaly’s now boasts 10,000 covered seats. The stadium remained the home ground for the Cairns Taipans during their NBL campaigns last season, drawing an average crowd of 4,200. The new roof has also attracted interest from Cricket Australia, which is eyeing the venue for a potential T20 exhibition match in early 2027. No formal announcement has been made, but CA officials toured the site last month.

Local clubs get a share

The council’s infrastructure push isn’t limited to the big venues. In June, it approved $1.2 million for new change rooms at Fogarty Park in Portsmith and $800,000 for a resurfaced basketball court at the Cairns Showgrounds. The Showgrounds court is expected to be ready for the Cairns Basketball Association’s junior league season in February 2027.

Fogarty Park has long been a training base for local AFL clubs, including the Cairns Saints, who won the AFL Cairns premiership in 2025. The new change rooms will allow the club to host pre-season camps without relying on mobile changerooms borrowed from the council depot.

The daily cost of running these facilities is also under scrutiny. The council’s budget papers, released in May, show that Barlow Park and Cazaly’s combined operating expenses ran to $2.5 million in the 2025-26 financial year, up 12 percent on the previous year. Council officers have flagged that user-pay fees for elite bookings will rise by 8 percent from August to offset the jump.

Next up: the council’s Sport and Recreation Advisory Committee meets in August to finalise the third phase of the infrastructure plan, which includes a feasibility study for a new aquatic centre in the northern beaches corridor. A decision on that study is expected by November.

For Cairns sport fans, the message is clear: the city is building for the big time, but it will cost-and local clubs will have to book early.