Australia’s Brisbane Tigers Rugby League Football Club has opened its new A$10 million Totally Workwear Stadium.

And the club has also announced its intentions to bid for the 18th NRL licence.

The Suzuki Brisbane Tigers are based out of the community centre of excellence at Langlands Park, with Stage 1 construction on Totally Workwear Stadium now complete.

Stage 1 facilities include new gender-inclusive change rooms, a boardroom, corporate suites and boxes, media room, medical room and meeting rooms that are available for use by Suzuki Brisbane Tigers sponsors, partners and community groups.

Stage 2 will begin later this year and provide additional seating and involves the relocation of heritage buildings, such as the original 1933 grandstand.

Stage 3, planned for 2024, adds more seating, commercial gymnasium and accommodation for rehabilitation facilities.

The high performance and community centre was opened by Tourism and Sport Minister Stirling Hinchliffeand rugby league great Des Morris OAM, who opened his namesake grandstand.

The Brisbane Tigers thanked the Queensland Government for contributing A$1.1 million to the Totally Workwear Stadium redevelopment project.

Suzuki Brisbane Tigers CEO Brian Torpy said the new facilities were the perfect foundation for the club’s bold and innovative bid to become the NRL’s next franchise and fifth Queensland team. He said:

The change rooms and gymnasium are female-participant compliant and will encourage more women to play rugby league, providing more inclusive pathways to our BMD Premiership team.

NRLW also will play at least three games at Totally Workwear Stadium during the 2023 season, including the Round 4 double-header featuring the Broncos, Eels, Cowboys and Wests Tigers. Langlands Park has been our home for more than 70 years and will be one of Australia’s best boutique, gender-inclusive rugby league stadiums available to our community.

Totally Workwear Stadium is regularly used by NRL teams for training when playing in Brisbane, such as the recent Magic Round, as well as Queensland Maroons and Australian Kangaroos, and will now provide an even better facility for Queensland rugby league matches.

Our NRL bid will leverage our great club’s 90-year-old history of legendary players and coaches, premierships and Queensland spirit to become the go-to team of Queensland’s fastest growing region.

Brisbane Tigers NRL bid chairman Shane Edwards said the bid was backed by a strong balance sheet, assets and financial forecast, comparable with the Brisbane Broncos and Dolphins.

South-east Queensland fans are craving more high-quality rugby league, with our four existing Queensland based teams still leaving our fans wanting more. Suncorp Stadium has the capacity to support another NRL team. This year’s 27 rounds of the regular season will see nine weekends where no game is played at Lang Park.

With the strong attendance and audience figures we are seeing the Dolphins achieve in their debut year, we believe the Brisbane Tigers can provide a similar stimulus in the south-west corridor that takes in the Logan and Ipswich regions.

We will build upon our programs that already empower Queensland grassroots footy clubs and thousands of local players to dream big, and offer unique fan experiences with the game we love. If successful in becoming the 18th NRL team, our goal is to be the go-to club for sports fans on Brisbane’s southside and western corridor and the millions of casual fans between the ages of 18 to 34 who do not currently support the Broncos, Dolphins or Titans.

We are excited that this bid will give us an opportunity to further strengthen our community programs such as RISING, which facilitates outreach through rugby league and improves outcomes for students from historically low socio-economic and marginalised backgrounds in schools across the south of Brisbane.

@PanStadiaArena