Dexcom Sportsground build dates revealed

Article posted by Coliseum, January 30^th, 2024

Image: Connacht Rugby (Facebook)

Connacht Rugby will kick off construction on its High-Performance Centre in March and work on the North Stand at The Sportsground Stadium this summer.

The club set out a timeframe for construction work at the same time as announcing a historic naming rights partnership with Dexcom Inc. for The Sportsground, ahead of the commencement of the next phase of the stadium redevelopment.

As part of a 12-year agreement between the two organisations, The Sportsground will become known as ‘Dexcom Stadium’ effective immediately.

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Connacht Rugby is one of the four professional provincial rugby teams from the island of Ireland. Connacht competes in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup.

The 8,129-capacity Sportsground is a multipurpose stadium in Galway, Ireland. It opened in 1927 and has been used to host Connacht Rugby matches and greyhound racing since that time.

Connacht Rugby said it was also excited to announce that construction of its new High-Performance Centre (HPC) and North Stand will both begin in the coming months. Works on the HPC will begin in March with works on the North Stand following at the end of this current season.

The new Connacht Rugby HPC is expected to be completed by March 2025 and will provide all Connacht Rugby representative teams with world-class facilities to enable them to fulfil their potential and perform at the highest level.

The new North Stand will then replace the existing Clan Terrace and will feature state-of-the-art facilities for all match attendees including supporters, partners, players, officials, media and volunteers.

Construction will begin after the demolition of the Clan Terrace and Clubhouse, and is expected to be completed during the 2025/26 season.

Dexcom Stadium will therefore operate at a reduced capacity for the 2024/25 season.

Construction of the next two phases of the project will be undertaken by Conack Construction who have been appointed following an extensive tender process.

The announcement came on the day Dexcom broke ground on their major manufacturing facility in Athenry – their first in Europe – with the creation of over 1,000 jobs for the province.

Naming rights partner Dexcom Inc. is a world-leader in producing and distributing continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems for the management of diabetes.

Founded in 1999, Dexcom employs over 9,000 people globally and is based in San Diego, with manufacturing facilities in Arizona and Malaysia. Their new facility in Athenry will create over 1000 local jobs – many at graduate level – in a significant economic boost for the West of Ireland.

Willie Ruane, CEO of Connacht Rugby said, “We are thrilled to share today’s two pieces of significant news for Connacht Rugby.

“Firstly, a naming rights partner is absolutely critical to the delivery of our vision to redevelop the Sportsground into a fit-for-purpose modern stadium, and in Dexcom we have found the perfect partners in helping to make that vision a reality. Dexcom’s commitment to the West of Ireland, through the creation of over 1,000 jobs in Athenry speaks volumes of their eagerness to invest in this part of the world, and we look forward to working together well into the future.

“Secondly, we are delighted to update our many supporters about the next steps in our stadium redevelopment. and after a lot of work behind the scenes we are now ready to proceed with the next steps in bringing the new Dexcom Stadium to life.”

Barry Regan, Executive Vice-President of Operations at Dexcom added, “Connacht Rugby is a fantastic regional success story, its ambition, high-performance standards and its values are very attractive to us. We see this partnership having a great alignment with our goals of inspiring people with diabetes, including those who currently play sports, want to pursue sports, or participate in physical activities, to not let diabetes hold them back.

“It is also a way for us to demonstrate our commitment to becoming part of the economic success of Ireland’s Western region, as a whole. We are coming into Athenry and looking to attract a workforce from across the region. To that end I’m also delighted to be here today to mark the start of construction of what will be our first manufacturing site in Europe.”

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