Tigers to bid for 18th NRL team license

Article posted by Coliseum, May 24^th, 2023

Image: Brisbane Tigers

The Brisbane Tigers Rugby League Football Club recently announced its intentions to bid for the 18^th National Rugby League (NRL) license at the opening of their new $10 million Totally Workwear Stadium in Queensland, Australia, the redeveloped home den of the Suzuki Brisbane Tigers at the Langlands Park.

‘Brisbane Tigers’ stated that the high performance and community center was opened by the Tourism and Sport Minister Stirling Hinchliffe and the rugby league great Des Morris OAM, who opened his namesake grandstand.

The Brisbane Tigers are a rugby league club based at the Langlands Park, in the suburb of Coorparoo in Brisbane, Australia. Since 1996, they have competed in the Queensland Cup, having competed in the Brisbane Rugby League from 1934 to 1997, where they won eight premierships.

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The 3,500-capacity Totally Workwear Stadium (and formerly the Suzuki Stadium) is the home ground of Brisbane Tigers and features a grandstand with undercover seating for 580 which opened in 1999. Additionally, there is bench seating for 1,190 spectators.

The National Rugby League (NRL) is the national rugby league in Australia which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory, and New Zealand.

‘Brisbane Tigers’ further stated that the Brisbane Tigers thanked the Queensland Government for contributing $1.1 million to the Totally Workwear Stadium redevelopment project.

Suzuki Brisbane Tigers head honcho 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 the fifth Queensland team – “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. The National Rugby League Women’s (NRLW) also will play at least three games at the Totally Workwear Stadium during the 2023 season, including the Round 4 double-header featuring the Brisbane Broncos Women, Parramatta Eels Women, North Queensland Cowboys Women, and the Wests Tigers Women. The 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. The Totally Workwear Stadium is regularly used by the NRL teams for training when playing in Brisbane, such as the recent Magic Round (a weekend where all fixtures are played at one venue), as well as the rugby league team Queensland Maroons and Australian Kangaroos (Australia national rugby league team), and will now provide an even better facility for the Queensland rugby league matches.”

Added Torpy, “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.”

The Telstra NRL Women’s Premiership is Australia’s national rugby league competition for female players. The first season of the league began in September 2018 with four teams. The league is run by the National Rugby League (NRL) and is contested by a subset of clubs from that competition.

The 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 the Dolphins – “The South-East Queensland fans are craving more high-quality rugby league, with our four existing Queensland-based teams still leaving our fans wanting more. The 52,500-capacity Suncorp Stadium in Milton, Australia, 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 the 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.”

Added Edwards, “If successful in becoming the 18^th 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 Rotherham 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 marginalized backgrounds in schools across the South of Brisbane.”

The Suzuki Brisbane Tigers are based out of the $10 million community center of excellence at the Langlands Park, with Stage 1 construction on the Totally Workwear Stadium now complete.

The 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 the Suzuki Brisbane Tigers sponsors, partners and the 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 our rehabilitation facilities.

A recorded livestream of the Brisbane Tigers’ NRL bid announcement and opening of the Totally Workwear Stadium is now available on Tigertv.net here.

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