The NRL’s high-flying Dolphins have pitched their Redcliffe home as a major asset for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games, backed by plans for a hotel, convention centre, high-performance facility, and expanded stadium.

Dolphins chief executive Terry Reader said while the club’s immediate priority was a $50 million high-performance centre behind Kayo Stadium, its master plan for the Kippa-Ring precinct extended far beyond rugby league infrastructure.

“We’ve got the ability here to actually help with some of the things that are going to become more relevant and important as we edge closer to ’32,” Reader said.

“We’re in constant communication with all levels of government on the opportunities within the Dolphins precinct and the benefits that it can also provide the community.”

The plans include a hotel of up to eight storeys above a new leagues club on the site’s south-east corner, and a new southern grandstand and convention centre to replace the existing leagues club.

“Our master planning is aspirational, and it’s something that might be able to kill three birds with one stone,” Reader said.

“It’s the ability to add the [high-performance] facility, the ability to have the community element in the allied health and education part, but also have a hotel, which is also important given the continued growth of the Moreton Bay region.”

It was music to the ears of Moreton Bay Mayor Peter Flannery, who said the region was sadly lacking when it came to hotel capacity.

“We’re short about 1500 rooms across our whole city,” he said.

“We’ve got a huge amount of day visitors, but they go away because there is nowhere to stay. We’re trying to turn those day visitors into three- or four-day visitors, so we do need more hotels.”

The master plan would also add a covered southern stand, which would boost Kayo Stadium’s capacity to about 16,000 and include corporate facilities that are currently lacking at the venue.

Flannery said that would make the venue more attractive for additional Dolphins matches and other major sporting events, beyond next year’s Women’s Softball World Cup.

“I’d love to see the Dolphins play more home games there,” he said.

“We always consider ourselves the home of the Dolphins, and the [Kayo Stadium] games get sold out before they even make them public because the members get first rights.”

Brisbane Roar has also been forced to play seven of its 13 home games at Kayo Stadium for their upcoming A-League campaign, due to fixture congestion at Suncorp Stadium during the summer concert season.

The Roar and Football Queensland are pushing for a redeveloped Perry Park to serve as a home ground. Last year, Sports Minister Tim Mander said the upgrade of the inner-city venue would be announced “in the near future” but, 15 months later, there has been no publicly acknowledged progress.

Regardless, Reader said Kayo Stadium would be well-used. It would continue to serve as the Dolphins’ occasional home ground and, eventually, the permanent base for a Dolphins NRLW team.

But he said that women’s team could not be realised without the new high-performance centre.

“It will have allied health, where we envisage having X-ray, doctor, physio, and we’re also talking to the University of Sunshine Coast about having a satellite campus for sports science to enhance and complement the university’s existing programs with the Dolphins,” he said.

“Then we’ll have like-for-like change rooms and facilities for both male and female players, which will allow us to have NRLW, which we’re not in a position to do right now.”

Reader said the Dolphins hoped to have the precinct ready for 2032, at which time it could host on-site accommodation and training for Olympic teams before the Games.

Around the Games, Reader said Kayo Stadium could help absorb displaced teams and competitions – including their arch rivals, the Brisbane Broncos.

“An upgraded stadium might be needed to help with a number of teams and codes, not just the NRL sides that might be displaced during 2032 and the lead-up,” he said.

But, despite the Dolphins’ status as one of the NRL’s most profitable clubs, Reader said the master plan could not be delivered without government support.

“We’ve had a couple of false starts with funding support, but now our focus is on making sure we can deliver a facility that our club and players deserve, and also to put us on par with the other teams,” he said.

“There are only two teams in the NRL that don’t have new performance centres [the Dolphins and the Gold Coast Titans], but it’s not just about the football side of things, it’s also about the community, not to mention the education and health elements that come with our planned facility.”

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