Eureka Stadium

The first permanent oval was established in 1990 on a site formerly occupied by the Ballarat Showgrounds show-ring and a Harness Racing track (formerly used by the Ballarat Trotting Club between 1952–1966). This oval was over 170 metres long and 140 metres wide and rotated on an East to West axis. The 1990 development featured a new sports pavilion (The North Ballarat Sports Club) which was constructed on private land on the northern flank of the newly developed oval.

From 1990 to 2015 the oval was used for many purposes, although mainly as an Australian rules football and cricket venue. It annually hosted the Ballarat Gift (Athletics Carnival) and the Ballarat Agricultural and Pastoral Society's show-ring events during the annual Ballarat Agricultural Show. The facility today is the home of the North Ballarat Sports Club including the Greater Western Victoria Rebels of the NAB League and the North Ballarat City FC of the Ballarat Football League. It is also used as a venue for Central Highlands Football League and Ballarat Football League seasonal football games finals. More recently it has hosted two AFL seasonal games per year since 2017.

Until 2016 spectator conditions and capacity were constrained by a lack of elevated vantage points bordering the main playing arena. The orientation of the original oval also limited the available space on the site to permit construction of grandstands or other amenities prompting a complete re-build of the oval to re-orient its axis NE-SW in preparation for the first stage of major development as an AFL Tier 2 game venue from 2017. The newly re-built oval features a level playing surface planted with mixed perennial and native grasses to sustain its green playing surface throughout the year with a drainage system that can sustain prolonged periods of heavy rain. Irrigation is achieved using rain tanks as well as re-cycled water from local treatment plants. A 4000 capacity spectator earth berm was created on the South-East flank of the arena using displaced soil resultant from the oval levelling process. The re-build included the installation of four new 37 metre light towers rigged in their present configuration to illuminate the arena to 300 lux (sufficient for Tier 2 and Tier 3 Australian Rules night competition).

Between April 2017 to June 2018 the City of Ballarat and North Ballarat Sports Club negotiated an agreement for Council to purchase the freehold title land to the North of the newly re-developed stadium to link the ownership of the North Ballarat Sports Club facilities and the newly built stadium infrastructure as a single entity. In June 2017 commercial naming rights for the venue were granted to Mars Confectionery Australia, with the facility presently named as Mars Stadium.

2014 AFL pre-season match before the stadium's re-development. Western Bulldogs vs Melbourne.

Australian Football League club North Melbourne established a partnership with the North Ballarat Football Club in 2006 allowing its Reserve Team players to play along side the North Ballarat FC players in the VFL competition. The North Melbourne FC also played AFL pre-season games at the ground between 2010 and 2014 with strong and growing local support. In 2014 the announcement of stadium re-development; coupled with Government and AFL endorsement for the Western Bulldogs AFL club to play at least two AFL Premiership home games per-season in Ballarat from 2017 (though not affiliated with North Ballarat Football Club as North Melbourne had been); forced North Melbourne to break its established association with the Ballarat region committing them to play a percentage of their AFL Premiership season home games in Hobart (Tasmania) until 2021.

In August 2017, the Western Bulldogs hosted the first AFL match for premiership points at the venue against Port Adelaide in front of 10,087 spectators. Port Adelaide won the match by 17 points. The Western Bulldogs have also played pre-seasonal games at the ground and are seeking to play the popular AFL Women's (AFLW) games at the venue from 2021. The Western Bulldogs are due to re-negotiate their Ballarat future commitment in 2021 and would likely seek agreements for ongoing sponsorship and commitment from local and state governments for future stadium expansion and development of surrounding infrastructure beyond 2022.

In 2019 and 2020 the stadium hosted association football (Soccer) with A-League club Western United FC playing two of four planned home matches of the club's inaugural season. The first game played against Wellington Phoenix on 28 December 2019[2] with the Phoenix winning the match 3–1 in front of 5,084 fans. The second game played in January 2020. The two unplayed games were cancelled due to the COVID pandemic. The club has committed to utilising the venue for future home matches until construction of a new dedicated home soccer stadium in Tarneit in Western Melbourne is completed. In November 2020 the Western United FC publicly declared the venue as being among the best and its playing surface in the top three of Australia's A-League venues.

Having successfully hosted Melbourne Rebels Super Rugby AU pre-seasonal and seasonal games against Queensland Reds and the Durban Sharks during 2019 and 2020 respectively, the venue is being considered as the primary Rugby 7's venue under a proposal by Regional Victorian Councils to bid for and host the 2030 Commonwealth Games.[3]

The Ballarat Major Events Precinct Master Plan (Released in June 2015); was a strategic document that detailed a ten-year plan for a three-stage development of the stadium; neighbouring sports ovals and pavilions; netball facilities and the construction of the nearby Ballarat Sports and Events Centre.

In June 2015 the Victorian government committed $38.5 million to upgrade the stadium and the wider Eureka Sports Precinct (with approximately half of the funding directed to the first stage of re-development of the stadium).[4]

The Eastern Stand

Detailed designs for the first stage of the ground's development were publicly released in May 2016 with planning and construction fast-tracked. Building works during this stage included new grandstand seating for 5000, installation of a video scoreboard, construction of player races, coaches boxes and new media broadcast suites. These works were completed in July 2017.

In May 2018 the Victorian State Government funded a $500,000 study engaging all major stakeholders to determine priorities, scale and timing for future development. The study outcomes included recommendations for increased spectator capacity (including the doubling of covered grandstand seated capacity to 10,000); upgrades to stadium lighting for digital television broadcast night events (1200-1500 lux); improvements to public entry points; modification to player change-facilities to accommodate all-gender competition; improvements to the existing standing areas and improved public transport access.

In September 2020 a $6.6 million building works program commenced to address some of the facility's immediate shortcomings that could not be addressed within the original time-frame and budgetary limitations of the Stage 1 construction in 2017. These works included the re-build of player change-rooms as uni-sex facilities, construction of two permanent covered entrances and ticketing facilities, permanent food and beverage outlets, new public conveniences at the Southern boundary of the stadium, and improvements to the South Eastern viewing berm to include concreted terracing.

Future works beyond 2022 are anticipated to involve higher capital investment focussing upon potentially doubling the capacity of existing grandstands, upgrades to lighting and improvement of public transport access. While original design concepts envisaged capacity for 13,000 spectators, the architects for Stage 1 stated that they had future-proofed the design of the new Northern and Eastern Stands to allow for easy, inexpensive and significant expansion (as required). The 2016 re-orientation of the oval opened space at the ground's Eastern and Southern boundaries allowing for future construction of new stands or extension of the existing Eureka Stand. While the Ballarat Council have indicated their preference for the stadium to be developed to hold 15-16,000, the Western Bulldogs Football Club have indicated their preference for a 20,000 capacity venue comprising 10,000 seats and expanded standing areas.

Top 5 Attendance Records

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Eureka Stadium.

• Eureka Stadium at Austadiums
• Ballarat Major Events Precinct Masterplan Final Report