Put yourself into the time machine and fast forward to early 2027.
Chris Minns, likely deep in the throes of an election campaign, will stand proudly at the gates of the new Penrith Stadium – likely with a novelty pair of scissors in hands as he cuts the ribbon on the venue.
“Labor has delivered this stunning new stadium,” he will declare – gazing across to the road to the Penrith Paceway and Showground where the Coalition wanted to build a much bigger, better and more expensive venue.
Ironically he will be opening a venue he didn’t want to build in the first place.
Labor was worried it might not win the seat of Penrith at the 2023 State Election if it pulled the already allocated $309 million in funding for the stadium redevelopment, so it pushed ahead – and will now deliver what is a budget-restricted venue.
But let’s move on from the politics of it all and even from the project viability itself – it’s happening, and nothing is going to change that now.
What can change however is the look and feel of the new venue.
Renders released so far are, with all due respect to those involved, about as plain as a chip without salt.
They are cookie-cutter, bland and without heart and soul.
Now this really isn’t anybody’s fault in that instructions have been followed, instructions that are about delivering a “community facility” and an “entertainment precinct” first, and a home for the Panthers second, or even third.
This is part of the justification of the spend – it’s not just building a stadium for the Panthers, it’s building a stadium for concerts, other sporting events and business functions.
But here’s where I have a problem: All of that doesn’t mean you can’t design the venue with your anchor tenant at the forefront of your thinking.
At this stage, only the Penrith Panthers have committed to calling the new stadium home from 2027.
There is no other team locked in, and regardless it is very unlikely another team from any code will call it their permanent base.
No concerts are scheduled, and the suggestion the venue may host up to 10 concerts a year is fanciful in the extreme. Pigs might fly.
The reality is this is a suburban stadium with a primary purpose of being the home ground of the Penrith Panthers.
So let’s lean into that and theme the venue that way.
We should be seeing Penrith logos in the design, we should be seeing PANTHERS emblazoned across the seats, and indications that there will be statues or Panthers-theming throughout the surrounds of the stadium itself.
The State Government keeps saying this stadium will be a source of community pride.
So let’s sit back and think about that for a moment.
Does community pride look like plain grandstands? Does it look like the previous stadium, just with its Panther-elements stripped?
The reality is community pride would equal leaning into the Panthers. The State Government should be brave enough to say we are building a first class home for the Panthers – and it’ll be Penrith to its core.
Venues NSW will no doubt do a terrific job in running the stadium. The experience they bring to the table is second to none. They are all good people.
But I assume they have no issue in running a stadium that looks and feels like Penrith if that is what they are handed the keys to.
This really does come down to the State Government and Infrastructure NSW.
Ironically, the stadium Chris Minns committed to as a way of ensuring Penrith fell to Labor at the 2023 election could be the very thing that sees him lose the seat in 2027.
Because if the Penrith community sees a stadium that doesn’t reflect its footy team, or its community, it will let him know at the ballot box.
If it sees a stadium that is more corporate-friendly than it is fan-friendly, it will let him know.
The 1000 or so votes that made the difference at the 2023 State Election could shift very quickly.
We need our local MPs in Karen McKeown and Prue Car to be screaming from the rooftops that this stadium needs to look and feel like Penrith. Panthers itself should be next in line.
One of the challenges the NRL, footy clubs and governments face is getting bums on seats in an ever-changing landscape where going out is expensive and home entertainment is first class.
For all of its faults, the old Penrith Stadium at least provided a unique experience – one where you felt like you were missing out on something if you weren’t there.
You can put up all the fancy LED lights you like and turn a bland stadium into a home ground for three or four hours, but that doesn’t give it heart and soul. That doesn’t give you the experience worth coming back for time and time again.
The State Government and Infrastructure NSW still has time to fix this.
Give Penrith a stadium that it can be proud of; that is quite obviously the Panthers home ground when you look at renders. Right now it looks like a stadium that could literally be anywhere on the planet.
You’re building a stadium in a community full of businesses with the word ‘Panther’ in the title. Walk down High Street or go to Westfield and see how many people are wearing Panthers jerseys.
If Penrith’s people and businesses are happy to be walking billboards for the Panthers, its stadium should be too.