Bendigo Sports Facilities Venues and Infrastructure Drive Local Participation

Bendigo City Council approved a $3.8 million package for venue upgrades on July 10, with work starting next month at two key sites.

The timing aligns with record registration numbers across winter codes, as families seek reliable places to train and compete without travelling to Melbourne.

Named sites receiving attention

Work will focus first on Bendigo Stadium in the View Street precinct, where new lighting and a reconfigured indoor court are scheduled for completion by March 2027. The second stage targets Weeroona Oval in North Bendigo, adding an all-weather training strip and expanded changerooms for the Bendigo Sports and Recreation Association programs that run junior rugby and netball clinics there each weekend.

Golden Square residents will also see resurfacing of the local cricket nets at the end of Napier Street, a project listed in the same funding round after club submissions showed 340 weekly users last season.

Numbers behind the push

Council figures released last week show organised sport participation in Bendigo rose 19 percent between 2024 and 2025, reaching 18,400 registered players. The average wait time for a weekly training slot at indoor venues has stretched to six weeks, prompting the latest allocation.

Bookings for the stadium's main court now run at 94 percent capacity on weekday evenings, according to the facilities management report tabled in June.

Residents can check availability and submit requests for the new spaces through the council's online portal once construction timelines are confirmed in August.