The construction of the new Dexcom Stadium is at the heart of Connacht Rugby’s new five-year plan.
Unveiled in Galway yesterday, the plan’s objectives include producing a men’s professional team that moves from “contestants to contenders”, and a women’s professional squad within five years.
Connacht CEO Willie Ruane says the new stadium that will accommodate 12,000 will not turn the club into a different organisation or the next Leinster, but it is about “becoming better”.
“This doesn’t mean all of a sudden we have a Dexcom Stadium and we are signing Jordie Barrett when he’s finished in Leinster. It is not our model.
“What we need to do is make sure we are brilliant at identifying and recruiting potential, and that we have the resources to be brilliant at fulfilling that potential, helping players realise that potential, and that means really good coaches, really good facilities, really good well-being programmes. There are so many areas in the plan that we want to invest more in.
“We want to make sure we have more Hugh Gavins, more players across every level coming through because we have a pathway.”
Ruane says the new stadium will neither change Connacht’s integrity nor identity.
“We are not going to throw out our model and become a different club, it will just help us to become a better club. Ultimately the stadium is an enabler of everything else we're trying to achieve. So it's a critical move for us.”
However Ruane says the decision to go ahead with the redevelopment was in the balance for a long period before getting the go-ahead.
“Up until quarter four of 2023 we were still in the throes of that [decision], and really asking ourselves hard questions to make sure if we were going to proceed. Thankfully we have, and it's going exactly how we had planned.”
Connacht is also on track to open its new performance centre and new player and staff facilities in March/April 2025, while the new stand and its facilities to follow in the third quarter of 2025.
Importantly, he says, the new Dexcom will be a “beacon for regional development”.
“As a project it is great to build this stadium - the players, supporters and staff get to enjoy - it is representative of everything we should have in this part of the world - a facility that is in every other city, in every other province, in every other country, and yet, at this scale, has not been in this part of the world - in terms of the ability to have premium hospitality event, it’s a more than just a sports ground.
“It will also be a facility that brings conferences and expos to this part of the world, which will create employment and revenue in this part of the world, which is critically important as well.
“We want people to stay in the west of Ireland, we want people to stay in Connacht, to live and rear their families here, and these types of facilities and developments are part of the whole lifestyle people feel they need to have because they have become accustomed to them elsewhere.”
However, he says, rugby and its connections are at the heart of the development.
“You get someone to come along because the facility is good. But to get someone to come along to another game and another game, they need to, first of all, have enjoyed the experience, but they also need to feel they have a connection with the team. And so that depth of connection is something we really want to pursue with a real sense of intent. I mean, you know, if you look at Kilkenny, you think of the hurling team; if you think of New Zealand, it’s the All Blacks, and so there is a direct connection between place and sport.”
