It is time for Ballarat to think big. It is time for our community to get behind the push to upgrade Eureka Stadium to host AFL premiership games, just as our football stars including North Melbourne’s Drew Petrie and Collingwood’s Nathan Brown have this week. But this is a campaign about a lot more than football. A regional sports and major events precinct at Eureka Stadium will not only become a sporting hub for the whole of Western Victoria but could host major agricultural, leisure and cultural events attracting millions of dollars to the city. It is good for footy, for tourism, for business and for jobs.But this is also about community; about grass roots footy having a hub; about a place for students to train and learn, an area to encourage exercise and health in our youth. A place to help shape wellness. This is the major project Ballarat needs and one a city of its size and pride deserves.Ballarat council has done the groundwork, the North Ballarat Roosters have long been a champion of the cause and many organisations and individuals have thrown their weight behind the Eureka Stadium project. Now it needs you, the reader, to show your support. With a population of 100,000 people and a growing importance as the capital of western Victoria, this is a city that deserves a first-rate sporting and events precinct. A major project of this size was and is a great step forward for regional Victoria but one that can only be built with partnerships, from local to state and federal levels. But the partnership starts with those who will most benefit from it: the people of Ballarat. Whatever the final price tag is, the investment in Ballarat’s future will build much more than a place to play and watch footy. This is about building a community space.A gateway area to the north of the city where sport, both elite and grassroots, can be played and enjoyed. This vision also has the potential to cater for a far wider range of roles, including as a centre for sports education and the community. A facility of this calibre is long overdue for a city of Ballarat’s size but by thinking big and incorporating some of the exciting opportunities, it has the potential to put Ballarat on the map for so many reasons. The investment to make it happen will be large but future opportunities will be even greater. A future AFL with 18 teams will look to regional venues to hold games and Ballarat needs to be up there bidding with the best. The models of regional games played in Launceston, Darwin and Geelong all prove the strength of the financial return. Hawthorn’s partnership with Launceston, a city comparable with Ballarat, is already calculated to return $15 million annually into the Tasmanian economy. Whether it is through initial construction or in the many and varied service industries that are needed to support a hub and its crowds, the models show millions of dollars continue to pour back into local businesses.This weekend, two AFL teams — North Melbourne and Richmond — will take to Etihad Stadium to battle it out in the fourth Ballarat-themed Eureka Game. Many Ballarat region residents will anticipate the thrill of seeing such an AFL game a stone’s throw from the heart of their historic town; the roar of 10,000-plus voices on a breezy Saturday afternoon. Others may see the precinct as the opportunity that Ballarat has long needed to bring major events to Ballarat including large scale concerts like Powderfinger, as well as agricultural, industry and other major recreational shows. The vision has the potential to include much more, a sporting science centre of excellence to take students to a new, higher level, a schools hub for sport and health, a community centre. Whatever you anticipate the precinct to be, this venue is the missing jigsaw piece to help make Ballarat a complete city.Join us in the coming days, weeks and months as we explain the case for thinking big about developing the Eureka stadium site. The support of the community is the most vital component in making it happen.