Sydney Showgrounds

The Sydney Showgrounds is the name of the venue that is the home ground and training venue for West Sydney in the AFL.
==History and construction==
The precinct was first developed in the late 1990's, both as a replacement for the original Sydney Showgrounds next to the SCG and as the main precinct for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. The venue hosted the baseball during the Games, and also doubles as the main arena for events during Sydney's Royal Easter Show.
When West Sydney was formed, the venue was prepared to be their home ground in the AFL. After playing games at the Blacktown International Sports Park in previous seasons, the club debuted in May 2012 in round 9 of it's debut AFL season. Two new stands had been built to accomodate bigger crowds.
==Present day==
At present - of the main venues the Sydney Showgrounds has the smallest capacity at 24,000. This is 1,000 less than Carrara. In spite of this, the Giants did host AFL finals in 2016, 2017 and 2019. The owners of the venue, the Royal Agricultural Society, sought approval and funding from the New South Wales government to increase the capacity to 30,000 in 2016. It would appear that this may have been declined as no work has been undertaken since.
==Other uses==
The venue is also the home ground for the Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash League and has hosted international T20 cricket matches including for the 2020 Women's World Cup. It has hosted rugby league and soccer as well as a rugby sevens tournament.
Category:Venues