The iconic Brookvale Oval on Sydney’s northern beaches could be set for a dramatic tranformation, with talks to open next month of turning the run-down NRL venue into an enclosed arena capable of hosting UFC events.

The venue is owned by Northern Beaches Council and is primarily used by the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles NRL side under the commercial name of 4 Pines Park.

Manly was one of four NRL sides to travel to Las Vegas to kick off the 2024 season where they trained at the freshly built UFC Performance Institute that is a global resource for current and aspiring fighters.

It was there that talks commenced about turning Brookvale Oval into a hybrid venue including a roof that is capable of hosting 25000-30000 fans to watch UFC events, NRL, rugby and soccer matches.

The Manly Sea Eagles are in talks with the UFC about transforming 4 Pines Park into an enclosed facility to accommodate both sports

4 Pines Park recently received a major refurbishment but still lags behind major stadiums

The UFC’s vice president, Australia and New Zealand Peter Kloczko told News Corp that a formal meeting with Sea Eagles would take place after preliminary discussions were already held with owner Scott Penn and chief executive Tony Mestrov.

‘We are building a solid partnership with the NRL in terms of all the things we did in Vegas,’ Kloczko said.

‘This could be one of them. The UFC has a mandate at the moment to look at opportunities for establishing and developing UFC performance institutes around the world.

‘Currently there are three – one in Vegas, one in China and one in Mexico City.

‘The one in China we actually have a partnership with the Chinese Olympic Committee, so athletes of all disciplines of their Olympic program go through the UFC performance institute and use it as a high performance centre.

‘I think it is important for us to develop as a business here and we have a local physical presence and that could be having a UFC performance institute here in Australia.

‘We are looking at those different options to see how we can play a role. The chat with Tony and Scott was basically around that – not only for a UFC performance institute but how can we collaborate on hosting bigger and better UFC events in Sydney as part of that.’

The proposed arena would include a UFC Performance Institute like the one in Las Vegas where the Sea Eagles trained ahead of their NRL season opener in the United States

If the plan goes ahead, the northern beaches could host major UFC events including Aussie fighters like Alex Volkanovski

The venue would also include a full-time academy to help develop UFC fighters, also delivering state-of-the-art training facilities to the Sea Eagles

The plan would allow the UFC to bring more marquee events to Australia with major events held at the northern beaches venue.

‘With a stadium and a roof, we can bring blockbuster fights to Sydney,’ Kloczko said.

‘It gives us greater possibilities and options. We have a great relationship with the NSW government in terms of bringing UFC events to Sydney.

‘A stadium with a roof gives us more certainty and ability to bring bigger fights. I will be meeting the guys over at Manly in a couple of weeks time.

‘We will put our head together and see what can be done. Obviously something like this takes a lot of investment and a lot of collaboration. We will see what we can dig up.’

 Mestrov told News Corp he was excited to see how the meetings would progress.

‘We are exploring opportunities with the UFC,’ Mestrov said.

‘They are a worldwide company that are interested in discussing an opportunity with us and who wouldn’t want to have a discussion with the UFC?

‘We’re going to explore the opportunity which includes the UFC being stationed here at 4 Pines Park.’