Under the plans, new sports facilities, including a new 3G pitch would be built on land surrounding Boundary Park, which is shared with Oldham Rugby League Football Club. Oldham Athletic chief executive Darren Royle said the aim was to address a "brain drain" in the town by creating a centre that could keep students in the town. He told BBC Radio Manchester Oldham had some of the lowest numbers of people in higher and further education in Greater Manchester. A 3,000-seat netball stadium was also planned in the long-term to meet the need for this size of stadium in the region, he said. Another aim of the plan was to use the new facilities to boost the number of academy places for local football teams as "Bury, Rochdale and Oldham have all lost their EFL academies", Mr Royle added. Mike Ford, managing director of Oldham RLFC, said the investment and opportunities SportsTown could bring is "exactly what Oldham needs". He said the £5m government cash boot would "act as a springboard for further investment to realise the full SportsTown vision".