Parramatta chief executive Scott Seward says the Eels' second-half performance in beating Manly on Friday demonstrates the importance of the club remaining at Pirtek Stadium.
At a time when NRL clubs are struggling to get fans through the gates more than 17,000 fans packed into the stadium creating an atmosphere that's been all too rare at many games this year as the Eels came from 12-0 down to beat the Sea Eagles 22-12.
It's the second time in a week the stadium has been almost full to capacity with A-League outfit Western Sydney Wanderers attracting over 18,000 for their Asian Champions League quarter-final first-leg win against holders Guangzhou Evergrande.
The two clubs share the venue and between them have almost 40,000 members and Seward said it's vital plans to redevelop the stadium into a state-of-the-art 32,000 venue become a reality.
"This game was close to a sell out and the crowd was worth six points tonight," Seward told AAP.
"A 17,000 crowd here feels like there's 35,000.
"They were fantastic, especially in the second half and it showed why we want to play games here. We just need to get the stadium extended."
A $120 million proposal to build new grandstands at the southern and northern ends of the ground linking the Mick Cronin and Ken Thornett Stands was submitted by the Eels and Wanderers in April to Venues NSW and Parramatta City Council but discussions have yet to advance.
Work will start in October to add 3500 new seats to the ground raising capacity to 24,000 with the changing facilities and corporate hospitality getting a makeover.
The Eels have one year remaining on an agreement with ANZ Stadium to play at least two games at the venue, in addition to one match in Darwin, but the club are keen to use their spiritual home as much as possible.
Just last month they refused to buckle to pressure from the NRL to switch their game against South Sydney to ANZ Stadium and Seward said the the area should have a stadium to cater to the needs of two well supported clubs.
"We've got current contracts that we will of course honour and playing here with 17,000 is great but we have a membership base now of 20,000 and the ground seriously needs to expand," he said.
"We're going to get to a stage where we're locking people out.
"We're on course to hit 24,000 members and a 20,000-capacity stadium is not big enough.
"Parramatta is the capital of western Sydney and deserves a proper stadium.
"Our understanding is work will start here in October to extend the capacity to 24,000, which is a start but it's still not enough.
"Parramatta City Council want to expand, we want to expand, Western Sydney Wanderers want to expand. Let's just get on with it and make it happen.
"The stadium was originally built 30 years ago with the plan to one day fully enclose it - let's finish the job."
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