It is hoped a crowd of more than 10,000 NRL fans will pack out Carrington Park for the fixture between the Penrith Panthers and Canberra Raiders.

This year is the third time the Panthers have come to play one of their competition matches in the city. The initiative is part of a five-year deal signed between the Bathurst Regional Council and the Penrith club, believed to be worth around $250,000 a season.

However, the success of the relationship has been such that there is already talk of the contract being extended well into the future.

Mayor Gary Rush said yesterday there was early bird deals on offer from Ticketek for the match. While a series of corporate packages, similar to last year, would also become available.

“This year’s match is on April 30 at Carrington Park and is the round 10 game against the Canberra Raiders,” he said. “It’s later in the season than in 2015 when the Panthers played the Gold Coast Titans here in round two, which was pretty early on in the season and a lot of sports fans may have still been thinking [about] cricket.

“The first year the Panthers came here was a July match against the Cronulla Sharks, right in the middle of winter, so we think April is just about ideal for us.”

Cr Rush said the weather in late April should be better for spectators with the 3pm kick off on a Saturday afternoon aimed at maximising the attendance as well as being family-friendly.

“The match will be one of the sporting highlights on the local calendar and the success of bringing the Panthers here looks like the five-year deal could well be extended,” he said.

“We’ve met with their footy chief Phil Gould and his staff at Panthers on several occasions and they have made no secret of the fact they are very complimentary about the relationship with council.”