Arena during the 2016 Australian Open | |
Former names | Melbourne Multi Purpose Venue (planning/construction) (2006) Vodafone Arena (2000–08) Hisense Arena (2008–18) |
---|---|
Address | 2 Olympic Blvd Melbourne VIC 3000 Australia |
Location | Melbourne Park |
Coordinates | 37°49′22″S144°58′54″E / 37.82278°S 144.98167°E Coordinates: 37°49′22″S144°58′54″E / 37.82278°S 144.98167°E |
Owner | Melbourne and Olympic Parks Trust |
Capacity | 10,500 |
Surface | GreenSet (tennis) Hardwood (basketball) (netball) |
Construction | |
Broke ground | 1999 |
Opened | 27 July 2000 |
Construction cost | A$65 million [1] |
Architect | Peddle Thorp |
General contractor | Theiss Construction |
Tenants | |
Basketball Melbourne United (NBL) (2000–02, 2012–present) South East Melbourne Phoenix (NBL) (2019–present) South Dragons (NBL) (2006–09) Victoria Giants (NBL) (2000–04) Netball Melbourne Vixens (ANZ/NNL) (2008–present) Collingwood Magpies (NNL) (2017–present) Tennis Australian Open (Tennis) (2001–present) Former Tenants 2004 UCI Track Cycling World Championships 2006 Commonwealth Games 2012 UCI Track Cycling World Championships |
Melbourne Arena is a multi-purpose arena within Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The arena is the second-largest venue for the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tennis tournament of the calendar year.
During construction of the arena and throughout the 2006 Commonwealth Games, the arena was originally referred to as the Melbourne Park Multi-Purpose Venue. [1] When it opened in 2000, a sponsor was immediately assigned naming rights and it became known as the Vodafone Arena. [1] This arrangement lasted for eight years. On 12 May 2008, it was announced that its name would change to Hisense Arena in a multimillion-dollar six-year deal. In 2014 this was extended for a further three years. [2] Despite the contract ending at the conclusion of 2017, the multinational Hisense retained naming rights for several more months. [3]
Then in August 2018, Tennis Australia announced it had bought the naming rights and had elected to call the venue Melbourne Arena, saying it preferred a non-commercial title "iconic with the city". [4] The non-corporate name is in effect for five years, though the State Government and Tennis Australia have not ruled out extending the arena's name beyond that period. [4]
On 3 February 2020, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced that, in the near future, the arena would be renamed John Cain Arena in honour of John Cain, the 41st Premier of Victoria, regarded as a critical figure in keeping the Australian Open in Melbourne in the mid 1980s. [5]
Construction of Melbourne Arena commenced in the late 1990s, and was completed in 2000. The arena features a cycling track, which is covered over with seating for court events. The tennis court is a GreenSet surface (between 2008 and 2019 the surface was plexicushion) and the roof is retractable, making it one of the few venues where tennis can be played during rain. [1]
The venue is able to hold a maximum spectator capacity of 11,000 for events such as music concerts where general floor seating or standing room is available. For basketball, netball and tennis the capacity is 10,500. When the velodrome is in use the northern and southern banks of seats, which cover the turns of the velodrome, are raised to reveal the track while the floor seating is removed leaving a reduced capacity of 4,500. [1]
The arena has been used for netball for Melbourne Phoenix and Melbourne Kestrels games in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy. Melbourne Phoenix and the Melbourne Kestrels played their last home game there before merging to become the Melbourne Vixens who used it for home games in the ANZ Championship until 2016. Since 2017 the Vixens and new team the Magpies use the arena in the National Netball League.
The largest netball attendance at the arena was on 20 November 2004 when 10,300 saw the Australian national team defeat New Zealand 53 to 51. [6]
Following the renovation of the Margaret Court Arena as part of a A$363 million upgrade to Melbourne Park in time for the 2015 Australian Open, which included a retractable roof and an increase in capacity from 6,000 to 7,500, both Melbourne United (formerly the Melbourne Tigers) and the Melbourne Vixens announced their intentions to move from the arena to the smaller capacity Margaret Court Arena from 2015. However, Melbourne United abandoned their move to MCA after the 2015–16 NBL season and continue to play the majority of their games at Melbourne Arena (United play some games at the State Netball and Hockey Centre when the Australian Open takes place each January), while the Vixens will continue to split their games between Melbourne and Margaret Court Arenas with Melbourne used for games expected to attract a larger crowd.
Every year, the venue hosts many matches as part of the Australian Open tennis tournament. It was usually only been used for day matches in the first 10 days of the tournament. In 2012 the venue began hosting night matches during the first week of the tournament, at the same time as matches being played on the adjacent Rod Laver Arena. The first Australian Open match played at the venue was on 15 January 2001 and lasted less than ten minutes, when Monica Seles advanced to the second round after Brie Rippner was felled with injury in the second game of the match. The first match completed on the court was Tim Henman's first round win over Hicham Arazi.
Melbourne Arena is the main home court of National Basketball League (NBL) teams Melbourne United and South East Melbourne Phoenix. Formerly, the Victoria Titans and South Dragons used it as their home, until high rental prices forced the teams to find other venues. Until this move the venue was largely devoid of sporting events outside of the two weeks of the Australian Open tennis tournament held each January. The Dragons, founded in 2006 until they withdrew from the competition after winning the championship in 2009, played three seasons at the arena. [7] [8] For the 2012–13 NBL season, the Tigers (now renamed Melbourne United) returned to the venue, played 7 of their 13 home games at the arena. They later shifted all home matches to the venue. The Phoenix, who made their debut in the 2019–20 NBL season, share their home with Melbourne Arena and the State Basketball Centre in Wantirna South. [9]
The largest basketball crowd was on 4 December 2016 during the 2016–17 NBL season when 10,300 fans saw Melbourne United defeat the New Zealand Breakers 98–74. This broke the previous basketball attendance record of 9,308 set in 2008 in a local derby game between the South Dragons and Melbourne Tigers. [10] [11]
The facility co-hosted the 2007 FIBA Oceania Championship where the Australian national basketball team won the gold medal.
Netball is played regularly at the venue. It is the home court of the Melbourne Vixens and Collingwood Magpies in the Suncorp Super Netball competition. The Australian Diamonds sometime play home international fixtures at the venue. The venue also hosted the 2016, 2017 and 2018 Fast5 Netball World Series.
During the 2006 Commonwealth Games the stadium was used for basketball and other sports. Its name was changed to Multi-Purpose Venue with all Vodafone-related signage covered over with black shrouds because Telstra, a competitor of Vodafone, was a major sponsor of the games.
In 2004 and 2012, the UCI Track Cycling World Championships were held at the venue.
On 14 and 15 June 2013, the venue played host to an ice hockey exhibition series between teams representing the United States and Canada. [12]
The arena hosts several musical and entertainment events each year, in concert with other venues in the precinct. On 26 February 2007, Irish boy band Westlife held a concert for The Love Tour supporting their LP The Love Album . On 18 September 2018, Taiwanese vocal pop band Mayday held a concert for Life Tour supporting their album History of Tomorrow. From 2011 to 2013 the venue hosted the Melbourne judges' audition stages of the Seven Network singer search program The X Factor .
Melbourne Park is a sports venue in the Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Precinct in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Since 1988, Australia's bicentenary, Melbourne Park has been home of the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament, which is played annually in January. The park has facilities capable of hosting basketball, netball, music concerts and other events. In the past Melbourne Park has hosted ice skating, cycling, international swimming and motorsport events.
Newcastle Entertainment Centre is a multi-purpose Australian arena within the Newcastle Showgrounds. It was opened in 1992 at a cost of A$12 million .
Rod Laver Arena is a multipurpose arena located within Melbourne Park, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The arena is the main venue for the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tennis tournament of the calendar year.
Melbourne United is an Australian professional basketball team based in Melbourne, Victoria. United compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home game at Melbourne Arena.
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The South Dragons were an Australian professional men's basketball team in the National Basketball League (NBL). They made their debut in the 2006/07 season and played their final season in 2008/09. The club was based at MSAC in Melbourne's inner south-eastern suburbs, and was one of the city's two NBL teams; the other was the Melbourne Tigers, which entered the league in 1984.
The Sydney Super Dome is a large multipurpose arena located in Sydney, Australia. It is situated in Sydney Olympic Park, and was completed in 1999 as part of the facilities for the 2000 Summer Olympics.
Margaret Court Arena is a multi-purpose sports and entertainment venue located in Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The arena, which was built in 1987 and redeveloped in the mid-2010's, has a capacity of 7,500.
Adelaide Arena is a multipurpose indoor sports stadium located in Findon, an inner western suburb of Adelaide, South Australia.
The State Netball and Hockey Centre (SNHC) is a multipurpose sporting facility located in Melbourne, Australia. It is the administrative headquarters of the peak bodies for netball and hockey in Victoria and features two outdoor hockey fields and five indoor and four outdoor netball courts. National Basketball League club Melbourne United played home matches at the venue in the past, as well as Super Netball team Melbourne Vixens, though both clubs have shifted home matches to larger-capacity arenas. Hockey Club Melbourne of the Hockey One league play home games on the main pitch.
AIS Arena is a multi-purpose arena in Canberra, Australia. Its capacity is 5,200 and it was built in 1980. The arena was opened by the Prime Minister of Australia, Malcolm Fraser, on 26 January 1981 and was originally named the National Indoor Sports Centre and was the inaugural home of the Australian Institute of Sport.
The Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Centre is a sports administration and training facility located in the Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Precinct in Melbourne, Australia. The facility opened in 1956 as an aquatic centre for the 1956 Olympic Games. In 1983, the Olympic-sized pool was replaced with a parquetry floor and the facility became Melbourne's home to numerous basketball events until 1998, most notably as the home venue for several National Basketball League teams including the North Melbourne Giants and Melbourne Tigers. The venue served as Melbourne's primary indoor concert arena from 1984 to 1988, until the completion of the Rod Laver Arena.
The State Sports Centre is a multi-use indoor arena in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia and was opened in November 1984. With a total of 3,854 fixed and retractable seats the main arena is a focal point of the Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre. An additional 1,152 portable seats can be accommodated on the floor level to bring seated capacity to 5,006.
The Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre is a tennis and multi-purpose sports facility located within the Olympic Park in Sydney, Australia. The centre was built in 1999 and hosted the tennis events for the 2000 Summer Olympics. The venue hosted the Sydney International tournament from 2000 to 2019 and has hosted the ATP Cup since 2020. The main stadium in the centre is the Ken Rosewall Arena, which has a seating capacity of 10,500, and is capable of hosting multiple sports, including tennis and netball.
Perth Arena is a neofuturistic entertainment and sporting arena in the city centre of Perth, Western Australia, used mostly for basketball matches. It is located on Wellington Street near the site of the former Perth Entertainment Centre, and was officially opened on 10 November 2012. The Perth Arena is the first stage of the Perth City Link, a 13.5 hectare major urban renewal and redevelopment project which involves the sinking of the Fremantle railway line to link the Perth central business district directly with Northbridge.
{{Infobox_Stadium | stadium_name =Bendigo Stadium | nickname = | image = | location =Marong Road, Bendigo, Victoria | coordinates =36°45′30″S144°14′57″E | broke_ground = | opened = | closed = | demolished = | owner = | operator = | surface = | construction_cost = | architect = | former_names = | tenants =Bendigo Braves (NBL1)
Bendigo Spirit (WNBL)
Australian Goldfields Open
Collingwood Magpies (NNL) (2019-present)
Bendigo Volleyball Association 1994 to present | seating_capacity =4,000 |}}
Casey Fields is a $30 million, 70 hectare multi-sports complex in the City of Casey at Cranbourne East a southeastern suburb of Melbourne. The complex is home to Australian rules football, cricket, netball, tennis, cycling, golf and rugby football.
The 2013–14 NBL season is the 32nd season for the Adelaide 36ers in the Australasian based National Basketball League. In 2012–13, the 36ers missed out on the playoffs for the 6th time in the past 7 seasons, finishing the season with the club's third wooden spoon with a record equalling worst ever 8-20 record. The Adelaide 36ers have won the NBL championship four times, earning Adelaide the nickname of "Title Town".
The State Basketball Centre is a multi-purpose stadium located in Melbourne, Victoria. The stadium features six courts, including one basketball show court with seating for 3,200. Facilities cater primarily for basketball, with five courts being able to be configured for netball. The stadium houses the offices of Basketball Australia, Basketball Victoria, and Knox Basketball Incorporated, and is the home of the WNBL's Melbourne Boomers. It will also host a number of home games for the South East Melbourne Phoenix each NBL season.
The Queensland State Netball Centre, also known commercially as Nissan Arena, is a multi-purpose facility located in the southern Brisbane suburb of Nathan. The centre features a 5,000 seat indoor arena that is the home court of Super Netball team the Queensland Firebirds, as well as National Basketball League club the Brisbane Bullets. It is the administrative headquarters of Netball Queensland and provides training facilities for elite-level and community-based netball clubs in Queensland.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Melbourne Arena . |
Preceded by Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle Stuttgart | UCI Track Cycling World Championships Venue 2004 | Succeeded by VELO Sports Center Los Angeles |
Preceded by Apeldoorn Omnisport Centre Apeldoorn | UCI Track Cycling World Championships Venue 2012 | Succeeded by Minsk-Arena Minsk |