Vodafone Arena
| Vodafone Arena | |
|---|---|
| Multi Purpose Venue | |
 |
|
| Location | Melbourne, Victoria |
| Opened | 2000 |
| Owner | Melbourne & Olympic Parks Trust |
| Operator | Melbourne & Olympic Parks Trust |
| Tenants | |
| Australian Open (Tennis) South Dragons (NBL) |
|
| Capacity | |
| 10,500 | |
Vodafone Arena is a sports venue that is part of the Melbourne Park complex, in Melbourne, Australia.
History
Construction of Vodafone Arena commenced in the late 1990s, and was completed in 2000. It was originally named the Multi-purpose Venue, until the naming rights were sold to Vodafone, it has a maximum capacity of 11,000 people. The new South Dragons National Basketball League (NBL) franchise has recently made the Vodafone Arena its home court. Formerly, the Victoria Titans and Melbourne Tigers had Vodafone Arena as their home, until high rental prices forced the teams to find other venues. Until this recent move the venue was largely empty outside of the two weeks of the Australian Open tennis tournament.
The arena features a cycling track which is covered over with seating for court events. The tennis court is a Rebound-Ace surface and the roof is retractable, making it one of the few venues where tennis can be played while it is raining.
Events
Australian Open
Every year, Vodafone Arena hosts many matches as part of the Australian Open tennis tournament. It is generally used only during the day, in the first week and a half of the tournament.
Commonwealth Games
During the Commonwealth Games the stadium was used for basketball and other sports, its name changed to "Multi-Purpose Venue" because Telstra (a competitor of Vodafone) was a major sponsor of the Games.
Concerts
Vodafone Arena also plays hosts to National and International Musical Artists. Generally promoters prefer Rod Laver Arena, however Vodafone provides a suitable alternative when Rod Laver is unavailable. Acts have included:
- The Who
- Evanescence - The Open Door Tour 2007
John Mayer - Continuum Tour 2007- Fall Out Boy - March 2007
- Velvet Revolver
- Mötley Crüe - Red, White and Crue Tour December 2005
- Rock Star Supernova
- Good Charlotte - February 2005
- Planetshakers Conference - January 2006, 2007 and 2008
- Armin van Buuren - June 2007
- Antonis Remos & Sakis Rouvas - April 2008
External links
- Official site
- Vodafone Arena at Austadiums
- Maps and aerial photos
- WikiSatellite view at WikiMapia
- Street map from Google Maps or Multimap.
- Satellite image from Google Maps
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
