Melbourne & Olympic Parks
One of the world's best sports and entertainment precincts. Take this tour to find out more.
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More than sports
Welcoming around 400 events and attracting more than 2.5 million people, Melbourne & Olympic Parks are the home for iconic sporting events and entertainment shows by star performers.
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Sporting events all year round
The precinct is most famous for hosting the Australian Open tennis grand slam event as well as regular national and international sports events in rugby, football, rugby league, netball, basketball, cycling and gymnastics.
Yarra River (1897)Melbourne & Olympic Parks
Floodplains by a river
Melbourne & Olympic Parks has grown and evolved over 100 years in area bound by the River Yarra. They were welcomed by the Wurundjeri people - the traditional owners of the land.
Melbourne & Olympic Parks (2010)Melbourne & Olympic Parks
A World-class sports and entertainment precinct
Over the decades complex has grown and been constantly upgraded to create a 40 hectare sports precinct like no other. It includes: Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne Arena, Margaret Court Arena and AAMI Park, along a multitude of other sports facilities and administrative centres.
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Rod Laver Arena
Rod Laver Arena is a multipurpose arena located within Melbourne Park, a focal point of the Australian Open and stage for superstar shows.
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Besides tennis, the arena has hosted basketball, netball, gymnastics, swimming (in a temporary pool construction), motorbike super-crosses, skateboarding, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) events, music concerts, conferences and even ballet.
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Rod Laver Arena
Opened in 1988 as the National Tennis Centre at Flinders Park, in 1996 the arena was renamed ”Centre Court”, and renamed again in 2000 to honour Rod Laver, an Australian three-time winner of the Australian Open who won over 200 titles in his tennis career.
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An area for recreation
The arena is built on land that formed parts of Yarra and Flinders Parks. For many years Flinders Park was used for sports such as rugby and was sometimes referred to as the “Circus Site” owing to the area being utilised until 1985 by Ashton's Circus.
Rod Laver Arena by Tennis AustraliaTennis Australia
Retractable roof and blue surface
The arena has a seated capacity of 14,820. The venue was the first in Australia to have a retractable roof venue, which allows competitors to continue play during rain or extreme heat. Along with the blue Plexicushion surface, this is greatly improved the tennis experience here.
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Tennis Australia
The Rod Laver Arena is one of the jewels of the National Tennis Centre. Along with the Margaret Court Arena, eight indoor plexicushion courts, five outdoor plexicushion courts, eight Italian clay courts, it offers a Tennis complex second to none.
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Behind the scenes
In the lower levels of the Rod Laver Arena are a multitude of offices, catering facilities and dressing rooms that meet the needs of both players and spectators during events.
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A concert venue
Many artists have played the Arena but none have been more popular than P!nk. In 2013 she played a venue record 18 sold out shows on one tour (breaking her own 2009 record of 17). The feat is marked backstage by plaques and decorated "pink" poles.
Melbourne Arena
This arena features a cycling track, which is covered over with seating for other types of events. Along with the other arenas at Melbourne Park, the tennis court is a Plexicushion surface and the roof is retractable.
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For basketball, netball and tennis the spectator capacity is 10,500. When the velodrome is in use the northern and southern banks of seats are raised to uncover the track and floor seating is removed reducing capacity to 4,500 people.
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Flexible seating
The venue is able to hold a maximum spectator capacity of 11,000 for concert events such as music concerts where general floor seating or standing room is available. For most sports events the capacity is 10,500 people, but is less than half that when configured for cycling.
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Multi-purpose arena
The arena is a regular home for basketball, netball, annual cycling events and tennis during the Australian Open. The venue has also been adapted to host to an ice hockey exhibition series between the United States and Canada.
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View from the top
The views from the executive boxes offer sweeping views of the court.
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Basketball at Melbourne Arena
The arena is the main home court of the Melbourne United (formally Melbourne Tigers) and South East Melbourne Phoenix of the National Basketball League (NBL) teams. These banners in the members lounge show the current Melbourne United team.
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Netball at Melbourne Arena
In addition to basketball, 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 also play some home international fixtures at the arena.
Margaret Court Arena
Melbourne's newest arena, known as venue of upcoming artists on the live music scene. Originally named Show Court One, the venue was opened in 1988, the year the Australian Open tennis championships moved from Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club to Melbourne Park.
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Outdoors to indoors
This arena was built as an outdoor venue but in response to the issue of recurring heatwaves at the Australian Open, it was redeveloped as an indoor venue during 2012 to 2014. Originally it had capacity for 6,000 spectators, but the construction increased capacity to 7,500.
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Retractable roof
Similar to the nearby venues, Rod Laver Arena (Centre Court) and the Melbourne Arena the venue now has a retractable roof. It is the third largest of the venues used for the Australian Open tennis tournament.
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Margaret Court AO MBE
Court is a retired Australian tennis player and former world No. 1. She amassed more major titles than any other player in history, and twice completed the "Grand Slam Boxed Set", consisting of every senior Grand Slam title in singles, doubles and mixed doubles.
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Netball and basketball
When the close-by Melbourne Arena is unavailable, the Margaret Court Arena provides a home venue for Melbourne Vixens and Collingwood Magpies of the Suncorp Super Netball league. The Australia national netball and Melbourne United basketball teams have also hosted games here.
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Concert venue
The Margaret Court arena offers a more intimate multi-purpose event space (than the Melbourne Arena or Rod Laver Arena) for medium to smaller concert events. When a stage is added capacity is reduced to 6,500 or less.
AAMI Park
Melbourne's rectangular sports stadium, completed in 2010. Major tenant clubs and home teams are: National Rugby League (NRL) team the Melbourne Storm; rugby union team the Melbourne Rebels; soccer teams Melbourne Victory FC and Melbourne City FC, and the Melbourne Demons (AFL).
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Rectangular field
The pitch at AAMI Park is a 136 meter by 82 meter rectangular pitch, which can accommodate rugby league and rugby union (pitch length 112 and 120 meters respectively, including in-goal areas), and soccer (pitch length 105 meters).
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Geodesic dome roof
Domed roofs cover much of the seating area. The shape is based on the Buckminster Fuller geodesic dome. The “bioframe” design of the domes keep spectators in the shade while still allowing light through to the pitch.
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Bioframe design
Key to the stadium’s design is the bio-frame roof, a lightweight steel design that uses 50% less steel. This structure is skinned in a triangular panelised façade made up of a combination of glass, metal and louvers.
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Home to rugby and soccer
The stadium sits on a sports campus that includes an elite training centre, gymnasium, lap pool, and office space for tenant organisations. Two rugby and two soccer teams play home games at AAMI Park.
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Stadium facilities
Around the stadium there are 24 corporate boxes with external seating, a dining room with capacity for 1,100, merchandising facilities, food and beverage outlets and 14 bars.
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Stadium capacity
The stadium has a capacity of 30,050 although it was built with foundations to allow for future expansion to 50,000. However the roof was not designed with this in mind, and so that level of expansion would require major construction work.
Continue your journey
Find out more about the history of the sports arenas in Melbourne, Australia by visiting the Melbourne & Olympic Parks page.
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