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The Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, known as AAMI Park for sponsorship reasons,[5] is an outdoor sports stadium on the site of Edwin Flack Field in the Sports and Entertainment Precinct in the Melbourne central business district.

Melbourne Rectangular Stadium

AAMI Park
Location	Olympic Boulevard Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Coordinates	37°49′31″S 144°59′2″E
Public transit	Richmond railway station Tram route 70
Owner	Government of Victoria
Operator	Melbourne & Olympic Parks Trust
Executive suites	24
Capacity	30,050 (total)[1] 29,500 (rugby)[2]
Field size	136 m × 85 m (446 ft × 279 ft)[3]
Surface	StaLok Turf
Construction
Broke ground	2007; 15 years ago (2007)
Built	2010; 12 years ago (2010)
Opened	7 May 2010; 12 years ago (2010-05-07)[4]
Construction cost	A$268 million
Architect	Cox Architecture
Structural engineer	Arup Norman Disney & Young
General contractor	Grocon
Tenants
Rugby League Melbourne Storm (NRL) (2010–present) Rugby Union Melbourne Rebels (Super Rugby) (2011–present) Association football Melbourne City FC (A-League) (2010–present) Melbourne Victory FC (A-League) (2010–present) Melbourne Victory FC (A-League Women) (2010–present) Western United (A-League) (2020–present) Australian rules football Melbourne Football Club (AFL) (administration and training, 2010–present)

When completed in 2010, it was Melbourne's first large purpose-built rectangular stadium. When the project to build the new stadium was approved, the largest stadiums in use were the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) and Docklands Stadium. These were venues of oval configuration and best suited to Australian rules football or cricket. The previous largest rectangular stadium in the city, Olympic Park, was a repurposed track and field venue.

The stadium's major tenants are National Rugby League team Melbourne Storm, the Super Rugby team Melbourne Rebels, and the A-League teams Melbourne Victory FC and Melbourne City FC.[6] It was also one of five venues for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, hosting the opening match and six other matches including one quarter-final game, and it will host matches for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. The venue hosted rugby league Four Nations matches in 2010 and 2014, and was used for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup.

Referred to as Melbourne Rectangular Stadium during its construction, the ground has been known as AAMI Park since it opened in March 2010, in a sponsorship deal with insurance firm AAMI.[5]

History

Prior to construction

Until 2010, Olympic Park Stadium was Melbourne's main venue for soccer, rugby league and rugby union; not purpose-built, it was an athletics stadium with the rectangular grass field set inside the running track, and it could hold 18,500 spectators, but only 11,000 seated. It had been the home ground of the Melbourne Storm since they entered the National Rugby League in 1998. The A-League's Melbourne Victory FC also used Olympic Park Stadium from 2005 to 2007 when they switched permanently to Docklands Stadium.

In 2004, as part of Melbourne's bid for a Super Rugby team, the Victorian Government prepared an economic impact study on the development of a world class rectangular stadium in Melbourne.[7] But in late 2004, the bid lost out to the Western Australian consortium, which would become the Western Force.

On 6 April 2006 the Victorian Government announced that a $190 million 20,000-seat rectangular stadium would be built on the site of Edwin Flack Field and would be home to NRL team Melbourne Storm and A-League team Melbourne Victory. The stadium's planned capacity was increased to 30,000, with foundations capable of expansion to a capacity of 50,000 if needed. The stadium began construction in late 2007.

In November 2009, when the Super Rugby competition expanded to 15 teams, the Melbourne consortium won the 15th Super Rugby licence, with the new franchise intending to play their games at the new stadium.

The stadium's first match was the 2010 Anzac Test between the Australian and New Zealand rugby league teams on 7 May 2010.[4] The stadium was referred to as Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, Swan Street Stadium or the Bubble Dome[8][9] during its early construction. The stadium's commercial name was announced as AAMI Park on 16 March 2010; initially an eight-year deal, it has been twice extended with the current AAMI sponsorship deal set to expire in 2026.[10]

Notable events hosted: 2010s

Rugby league

The stadium held its first event, rugby league's 2010 Anzac Test, on 7 May 2010.[4] The opening ceremony featured the NRL's all-time highest point-scorer, Hazem El Masri, who had retired the previous season, kicking a goal.[11] The first points scored on the ground were from a Jamie Lyon penalty kick in the 32nd minute,[12] and the first try was scored by Brett Morris in the 39th minute.[13] Australia defeated New Zealand 12–8 in front of a sell-out crowd (near 30,000). Two days later the first National Rugby League match was played at the stadium when the Brisbane Broncos defeated the Melbourne Storm in front of a crowd of 20,042.

Melbourne Rectangular Stadium hosted international matches as part of the Rugby League Four Nations in 2010 and 2014, when Australia defeated England by 34–14 in front of 18,894 fans on 31 October 2010, and again when Australia defeated England by 16–12 on 2 November 2014 (attendance: 20,585).

Soccer

On 5 August 2010 the stadium played host to its first A-League match. It was also another first, as the newly formed Melbourne Heart FC played their first game in front of 11,050 fans against the Central Coast Mariners. The Heart lost 1–0, and Alex Wilkinson had the honour of scoring the first goal. The first Melbourne Victory match was played at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium v Perth Glory on 14 August 2010 in front of 21,193 fans.

The venue hosted the 2015 AFC Asian Cup opening ceremony and seven international matches including the tournament opener between Australia and Kuwait on 9 January, and a quarter-final match South Korea and Uzbekistan on 22 January.[14]

Rugby union

The Melbourne Rebels played their first Super Rugby match at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium on 18 February 2011. The Melbourne Rising played their first National Rugby Championship match on 24 August 2014, defeating the North Harbour Rays by a resounding 55–34 score.[15] The Rising played a semifinal at the stadium on 25 October 2014, but lost by 29–45 to the Perth Spirit.[16]

Concerts

On 2 December 2011, Melbourne Rectangular Stadium hosted its first concert when the Foo Fighters performed at the stadium as part of their Wasting Light world tour[17]

On 15–16 February 2014, Melbourne Rectangular Stadium hosted Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band for their High Hopes Album Tour. A surprise guest – Eddie Vedder (of Pearl Jam) – joined Bruce on stage opening the show with a cover of AC/DC's "Highway To Hell" then Springsteen's own "Darkness on the Edge of Town".[18]

On 10–12 December 2015 Melbourne Rectangular Stadium hosted Taylor Swift as she brought The 1989 World Tour to Australia.[19]

On 1–2 February 2019, Melbourne Rectangular Stadium hosted Phil Collins. On 19–20 February 2020, Melbourne Rectangular Stadium hosted Queen + Adam Lambert. On 22 February 2020, Melbourne Rectangular Stadium hosted Elton John.

Melbourne Football Club (AFL) training and administrative facilities

The Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) moved its indoor training and administrative facilities to the park in 2010, and train at their nearby outdoor training ground at Gosch's Paddock.[20]

Stadium design

Features

The COX Architecture designed stadium features a "Bioframe" design, with a geodesic dome roof covering much of the seating area, while still allowing light through to the pitch. The northern and southern sides of the stadiums are called the Olympic Side and Yarra Side respectively. The exterior of the stadium is covered in thousands of LED lights which can be programmed to display a variety of patterns and images.[21]

The stadium includes training facilities and office accommodation for Melbourne Storm, Melbourne Victory, Melbourne Football Club, the Victorian Rugby Union, the Victorian Olympic Council, Olympic Park Sports Medicine Centre (OPSMC), Imaging@Olympic Park Radiology and Tennis Victoria. The stadium will be used by the Melbourne Demons as their administration headquarters. The team had wanted the stadium completed by 2008 to coincide with its 150th anniversary. It is planned to house public bars and cafes, 24 corporate boxes, a dining room with a capacity of 1000 people, a gym and lap pool.

Capacity

The stadium was initially proposed to have a seating capacity of 20,000, upgradeable to 25,000. This was due to both expected demand, as well as a state government agreement with Docklands Stadium that no stadiums with a capacity greater than 30,000 would be constructed in Melbourne before 2010. These plans were revised after the Victory refused to commit to playing at a stadium of such small capacity, having achieved an average attendance of over 27,000 since their move to the Docklands Stadium in the 2006–07 A-League Season.

Alternative plans put forward by the Victorian Government proposed a capacity of 30,050, on the condition that the Victory sign on as a tenant. An agreement was reached and the stadium went ahead at this capacity.[22] To assist with the extended capacity, temporary stands can be erected behind the goals during soccer matches and removed during rugby league and union games so as to allow space for the in-goal area (an international soccer pitch measures 105 metres in length, while including the in-goal areas, rugby league and rugby union have a minimum field length of 116 and 120 metres respectively). Although the stadium was built with foundations to allow for future expansion to 50,000,[23] the roof was not designed with this in mind, and so the stadium cannot be expanded without major construction work.[24] Construction of the stadium was featured during a 2010 episode of the TV show Build It Bigger.

Crowd records

Concerts

Event	Description	Event	Date	Attendance	Gross	Reference
Concert	Taylor Swift	The 1989 World Tour	10, 11 & 12 December 2015	98,136 / 98,136 (over three nights)	$10,421,553	[25]
Concert	Ed Sheeran	x Tour	5 & 6 December 2015	66,918 / 66,918 (over two nights)	N/A	[26]
Concert	Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band	High Hopes Tour	15 & 16 February 2014	62,950 / 62,950 (over two nights)	$9,185,208	[27]
Concert	Foo Fighters	Wasting Light Tour	2 & 3 December 2011	60,083 (over two nights)	N/A	[28]
Concert	Paul McCartney	One On One Tour	5 & 6 December 2017	59,002 / 59,002 (over two nights)	$9,623,682	[29]
Concert	Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band	The River Tour	2 & 4 February 2017	51,192 / 54,000 (over two nights)	$7,384,735	[30]

Sports events

Sport	Description	Event	Date	Crowd number	Reference
Rugby union (International)	Australia vs England	2016 England rugby union tour of Australia, Second Test	18 June 2016	29,871	[31][32]
Association football (Finals)	Melbourne Victory FC vs Sydney FC	2015 A-League Grand Final	17 May 2015	29,843	[33]
Rugby league (International)	Australia vs New Zealand	2010 Anzac Test	7 May 2010	29,442	[34]
Rugby league (Finals)	Melbourne Storm vs North Queensland Cowboys	2015 NRL Preliminary Final	26 September 2015	29,315	[35][36]
Rugby league (Home & Away)	Melbourne Storm vs New Zealand Warriors	2014 NRL season	25 April 2014	28,716	[37]
Rugby union (Friendly)	Melbourne Rebels vs British & Irish Lions	2013 British & Irish Lions tour	26 June 2013	28,658
Association football (International)	Australia vs Vietnam	2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC Third Round	27 January 2022	27,740
Association football (Home & Away)	Melbourne Victory FC vs Sydney FC	2012–13 A-League	26 January 2013	26,882
Rugby Union (Home & Away)	Melbourne Rebels vs New South Wales Waratahs	2011 Super Rugby season	18 February 2011	25,524

Rugby league test matches

The stadium has hosted five rugby league internationals. The results were as follows;[38]

Test no.	Date	Winner	Result	Runner-up	Attendance	Part of
1	7 May 2010	Australia	12–8	New Zealand	29,442	2010 Anzac Test
2	31 October 2010	Australia	34–14	England	18,894	2010 Four Nations
3	2 November 2014	Australia	16–12	England	20,585	2014 Four Nations
4	27 October 2017	Australia	18–4	England	22,274	2017 Rugby League World Cup
5	19 November 2017	England	36–6	Papua New Guinea	10,563

2015 AFC Asian Cup

Date	Team #1	Res.	Team #2	Stage	Attendance
9 January 2015	Australia	4–1	Kuwait	Group stage	25,231
11 January 2015	Iran	2–0	Bahrain	Group stage	17,712
14 January 2015	North Korea	1–4	Saudi Arabia	Group stage	12,349
16 January 2015	Palestine	1–5	Jordan	Group stage	10,808
18 January 2015	Uzbekistan	3–1	Saudi Arabia	Group stage	10,871
20 January 2015	Japan	2–0	Jordan	Group stage	25,016
22 January 2015	South Korea	2–0	Uzbekistan	Quarter-finals	23,381

Awards

In June 2012 the stadium won the award for the most iconic and culturally significant stadium at the 2012 World Stadium Awards, held in Doha, Qatar.[39]

References

External links

• AAMI Park official website
• Melbourne Rectangular Stadium at Austadiums

Preceded by Khalifa International Stadium Doha	AFC Asian Cup Opening Venue 2015	Succeeded by Zayed Sports City Stadium Abu Dhabi

На других языках

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[de] Melbourne Rectangular Stadium

Der Melbourne Rectangular Stadium (auch AAMI Park) ist ein Rugby- und Fußballstadion in Melbourne, Australien.

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- [en] Melbourne Rectangular Stadium

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[es] Estadio Rectangular de Melbourne

El Estadio Rectangular de Melbourne (Melbourne Rectangular Stadium en inglés), conocido con el nombre comercial AAMI Park, es un estadio multiusos ubicado en la ciudad de Melbourne, Australia.[2] Fue construido por el gobierno del estado de Victoria para albergar los principales partidos de rugby y fútbol en la ciudad.

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[fr] AAMI Park

L'AAMI Park, connu également sous le nom de stade rectangulaire de Melbourne, est un stade construit à Melbourne (Australie) entre 2007 et 2010 pour répondre aux exigences du rugby à XIII.

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[ru] Прямоугольный стадион (Мельбурн)

Мельбурнский Прямоугольный стадион (англ. Melbourne Rectangular Stadium) — регбийный и футбольный стадион, расположенный в городе Мельбурн, Австралия. Является домашней ареной для местных регбийных команд «Мельбурн Ребелс» и «Мельбурн Сторм», футбольных клубов «Мельбурн Сити» и «Мельбурн Виктори».[1] Был открыт 7 мая 2010 года. Вместимость стадиона составляет 30 050 зрителей для футбольных и 29 500 для регбийных матчей.

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