Vodafone Arena
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Vodafone Arena is a sports venue that is part of the Melbourne Park complex, in Melbourne, Australia.
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[edit] 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 10,500 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.
[edit] Events
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] Little Britain Live
In 2007 Vodafone Arena will play host to Little Britain Live, when international superstars Matt Lucas and David Walliams take their show to Australian shores for the very first time [1].
[edit] External links
