History
Construction of the arena, which has a maximum capacity of 11,000 people, commenced in the late 1990s, and was completed in 2000. It was originally called the Multi-Purpose Venue, until the naming rights were sold to Vodafone. The arena features a cycling track which is covered over with seating for court events. The tennis court is a Plexicushion surface and the roof is retractable, making it one of the few venues where tennis can be played during rain.
The South Dragons NBL team had made the Venue its home court. Formerly, the Victoria Titans and Melbourne Tigers used it 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 Dragons withdrew from the competition after winning the championship in 2009, leaving the arena and the NBL. For the 2012-13 NBL season, the Tigers will return to the venue, playing 7 of their 13 home games at the arena.
It has been used for netball since 1997 for Melbourne Phoenix and Melbourne Kestrels games in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy. The Melbourne Phoenix and Melbourne Kestrels played their last home game there before aligning to become the Melbourne Vixens. The Melbourne Vixens now use it for home games in the ANZ Championship.
The largest netball attendance at the arena was set on 20 November 2004 when 10,300 saw Australia defeat New Zealand 53-51. The largest basketball crowd was set on 18 October 2008 when 9,308 fans attended a local derby NBL game to see the Dragons defeat the Tigers 108-80.
Read more about this topic: Melbourne Multi Purpose Venue
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