John Cain Arena

John Cain Arena is a multi-purpose sports and entertainment arena located within Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is the second-largest venue and show court for the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam professional tennis tournament held each calendar year. The arena also hosts various other sporting and entertainment events throughout the year.

John Cain Arena

Arena during the 2016 Australian Open
Former names	Melbourne Multi Purpose Venue (planning/construction) (2006) Vodafone Arena (2000–08) Hisense Arena (2008–18) Melbourne Arena (2018–20)
Address	2 Olympic Blvd Melbourne VIC 3000 Australia
Location	Melbourne Park
Coordinates	37°49′22″S 144°58′54″E
Owner	Melbourne and Olympic Parks Trust
Capacity	10,500
Surface	GreenSet (tennis) Hardwood (basketball) (netball)
Construction
Broke ground	1999
Opened	27 July 2000
Construction cost	A$65 million[1]
Architect	Peddle Thorp
General contractor	Theiss Construction
Tenants
Basketball Melbourne United (NBL) (2000–02, 2012–present) South East Melbourne Phoenix (NBL) (2019–present) South Dragons (NBL) (2006–09) Victoria Giants (NBL) (2000–04) Netball Melbourne Vixens (ANZ/NNL) (2008–present) Collingwood Magpies (NNL) (2017–present) Tennis Australian Open (Tennis) (2001–present) Former Tenants 2004 UCI Track Cycling World Championships 2006 Commonwealth Games 2012 UCI Track Cycling World Championships

Naming rights

Former logo (2008–18)

During construction, the project was referred to as the Melbourne Park Multi-Purpose Venue.[1] When it opened in 2000, a sponsor was immediately assigned naming rights and it became known as the Vodafone Arena.[1] This arrangement lasted for eight years. On 12 May 2008, it was announced that its name would change to Hisense Arena in a multimillion-dollar deal that was originally supposed to last six years. Meanwhile, temporarily throughout the 2006 Commonwealth Games, the Hisense Arena reverted back to being called "Multi Purpose Venue" for the duration of the sporting event. In 2014 the naming contract with the multinational Hisense was extended for a further three years.[2] Despite the contract ending at the conclusion of 2017, Hisense Arena remained the name of the venue for several more months, effectively for free.[3]

In August 2018, Tennis Australia announced it had bought the naming rights and had elected to call it Melbourne Arena, saying it preferred a non-commercial title "iconic with the city".[4] The non-corporate name was to be in effect for five years, though the Victorian Government and Tennis Australia did not rule out extending the arena's name beyond that period.[4]

On 3 February 2020, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced that the arena would be renamed "John Cain Arena" in honour of the the late State Premier of Victoria, who is regarded as a critical figure in keeping the Australian Open in Melbourne in the mid 1980s.[5] The new name came into effect in December 2020.[6]

History

Construction commenced in the late 1990s, and was completed in 2000. The arena features a cycling track, which is covered over with seating for court events. The tennis court is a GreenSet surface (between 2008 and 2019 the surface was plexicushion) and the roof is retractable, making it one of the few venues where tennis can be played during rain.[1]

The venue is able to hold a maximum spectator capacity of 11,000 for events such as music concerts where general floor seating or standing room is available. For basketball, netball and tennis the capacity is 10,500. When the velodrome is in use the northern and southern banks of seats, which cover the turns of the velodrome, are raised to reveal the track while the floor seating is removed leaving a reduced capacity of 4,500.[1]

The arena has been used for netball for Melbourne Phoenix and Melbourne Kestrels games in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy. Melbourne Phoenix and the Melbourne Kestrels played their last home game there before merging to become the Melbourne Vixens who used it for home games in the ANZ Championship until 2016. Since 2017 the Vixens and new team the Magpies use the arena in the National Netball League.

The largest netball attendance at the arena was on 20 November 2004 when 10,300 saw the Australian national team defeat New Zealand 53 to 51.[7]

Following the renovation of the Margaret Court Arena as part of a A$363 million upgrade to Melbourne Park in time for the 2015 Australian Open, which included a retractable roof and an increase in capacity from 6,000 to 7,500, both Melbourne United (formerly the Melbourne Tigers) and the Melbourne Vixens announced their intentions to move from the arena to the smaller capacity Margaret Court Arena (MCA) from 2015. However, Melbourne United abandoned their move to MCA after the 2015–16 NBL season and continue to play the majority of their games at John Cain Arena (United play some games at the State Netball and Hockey Centre when the Australian Open takes place each January), while the Vixens will continue to split their games between John Cain and Margaret Court Arenas, with John Cain used for games expected to attract a larger crowd.

Events

Australian Open

Every year, the venue hosts many matches as part of the Australian Open tennis tournament. It was usually only been used for day matches in the first 10 days of the tournament. In 2012 the venue began hosting night matches during the first week of the tournament, at the same time as matches being played on the adjacent Rod Laver Arena. The first Australian Open match played at the venue was on 15 January 2001 and lasted less than ten minutes, when Monica Seles advanced to the second round after Brie Rippner was felled with injury in the second game of the match. The first match completed on the court was Tim Henman's first round win over Hicham Arazi.

Basketball

John Cain Arena is the main home court of National Basketball League (NBL) teams Melbourne United and South East Melbourne Phoenix. Formerly, the Victoria Titans and South Dragons used it as their home, until high rental prices forced the teams to find other venues. Until this move the venue was largely devoid of sporting events outside of the two weeks of the Australian Open tournament held each January. The Dragons, founded in 2006 until they withdrew from the competition after winning the championship in 2009, played three seasons at the arena.[8][9] For the 2012–13 NBL season, the Tigers (now renamed Melbourne United) returned to the venue, and played 7 of their 13 home games at the arena. They later shifted all home matches to the venue. The Phoenix, who made their debut in the 2019–20 NBL season, share their home with John Cain Arena and the State Basketball Centre in Wantirna South.[10]

The largest basketball crowd was on 4 December 2016 during the 2016–17 NBL season when 10,300 fans saw Melbourne United defeat the New Zealand Breakers 98–74. This broke the previous basketball attendance record of 9,308 set in 2008 in a local derby game between the South Dragons and Melbourne Tigers.[11][12]

The venue co-hosted the 2007 FIBA Oceania Championship where the Australian national basketball team won the gold medal.

Netball

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 sometime play home international fixtures at the venue. The venue also hosted the 2016, 2017 and 2018 Fast5 Netball World Series.

Commonwealth Games

During the 2006 Commonwealth Games the stadium was used for basketball and other sports. Its name was changed to Multi-Purpose Venue with all Vodafone-related signage covered over with black shrouds because Telstra, a competitor of Vodafone, was a major sponsor of the games.

Cycling

In 2004 and 2012, the UCI Track Cycling World Championships were held at the venue.

Ice hockey

On 14 and 15 June 2013, the venue played host to an ice hockey exhibition series between teams representing the United States and Canada.[13]

Entertainment

The arena hosts several musical and entertainment events each year, in concert with other venues in the precinct. On 26 February 2007, Irish boy band Westlife held a concert for The Love Tour supporting their LP The Love Album. On 18 September 2018, Taiwanese vocal pop band Mayday held a concert for Life Tour supporting their album History of Tomorrow. From 2011 to 2013 the venue hosted the Melbourne judges' audition stages of the Seven Network singer search program The X Factor.

See also

• List of tennis stadiums by capacity

References

1. "History". Melbourne Arena. 1 June 2017.
2. Group, Hisense (25 August 2014). "Hisense Australia Extends Naming Rights to World Class Arena and Sponsorship with Australian Open". PR Newswire. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
3. "'Free advertising' at Australian Open for electronics giant". ABC News. 15 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
4. "Hisense Arena renamed Melbourne Arena". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. 21 August 2018.
5. "Melbourne Arena to be renamed in honour of John Cain". The Age. 4 February 2020.
6. "Melbourne Arena renamed John Cain Arena". Austadiums. 7 December 2020.
7. "Netball: AUS v NZL". Austadiums. 20 November 2004. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
8. "aussiebball.com". aussiebball.com. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
10. "South East Melbourne Phoenix arrive in the NBL". The Sydney Morning Herald. 17 November 2018.
11. Austadiums - NBL: Melbourne vs New Zealand 2016
12. "NBL: Dragons v Tigers". Austadiums. 18 October 2008. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
13. Showbiz Sport comes to Melbourne

External links

• Official website
• John Cain Arena at Austadiums