AAMI Park | |
Location |
Edwin Flack Field Olympic Boulevard Melbourne City, Victoria, Australia |
---|---|
Coordinates | 37°49′31″S 144°59′2″E / 37.82528°S 144.98389°ECoordinates: 37°49′31″S 144°59′2″E / 37.82528°S 144.98389°E |
Owner | Government of Victoria |
Operator | Melbourne & Olympic Parks Trust |
Executive suites | 24 |
Capacity | 30,050 (total) 29,500 (rugby) |
Field size | 136 x 85m |
Surface | StaLok Turf |
Construction | |
Broke ground | 2007 |
Built | 2010 |
Opened | 7 May 2010 |
Construction cost | A$268 million |
Architect | Cox Architects and Planners |
Tenants | |
Melbourne Storm (NRL) (2010–present) Melbourne City FC (A-League) (2010–present) Melbourne Victory FC (A-League) (2010–present) Melbourne Rebels (Super Rugby) (2011–present) Melbourne Rising (NRC) (2014–present) |
The Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, commercially known as AAMI Park, is an outdoor sports stadium on the site of Edwin Flack Field in the Sports and Entertainment Precinct in the Melbourne City Centre. The stadium's major tenants are NRL team Melbourne Storm, the Super Rugby team Melbourne Rebels, and the A-League teams Melbourne Victory FC and Melbourne City FC.
AAMI Park became Melbourne's first large purpose-built rectangular stadium when completed in 2010. Referred to as Melbourne Rectangular Stadium during its construction, the ground was officially named AAMI Park on 16 March 2010, in an eight-year sponsorship deal with insurance firm AAMI. When the project to build the new stadium was approved, the largest stadiums in use were the 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 was one of five venues for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, hosting the opening match and six other matches including one Quarter-final game. AAMI Park hosted rugby league Four Nations matches in 2010 and 2014, and will also be used for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup.