The Sydney SuperDome (currently known as the Qudos Bank Arena) is a large multipurpose

arena An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectator ...

located in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...

, Australia. It is situated in

Sydney Olympic Park Sydney Olympic Park is a suburb of Greater Western Sydney, located 13 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Parramatta Council. It is commonly known as Olympic Park but officially ...

, and was completed in 1999 as part of the facilities for the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

. The A$190million facility was designed by COX Architecture & Devine deFlon Yaeger, and constructed by Abigroup and Obayashi Corporation. Bob Carr, premier of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, officially opened the stadium in November 1999. The development of the stadium was part of three subsites which also included a 3,400-space carpark which cost A$25 million, and a plaza with external works, also costing $25 million. The roof's masts reach above ground level, and the stadium occupies a site of . The arena is ranked in the top 10 arenas worldwide. It is currently managed by

AEG Ogden AEG Ogden was an Australian company that managed sports venues and convention centres in Australia and Asia. It was a joint venture between Australian interests and AEG Facilities (affiliate of the Anschutz Entertainment Group) and Australian invest ...

. For three consecutive years the venue was a finalist for the Billboard Touring Awards in the top venue category. The arena has a total capacity of 21,032 with a

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile tha ...

of around 18,200 making the SuperDome the largest permanent indoor sports and entertainment venue in Australia.

Stadium name history

The arena was known as the Sydney SuperDome from opening in 1999 until 11 May 2006 when it was renamed Acer Arena (after Acer Inc.) as part of a naming rights deal. The naming rights were subsequently purchased by

Allphones Allphones was an Australian telecommunications retailer which specialised in offering a wide range of mobile and broadband related services across a range of carriers. The Allphones name is now only used for an online store, which is operated by Au ...

, the new name Allphones Arena taking effect from 1 September 2011. Since 11 April 2016, the venue has been known as Qantas Credit Union Arena then Qudos Bank Arena (after the rebranded

Qudos Bank Qudos Mutual Limited, t/a Qudos Bank, is an Australian mutual bank that provides retail banking products and services, including home loans, personal loans, car loans, credit cards, savings, financial planning assistance and foreign exchange. ...

Design

The Sydney SuperDome is designed at an average capacity of 18,200 seated, with a maximum possible capacity of 21,032, according to the Sydney Olympic Park Authority. The SuperDome's bowl is rearrangeable in various modes to accommodate for sports events, concerts, and the like, and the venue's capacity fluctuates depending on the event hosted. The floor of the venue measures by at its maximum extent. The venue is created from 5,696m³ of

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wid ...

, 1,884 tonnes of

reinforcing steel Rebar (short for reinforcing bar), known when massed as reinforcing steel or reinforcement steel, is a steel bar used as a tension device in reinforced concrete and reinforced masonry structures to strengthen and aid the concrete under tensi ...

, and is topped with a 1,235 tonne roof structure. 18 steel masts suspend from the

zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...

and

aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It ha ...

-composed and alloy-coated steel roof, which is tensioned by cables stretching from the top of each mast to the center of the roof. The interior ceiling of the venue is decorated in a corrugated steel profile, heavily insulated with materials such as numerous copies of unused

Yellow pages The yellow pages are telephone directories of businesses, organized by category rather than alphabetically by business name, in which advertising is sold. The directories were originally printed on yellow paper, as opposed to Telephone direct ...

telephone directories A telephone directory, commonly called a telephone book, telephone address book, phonebook, or the white and yellow pages, is a listing of telephone subscribers in a geographical area or subscribers to services provided by the organization that ...

. Various measures were made at the request of the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG) for environmentally friendly design measures. In its early years, the Sydney SuperDome used

renewable energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...

for a fraction of its power supply, provided by

EnergyAustralia EnergyAustralia (formerly TRUenergy) is an electricity generation, electricity and gas retailing private company in Australia, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Hong Kong-based and listed China Light and Power (CLP Group). EnergyAustralia also ...

's green power scheme. The venue saw use of green power through a deal with EnergyAustralia that lasted the duration of the 2000 Summer Olympics and the five years following. The SuperDome's power architecture includes 1,176

photovoltaic Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially ...

solar panel A solar cell panel, solar electric panel, photo-voltaic (PV) module, PV panel or solar panel is an assembly of photovoltaic solar cells mounted in a (usually rectangular) frame, and a neatly organised collection of PV panels is called a photo ...

s, installed on the arena's roof, which provide 10% of the venue's daily energy consumption, estimated at ~8612

MWh A kilowatt-hour (unit symbol: kW⋅h or kW h; commonly written as kWh) is a unit of energy: one kilowatt of power for one hour. In terms of SI derived units with special names, it equals 3.6 megajoules (MJ). Kilowatt-hours are a common bill ...

annually. Energy efficient lighting and heating/cooling systems were also installed in the venue. The roof's drainage system consists over 2000m of

high-density polyethylene High-density polyethylene (HDPE) or polyethylene high-density (PEHD) is a thermoplastic polymer produced from the monomer ethylene. It is sometimes called "alkathene" or "polythene" when used for HDPE pipes. With a high strength-to-density rat ...

pipes, in addition to nearly 3000m of

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuri ...

and copper pipes used in the venue's

plumbing Plumbing is any system that conveys fluids for a wide range of applications. Plumbing uses pipes, valves, plumbing fixtures, tanks, and other apparatuses to convey fluids. Heating and cooling (HVAC), waste removal, and potable water delive ...

system, and 1000m of vitrified clay pipes that make up the SuperDome's surrounding stormwater drainage system. The SuperDome was also one of many venues built at Sydney Olympic Park that made use of recycled

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, w ...

, used to construct the exterior balconies of the venue. The timber was sourced from Kempsey, and Oberon, along with local sources in Sydney. Additionally,

polypropylene Polypropylene (PP), also known as polypropene, is a thermoplastic polymer used in a wide variety of applications. It is produced via chain-growth polymerization from the monomer propylene. Polypropylene belongs to the group of polyolefins a ...

seats with

nylon Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers composed of polyamides ( repeating units linked by amide links).The polyamides may be aliphatic or semi-aromatic. Nylon is a silk-like thermoplastic, generally made from pet ...

arms and mountings make up the SuperDome's stands.

Events

The arena is home to many major entertainment and conference events and is a venue of choice for major entertainment promoters.

Regular or annual events

Hillsong Conference Hillsong Conference is a mid-year week-long annual Christian conference hosted in Sydney, Australia, with a smaller three-day event held in London later each year. It is the largest annual conference in Australia of any kind. The event is hosted ...

(2001–2010, 2012–2019) *

ARIA Music Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...

(2002–2009, 2011) * Sydney Kings Home Venue (1999–2002, 2016–present) * NSW Schools Spectacular (2016–present) * Intel Extreme Masters Sydney (2017–2019)

Notable occasional events

On 11 December 1999, a league record 17,803 spectators attended a NBL match between the Sydney Kings and

West Sydney Razorbacks The West Sydney Razorbacks (known in its final season as the Sydney Spirit) were an Australian professional basketball team that competed in the National Basketball League (NBL). The club was based in Sydney, New South Wales. They were th ...

. As of February 2017 this remains the largest attendance for any basketball game played in Australia. During the 2000 Olympic Games, the venue hosted the men's and women's

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

finals, and the artistic and trampoline gymnastics events. In the men's basketball, the Bronze medal playoff won by

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

89-71 over host nation

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

, and the Gold Medal playoff, won by the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

85-75 over

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, drew 14,833 fans to the arena. The permanent

of the SuperDome was reduced to approximately 15,500 during the Olympics due to the usual large number of seats allocated for the media. In 2001 the SuperDome was the host of the ATP World Tour Finals Tennis Masters Cup won by Australian World number one men's tennis player Lleyton Hewitt, defeating Frenchman Sébastien Grosjean in the Final 6–3, 6–3, 6–4. On 13 November 2004, the SuperDome attracted the record attendance for a

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

game in Australia when 14,339 turned out to see the

Australian Netball Diamonds The Australia national netball team, also known as the Australian Diamonds, represent Netball Australia in international netball tournaments such as the INF Netball World Cup, the Commonwealth Games, the Constellation Cup, the Netball Quad Se ...

defeat the New Zealand Silver Ferns, 54–49. On 28 July 2008, an ANZ Championship-record 12,999 fans saw the New South Wales Swifts defeat the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic, 65–56, in the ANZ Championship Grand Final at the Acer Arena. On 3 July 2009, Taiwanese pop singer Jay Chou came to Sydney to perform a one-off concert. It became the number one box office record holder for Allphones Arena, and has stayed in this position ever since. In that concert he broke 11 records in Australia including largest audience (15,200), highest total sponsored amount and highest production cost ($480 000). The box office reached US$2.6 million, out-grossing

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Beyoncé's boundary-pushing artistry and vocals have made her the most influential female musician of the 21st century, according to ...

and The Eagles placing him at rank 2 worldwide. On 17 November 2014,

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...

, Prime Minister of India, addressed Indians residing in Australia. Matches of the 2015 Netball World Cup were held at Allphones Arena, and the world record for a netball match was broken three times. Day 3 of the World Cup attracted 16,233 spectators. Day 9 attracted 16,244 while the Final held on 16 August 2015 attracted a netball world record attendance of 16,752 to see Australia defeat New Zealand 58–55 to win their third straight

INF Netball World Cup The Netball World Cup is a quadrennial international netball world championship organised by the World Netball, inaugurated in 1963. Since its inception the competition has been dominated primarily by the Australia national netball team and ...

and their 11th overall. In November–December 2014, American singer-songwriter

Katy Perry Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. Known for her influence on modern pop music and her campy style, she has been referred to ...

performed at the arena as part of The Prismatic World Tour, breaking the Allphones Arena ticket record with 89,500 patrons over six shows. On 26 May 2017, South Korea Boy K-pop group, BTS performed, it was reported that tickets were sold-out within a few hours. The concert was part of BTS's world tour concert known as The Wings Tour, this marks BTS's second concert in Australia. On 15 June 2019, South Korean Girl K-pop group, Blackpink performed, recording up to 14,317 fans that evening. The concert was part of Blackpinks world tour concert known as In your Area World Tour, it was the second concert hosted in Australia by Blackpink, after the Melbourne Rod Laver Arena concert on June 13. In 2021, it was announced that as a result of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, the arena would be used as a COVID-19 mass vaccination hub, commencing on 9 August 2021.

Sports teams

The venue is the former home of Suncorp Super Netball clubs Giants Netball and the New South Wales Swifts, both of whom have played finals and high-profile matches at the arena. Australian National Basketball League club the Sydney Kings also play their home matches at the arena. Due to the

, On 28 May 2021, Melbourne United announced they would play a home game at the Arena against the

Cairns Taipans The Cairns Taipans are an Australian professional basketball team based in Cairns, Queensland. The Taipans compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at the Cairns Convention Centre, known colloquially as "The S ...

. Originally to be played at

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 ...

, then

Cairns Pop-Up Arena The Cairns Pop-Up Arena was a sports arena in Cairns, Queensland, Australia. The arena was the temporary host of the Cairns Taipans and the South East Melbourne Phoenix, whilst the Cairns Convention Centre underwent a redevelopment. Descripti ...

, the game commenced with no audience three days later.

Gallery

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Event venues established in 1999 1999 establishments in Australia Sports venues completed in 1999 Sports venues in Sydney Music venues in Sydney Indoor arenas in Australia Venues of the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic basketball venues Olympic gymnastics venues Netball venues in New South Wales Basketball venues in Australia National Basketball League (Australia) venues Boxing venues in Australia Legends Football League venues Sydney Kings New South Wales Swifts Giants Netball Sydney Swifts Philip Cox buildings Sydney Olympic Park