The Sydney SuperDome (currently known as the Qudos Bank Arena for sponsorship reasons) is a multipurpose

arena An arena is a large enclosed venue, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, Music, musical performances or Sport, sporting events. It comprises a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for specta ...

located 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 in Australia, local government area of the City of Parramatta, City of Parramatta Council. It i ...

suburb of

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, New South Wales, Australia. It 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, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

. The A$190million facility was designed by COX Architecture & Devine deFlon Yaeger, and constructed by Abigroup and

Obayashi Corporation is one of five major Japanese construction companies along with Shimizu Corporation, Takenaka Corporation, Kajima Corporation, and Taisei Corporation. It is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and is one of the Nikkei 225 corporations. Its h ...

Bob Carr Robert John Carr (born 28 September 1947) is an Australian retired politician and journalist who served as the 39th Premier of New South Wales from 1995 to 2005, as the leader of the New South Wales Labor Party, New South Wales branch of the A ...

, premier of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, 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 venue is currently managed by AEG Ogden. For three consecutive years it 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 that ...

of around 18,000, 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, 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).

Design

The Sydney SuperDome is designed at an average capacity of 18,000 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 aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

, 1,884 tonnes of

reinforcing steel Rebar (short for reinforcement bar or reinforcing bar), known when massed as reinforcing steel or steel reinforcement, is a tension device added to concrete to form ''reinforced concrete'' and reinforced masonry structures to strengthen and aid ...

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

zinc Zinc is a chemical element; it has symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It 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 periodic tabl ...

and

aluminium Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

-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 directory, telephone directories of business, businesses, organized by category rather than alphabetically by business name, in which advertising is sold. The directories were originally printed on yellow paper, ...

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 (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable resource, renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human lifetime, human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind pow ...

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. It is one of the "big three" retailers in the National Electricity Market. It generates electricity primarily using ...

'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 panel is a device that converts sunlight into electricity by using photovoltaic (PV) cells. PV cells are made of materials that produce excited electrons when exposed to light. These electrons flow through a circuit and produce direct ...

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

pipes, in addition to nearly 3000m of

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its car ...

and copper pipes used in the venue's

plumbing Plumbing is any system that conveys fluids for a wide range of applications. Plumbing uses piping, pipes, valves, piping and plumbing fitting, plumbing fixtures, Storage tank, tanks, and other apparatuses to convey fluids. HVAC, Heating and co ...

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 uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

, used to construct the exterior balconies of the venue. The timber was sourced from Kempsey, and

Oberon Oberon () is a king of the fairy, fairies in Middle Ages, medieval and Renaissance literature. He is best known as a character in William Shakespeare's play ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', in which he is King of the Fairies and spouse of Titania ...

, 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 Propene, propylene. Polypropylene belongs to the group of polyolefin ...

seats with

nylon Nylon is a family of synthetic polymers characterised by amide linkages, typically connecting aliphatic or Polyamide#Classification, semi-aromatic groups. Nylons are generally brownish in color and can possess a soft texture, with some varieti ...

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. Sydney Kings

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 The Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) is a series of international esports tournaments held in countries around the world. These Electronic Sports League (ESL) sanctioned events, sponsored by Intel, currently host events in ''Counter-Strike 2''. Oth ...

Sydney (2017–2019)

Notable occasional events

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

Sydney Kings The Sydney Kings are an Australian men's professional basketball team competing in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL). The team is based in Sydney, New South Wales, and play their home games at Qudos Ba ...

and West Sydney Razorbacks. The record has since been eclipsed twice by Kings games at the Superdome. On 10 March 2023 18,049 fans watched the Sydney Kings defeat the

New Zealand Breakers The New Zealand Breakers (also known as the Bank of New Zealand, BNZ Breakers for sponsorship reasons) are a New Zealand professional basketball team based in Auckland. The Breakers are the only non-Australian side currently competing in Austral ...

in Game 3 of the 2023 NBL Grand Final series. Just five days later the current record of 18,124 attended the deciding Game 5 of the series where the Kings defeated the Breakers to win the Championship. 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 (appro ...

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

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, 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, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

89-71 over host nation

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, and the Gold Medal playoff, won by the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

85-75 over

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, 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 Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

World number one men's tennis player

Lleyton Hewitt Lleyton Glynn Hewitt (born 24 February 1981) is an Australian former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) fo ...

, defeating Frenchman

Sébastien Grosjean Sébastien René Grosjean (; born 29 May 1978) is a French tennis coach and a former professional player. Grosjean reached the semifinals at the 2001 Australian and French Opens, and at Wimbledon in 2003 and 2004. He finished eight consecutive ...

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 rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

game in Australia when 14,339 turned out to see the Australian Netball Diamonds defeat the New Zealand Silver Ferns, 54–49. On 28 July 2008, an

ANZ Championship The ANZ Championship, also known as the Trans-Tasman Netball League, is a former netball league featuring teams from both Australia and New Zealand. Between 2008 and 2016, it was the top-level league in both countries. The competition was owned ...

-record 12,999 fans saw the New South Wales Swifts defeat the

Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic are a New Zealand netball team based in Hamilton. The team were formed in 1998, following the merger of Waikato Wildcats and Bay of Plenty Magic. In 1997, Wildcats and Magic had been founder members of the Coca-Col ...

, 65–56, in the ANZ Championship Grand Final at the Acer Arena. On 3 July 2009, Taiwanese pop singer

Jay Chou Jay Chou Chieh-lun ( zh, s=周杰伦, t=周杰倫, first=t, p=Zhōu Jiélún; born 18 January 1979) is a Taiwanese singer-songwriter, actor, director, and businessman. Regarded as one of the most influential artists in the Chinese-speaking worl ...

came to Sydney as part of The World Tour. 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, actress, and businesswoman. With a career spanning over three decades, she has established herself as one of the most Cultural impact of Beyoncé, ...

and

The Eagles The Eagles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1971. With five number-one singles, six number-one albums, six Grammy Awards and five American Music Awards, the Eagles were one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s in ...

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

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

, 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 World Netball, inaugurated in 1963 World Netball Championships, 1963. Since its inception the competition has been dominated primarily by the Australia ...

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. She is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists in hist ...

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 7 April 2019, Chinese singer-songwriter Joker Xue headlined the arena as part of his Skyscraper World Tour. Following his show, he became the first Chinese male artist to headline

Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre The Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC), colloquially referred to as Jeff's Shed, is a group of three adjacent buildings next to the Yarra River in South Wharf, an inner-city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The venues ar ...

The Trusts Arena The Trusts Arena is an indoor arena located in Henderson, Auckland, New Zealand. It is a multi-purpose stadium that primarily holds sports events and music concerts. The Arena was opened by then Prime Minister of New Zealand Helen Clark on 11 ...

, and Qudos Bank Arena. He returned on 23 March 2024 as part of his Extraterrestrial World Tour to an audience of 10,593 with the box office of $1,960,479. In 2021, it was announced that as a result of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the arena would be used as a COVID-19 mass vaccination hub, commencing on 9 August 2021. The arena has held UFC events in Sydney since 2010, including '' UFC 110: Nogueira vs. Velasquez'' on 21 February 2010, '' UFC 127: Penn vs. Fitch'' on 27 February 2011, '' UFC on FX: Alves vs. Kampmann'' on 3 March 2012, '' UFC Fight Night: Rockhold vs. Bisping'' on 8 November 2014, '' UFC Fight Night: Werdum vs. Tybura'' on 19 November 2017, '' UFC 293: Adesanya vs. Strickland'' on 10 September 2023, and '' UFC 312: du Plessis vs. Strickland 2'' on 9 February 2025.

Sports teams

The venue is the home of the

who compete in Australia's National Basketball League and play all home matches at the SuperDome. The venue is affectionately nicknamed the 'King-Dome' by fans. Other NBL teams to play home games at the SuperDome include the West Sydney Razorbacks (as a part of double header with a Kings game after) and Melbourne United. Due to the

on 28 May 2021, Melbourne 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, then Cairns Pop-Up Arena, the game commenced with no audience three days later. The venue is also the former home of

Suncorp Super Netball The Super Netball League (known predominantly by its sponsored name Suncorp Group, Suncorp Super Netball (SSN)) is a professional netball league in Netball in Australia, Australia. It superseded the trans-Tasman ANZ Championship, which also inc ...

clubs Giants Netball and the New South Wales Swifts, both of whom have played finals and high-profile matches at the arena. Both teams have since relocated to the smaller but newly renovated Ken Rosewall Arena nearby.

Attendance records

The Sydney Kings have set attendance records for the league on five occasions while playing at the Superdome. In the 1999/2000 season, the Kings hosted a double header at the Superdome with the West Sydney Razorbacks playing the

Brisbane Bullets The Brisbane Bullets are an Australian professional men's basketball team in the National Basketball League (NBL) based in Brisbane, Queensland. They competed from 1979 to 2008, and returned to the league in 2016. Brisbane were one of ten NBL ...

and the Kings playing the Canberra Cannons. This double header set a league record of 17,143 fans in attendance. In a game against the Illawarra Hawks on 17 November 2019, the Kings set the all-time NBL single game attendance record with 17,514 at the Superdome. A major drawcard for the game was future NBA star and social media icon LaMelo Ball playing for the Hawks. In Game Three of the 2022 NBL Grand Final series against the Tasmania Jack Jumpers at Qudos Bank Arena, the team attracted a crowd of 16,149 – then the biggest playoff crowd in NBL history and the third-largest crowd overall in NBL history. In the Grand Final Series of the 2022/2023 season against the

, the Sydney Kings set the new single game attendance record and playoff game attendance record twice. With the Kings having home court advantage, Games 1, 3 and 5 were played at the Superdome. On Friday 10 March 2023, a new record of 18,049 attended Game 3 of the series. Just five days later with the series tied at 2 wins each, the Kings prevailed in Game 5 to win the championship in front of another record attendance of 18,124. American singer

Billie Eilish Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell ( ; born December 18, 2001) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She first gained public attention in 2015 with her debut single "Ocean Eyes (song), Ocean Eyes", written and produced by her broth ...

broke the arena's single-event attendance record during her show on 28 February 2025 as part of her Hit Me Hard And Soft: The Tour, with 21,001 attendees. This record surpassed the previous record of 20,839, which was held by

Justin Timberlake Justin Randall Timberlake (born January 31, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actor, record producer, and dancer. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Prince of Pop", ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' honored him as the b ...

on his FutureSex/LoveShow tour on 13 November 2007.

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 Sydney Kings New South Wales Swifts Giants Netball Sydney Swifts Philip Cox buildings Sydney Olympic Park