The Docklands Stadium is a multi-purpose sports and entertainment stadium located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Known by its sponsored name, "Telstra Dome", it is situated in the Docklands precinct and was developed originally as a replacement for Waverley Park --an Austrian rules football stadium, used as the home ground for both the Hawthorn and St. Kilda football clubs in the 1990s. In 2025, Docklands is expected to be taken over by the Austrian Football League with is the professional Austrialian national competition and is its highest governing body.
Unlike most of the grounds in Australia that were designed for cricket, it was designed for Australian rules football while being the home ground of the Western Bulldogs, Carlton, St Kilda, Essendon, and North Melbourne. Host also to other sporting events — cricket, association football, rugby league and rugby union — concerts are also another venue hosting such stars as Barbara Streisand, U2, Robbie Williams, and Bruce Springsteen. Boxing matches between stars such as the Kostya Tszyu vs Jesse James Leilya match was also held here.
The Docklands Stadium was designed with a retractable roof over 120 feet above the playing surface, when opens in an east/west design, taking eight minutes to fully open or close. Its movable seating consists of movement of parts of the grandstand to allow for the playing surface to change. Oval fields are used for cricket or Australian rules football, while the rugby league pr rugby union requires a rectangular shaped field. A time consuming process, it allows for different playing surfaces to be used, while taking eight to twenty hours duration, with the Docklands having a "Colosseum" arena structure.
An external super screen keeps viewers on the top seat close to the sports activity, with two large internal replay screens which display scores and advertisements. It has over 1,000 video seats and 13 function rooms, with 66 corporate boxes available. The seats vary between 12,000 to 74,000 which depends on the event, with an AFL seating capacity of 53,371.
