Will surging crowds push Super Netball decider to Rod Laver Arena for 2025 Melbourne grand final?
The Super Netball grand final will be played in Melbourne in 2025 with the venue still to be decided. But will sellout crowds and last season’s viewership records push it to a new venue?
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Rod Laver Arena could be in the frame to host the 2025 Super Netball grand final as Netball Australia targets “bigger opportunities to showcase the game” after the competition decider was again secured by the Victorian government.
The location for next year’s Super Netball grand final was confirmed on Sunday and it will be the fourth consecutive season the premiership decider has been locked into a host city before the season’s combatants were even decided.
Netball Australia is still finalising its fixture for the 2025 season and said the date and venue for the grand final would be confirmed at a later stage, but the higher-capacity Rod Laver Arena has emerged as a venue option.
Rod Laver Arena has a capacity of 14,800 people, while John Cain Arena holds 10,500.
John Cain Arena hosted the 2023 Super Netball grand final between the New South Wales Swifts and Adelaide Thunderbirds, while the decider was sold off to Perth in 2022.
The South Australian government secured the 2024 Super Netball grand final at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre, which ended up being a battle between the Thunderbirds and the Melbourne Vixens.
Netball Australia chief executive Stacey West said venue options were being explored and the sport was always seeking “bigger opportunities” to showcase its events.
“We are absolutely keeping options open. We will commence scoping of different venues that are here in Melbourne, looking at what’s available and what we can do in terms of maximising attendance and how we can bring a great event,” West said.
“Now that we’ve got the city locked in, now we (look at the) venues. We’ll look to make that announcement as soon as we possibly can.
“ (RLA is) a bigger court, (more fans), bigger opportunities to showcase the game, bigger opportunities to do more around the event, too.
“The bigger the stadium, the more people that get to experience the match and the more that we get to crossover between the fans and that elite game.”
The Super Netball grand final has been a sellout for the past three years and the 2024 campaign was the most-attended season of Australian women’s sport with 366,222 fans watching games around the country.
Netball Australia entered into a $15 million sponsorship deal in late 2022 with Visit Victoria – the state government’s tourism agency – running through to June 2027.
The deal did not specify Melbourne host a certain number of grand finals during those five years, according to West, but Victoria’s Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events, Steve Dimopoulos, said the partnership had put the state in the “box seat” to secure top netball events, including Diamonds’ Tests.
The grand final announcement is a boost for Melbourne’s two Super Netball franchises, the Melbourne Vixens and newcomers Melbourne Mavericks ahead of their 2025 campaign.
The Vixens suffered a two-goal loss to the Thunderbirds in this year’s grand final, while the Mavericks fell agonisingly short of making the finals in their first season in the competition.
Vixens captain Kate Moloney said knowing a home grand final was already locked in would be an extra spur for the team, especially coming off a grand final loss.
“The last two grand finals that I have played in have been interstate and there is nothing better than playing at home in front of our Melbourne crowd,” Moloney said.
“There is nothing that we would want more than to be in that same spot next year in front of a Melbourne crowd with the amazing support that we have.
“It definitely is that extra little bit of motivation to try and get back there.
“It’s always tough to lose a grand final, they are hard to get into and we are going to work extremely hard to get back there.”
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Originally published as Will surging crowds push Super Netball decider to Rod Laver Arena for 2025 Melbourne grand final?
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