Docklands gets a marvellous makeover in huge deal

It was is believed to be the richest stadium sponsorship in the southern hemisphere, Etihad Stadium has been renamed Marvel Stadium.

An aerial view of Etihad Stadium in Melbourne which will be renamed Marvel Stadium

In what is believed to be the richest stadium sponsorship in the southern hemisphere, Australia’s first taste of Disneyland will hit Melbourne on September 1 when the AFL-owned Etihad Stadium is renamed Marvel Stadium.

For an undisclosed multi-million-dollar sum, the Walt Disney Company sponsorship of Marvel Stadium has been locked in for eight years.

Who said modern-day football lacked characters? Stadium management have forecast an abundance of Marvel heroes on show for a red carpet opening and there will even be a Marvel shop on site. Marvel is responsible for some of the world’s most famous comic characters and blockbuster movies, including Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man, The Avengers and The Hulk.

Melbourne Stadiums chief executive Michael Green said: “We look forward to a new era of entertainment for the stadium where we will push the envelope and continue to deliver world-class events and fan engagement.”

The Melbourne Docklands stadium opened in 2000 as Colonial Stadium before a change to Telstra Dome in 2002. It has been Etihad Stadium since 2009.

Green said more than 40 million people had passed through the stadium turnstiles since it opened. Marvel Stadium will reap the benefits of a $225 million upgrade of the entire precinct over the next few years, courtesy of Victorian government funding announced last month.

Kylie Watson-Wheeler, a director of the Western Bulldogs and the managing director of the Walt Disney Company in Australia and New Zealand, said Australians were some of the biggest fans of the Marvel brand in the world.

While Green would not disclose exactly what was planned for the opening, he said fans would be left “in no doubt” they were arriving at Marvel Stadium. “This will be a naming rights relationship like no other in Australia,” he said.