Docklands Stadium (Marvel Stadium) - Discussion

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The policy only changed to always closed in mid 2019. It was regularly open for day matches when the weather was clear prior to that.

Telling though when the poll on the news article at the time had 'always open' as the overwhelming response. It seemed to be mainly broadcasters and players complaining about the contrast.

Closed case: Roof to be shut for Marvel Stadium day matches this season

After complaints from players and broadcasters, the AFL has decided to close the roof for day matches at Marvel Stadium for the rest of the season.
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Probably novelty's sake but some of the best fun I've had at the footy has been open roof Marvel games.

Yeah when there are 50,000 people crammed in for a blockbuster on a Friday night, the roof closed helps the occasion and makes everything louder.

But I've been to a heap of redundant Western Bulldogs/St Kilda v Fremantle games with the roof open early or late on in the season and it's really nice – probably because, yknow, they only open the roof when the weather is nice...

An open roofed night game in round 1-2 when there's still scope for a nice sunset would be pretty great as well. when people cared about the A-League you'd get some cracking skies for Melbourne derbies.
 
The retractable roof is now fairly outdated. US Stadiums are moving to translucent stadium roofs that don't move. If the AFL want to invest in Docklands (rather than rebuild) the next major renovation will be replacing the roof to a translucent one. This would give the stadium the natural light it lacks when the roof is closed yet hopefully avoid the situation where one end faces into direct sunlight when the roof is open. They could surely alter the roof to offset this flaw.
 
I wonder if you could just replace the steel panels with clear ones? i know its way more complicated than just that, but i wouldn't remove the opening mechanism if it can handle new transparent panels. I read about Real Madrid's upgrade and the special panels they used that were clear but no glare etc...
 
If the roof becomes translucent and can filter the sun, then you don't really have as much of a need for opening it. At that point you just fix the roof open (or remove the roof if it's not crazy complex) and cover the open section with translucent roofing.

I think it would make a world of difference to open up and brighten the place a bit.
 
I think night games and concerts on a nice night would still be better with the roof open even it would be clear. Depending what the panels actually filter out it might benefit the surface for 100% natural sun as well.
 
The stadium's done, even those cosmetic changes over the last couple of years are barely noticeable. if anything they have made the place worse. the big screens look slapped on and stupid. and the gates at the city-side flank are a really peculiar experience – it's like they've made heaps of space but it's entirely unused because staff manually scan tickets, which just makes for a backlog of supporters trying to get in and because there's no actual line, everyone is jammed in the 'queue.' it's one of the weirdest design decision I have ever seen.

A few small things that need to be considered for future stadiums:

  • the concourses feel tight and restrictive, but I think the issue is the lack of distinct 'sections.' people just walk around in circles when they get to the ground so you have this flow of two-way traffic everywhere. at the MCG, the MCC and AFL Members sections restrict that needless flow so when you enter, people are walking in a more 'back to front' motion as opposed to circularly.
  • the most used tier being the top one. these are always going to be the most affordable and most useful seats to more social and casual fans, but the way it's handled at Marvel was really poorly thought out. the long, ramp style trip was obviously brought in for traffic management but it's a secondary stadium so quite often you're walking by yourself for eight minutes. the MCG's up-and-down style stairs don't seem to have any real issues when 80,000 are all leaving at the same time. the other issue with the climb is that you end up in a different part of the ground; if you enter on ground level on the wing and finally find a ramp to go up (these are poorly signed as well and look identical to staff entries, medical rooms) you end up behind the goals. I can't help but feel it contributes to...
  • people having no idea where they are, walking to the seating entrances, poking their head around to see where they are, and then having someone tell you 'go to gate E, this is full, this area is full!' it is ****ing frustrating going door to door to see if there's a seat. these entrance bits need to be big and wider so people can see where they are and so you don't have these big informal lines two minutes to bounce down; they also need to rethink people with set seats (club members) sharing the same bays and entrances as GA. and I swear it changes from team to team; some sides will have club members in the first 20 rows across the ground and the top few are GA but then the next weekend you rock up and GA is behind the goals. ****ing horrible set up.


The next stadium needs a significant point of difference and I've always thought something built into the land would work. with everyone who matters' hard on for Melbourne Park, I'd like to see them build into the ground there at Swan Street/Punt Road and you could integrate a couple of exits from the new Richmond station to also be half underground.

The main benefit is most people walk into the most spacious, well equipped level: the top one. you'd make this have the highest capacity and also all the amenities. people would drop down to each level and it'd be a sensible trickle down thing where the second tier is 25% of the stadium and the bottom a more premium/Optus-style ground level hospitality that caters for 15% of the capacity.
 
Seattle Mariners said:
Surely we’re opening the roof on Saturday night.
30 degrees at kick off with no rain expected. Will be a sauna if they keep it closed.
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That's common sense, so it won't happen. Plus who thought it was smart to put that game on at the same time as the Collingwood vs Port game at the MCG?
 
its been done said:
That's common sense, so it won't happen. Plus who thought it was smart to put that game on at the same time as the Collingwood vs Port game at the MCG?
Click to expand...
Yes but it’s no longer a sport it’s a TV game get used to it as this will be the last TV deal that you will see Foxtel and 7 as Netflix and other streaming services are coming.
 

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Docklands Stadium (Marvel Stadium) - Discussion

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