Traeger Park | |
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 Central Australian Football League match at Traeger Park, Alice Springs | |
 Interactive map of TIO Traeger Park | |
| Location | Alice Springs,NT, Australia |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 23°42′32″S133°52′30″E / 23.7090°S 133.8751°E /-23.7090; 133.8751 |
| Operator | Alice Springs Town Council |
| Capacity | 7,200[1] |
| Field size | 168 m × 132 m (551 ft × 433 ft)[2] |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1991 |
| Renovated | 2006 |
| Tenants | |
| AFL Northern Territory Northern Territory Cricket Melbourne Football Club (AFL) (2014-present) Adelaide Strikers (BBL) 2017-2018 Hobart Hurricanes (BBL) (2019-present) NT Thunder (QAFL/NEAFL) (2009-2019) | |
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 Interactive map of Traeger Park | |
| Ground information | |
| Country | Australia |
| Capacity | 7,200 |
| End names | |
| Traeger Avenue MacDonnell Ranges | |
| As of 20 December 2019 Source:Cricinfo | |
Traeger Park (currently known under naming rights asTIO Traeger Park[3]) is a sports complex located inAlice Springs,Northern Territory,Australia, in the suburb ofThe Gap. Named afterAlfred Hermann Traeger, the park was officially opened by Anne Catherine Smallwood (née Traeger), Alfred's younger daughter. The primary stadium in the complex caters forAustralian rules football andcricket and has a capacity of 7,200.[4] The complex also has a small baseball stadium.
Traeger Park is home to theCentral Australian Football League, and also hosts the annualNgurratjuta Easter Lightning Carnival.[5]
Traeger Park has occasionally staged pre-season matches for theAustralian Football League andNational Rugby League. In 2004, an AFLRegional Challenge match betweenCollingwood Football Club andPort Adelaide Football Club attracted a sell-out crowd of 10,000. In 2006, theWest Coast Eagles played theCarlton Football Club in anNAB Cup Regional Challenge match. A trial match between theNorth Queensland Cowboys and theBrisbane Broncos was played at the ground during the warm-up to the2011 NRL season.
Traeger Park has been hostingAFL preseason games since 2004 with the largest crowd ever at the ground occurring in 2007 between the Adelaide Crows and the West Coast Eagles. The2011 NEAFL Grand Final was held at the ground as well. The game saw theNorthern Territory Thunder defeat theAinslie Tri-Colours 16.18 (114) to 13.14 (92).
The venue hosted its first ever AFL premiership match on 31 May2014, withMelbourne shifting its home match againstPort Adelaide to the venue.[6] Melbourne has scheduled one match per year at the venue since 2014, often to coincide with the league's Indigenous Round; the 2021 match was cancelled when travel into Northern Territory was restricted by the COVID-19 pandemic.[7]
Traeger Park hosted its first first-class match in February 2015, aSheffield Shield match betweenVictoria vsQueensland, owing to the unavailability of both states' usual home grounds during the2015 World Cup.[8] It became a home-away-from-home for Victoria from then until 2017 whenever the Melbourne Cricket Ground was unavailable, due to no other Victorian venues being first-class standard at the time, and Victoria hosted the final of the2016–17 Sheffield Shield season at the venue in March 2017.[9]
Dating to as early as 1988, the ground has a history of staging warm-up and tour matches for visiting international Test squads; and since 2004 it has hosted matches in the annualImparja Cup, a limited overs tournament contested by state and territory teams comprising Indigenous Australian cricketers.[10]
The ground hosted its firstBig Bash League match on 13 January 2018, with theAdelaide Strikers taking on thePerth Scorchers.[11]
The Northern Territory Government announced in 2002 that $4.2 million would be allocated to upgrading Traeger Park over a ten-year period. The floodlights will be upgraded from 300 lux to 800 lux which will allow televised AFL games. Future light towers will provide a lighting level of 1400 lux which will cater for televised international cricket.
A new 750 kva transformer and high voltage cabling reticulation is required to increase power supply to Traeger Park to cater for the new lights and grandstand facility. The grandstand/multi functional facility will replace the existing Ted Hayes Memorial Stand and is expected to consist of players change rooms and amenities, players dining rooms, umpires change room, first aid room, doctor/physio room, grandstand seating, multipurpose function room, kitchen, corporate rooms, press rooms and third umpire room.
Top 10 sports attendance records
| No. | Date | Teams | Sport | Competition | Crowd |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 March 2007 | Adelaide Crows v.West Coast Eagles | Australian Rules Football | AFL (preseason) | 11,000 |
| 2 | 5 March 2004 | Collingwood Magpies v.Port Adelaide Power | Australian Rules Football | AFL (preseason) | 10,000 |
| 3 | 10 March 2006 | Carlton Blues v.West Coast Eagles | Australian Rules Football | AFL (preseason) | 8,500 |
| 4 | 8 February 2013 | Indigenous All-Stars v.Richmond Tigers | Australian Rules Football | AFL (preseason) | 8,350[12] |
| 5 | 4 March 2005 | Fremantle Dockers v.Richmond Tigers | Australian Rules Football | AFL (preseason) | 7,500 |
| 6 | 21 July 2019 | Melbourne Demons v.West Coast Eagles | Australian Rules Football | AFL | 7,164 |
| 7 | 27 May 2018 | Melbourne Demons v.Adelaide Crows | Australian Rules Football | AFL | 6,989 |
| 8 | 17 July 2022 | Melbourne Demons v.Port Adelaide Power | Australian Rules Football | AFL | 6,312 |
| 9 | 2 June 2024 | Melbourne Demons v.Fremantle Dockers | Australian Rules Football | AFL | 6,109 |
| 10 | 29 February 2008 | Carlton Blues v.West Coast Eagles | Australian Rules Football | AFL (preseason) | 6,000 |
Last updated on 2 June 2024