Hobart’s $1.13 billion Macquarie Point Stadium has received final approval from Tasmania’s upper house of parliament, with the Australian Football League (AFL) hailing it “a historic day.”
Following two days of extended debate, the upper house voted nine to five in favour of the stadium.
Construction of the new stadium was a condition set out by the AFL for the Tasmanian Devils football team to join the national AFL competition in 2028.
Cox Architecture was announced in May 2024 as the lead design consultant for the project alongside Tasmanian architecture practice Cumulus Studio, specialist engineers and technicians AECOM, Cova, Aldanmark, and Pitt and Sherry, and international partner Schlaich Bergermann Partners. Concept designs for the stadium were unveiled in July 2024.
Comprising a dome shape and a transparent roof structure, the 23,000-seat venue is set to become the world’s largest roofed stadium, said the state government.
The scale, location and cost of the project has sparked significant public outcry, with the initial cost estimate of the project at $715 million.
In September 2025, the Tasmanian Planning Commission recommended against building the stadium on the proposed site, stating that “the stadium (including its roof) – through its size, scale and form – will be dominant within the landscape, diminishing the prominence and significance of The Domain headland as a frame of Sullivans Cove, and standing as a significant obtrusive element in the present urban form in and surrounding Sullivans Cove.”
“It will irrevocably change, for the worse in the opinion of the panel, the way in which the landscape and urban pattern is appreciated and understood,” the panel said.
In reponse, Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff argued that the panel’s report “massively underestimates” the stadium’s potential social and economic benefits. He said the project would would create jobs, boost tourism and provide opportunities for young people.
AFL CEO Andrew Dillon said the upper house approval is “an incredibly important outcome for everyone who has worked tirelessly to see a Tasmanian footy club compete on the national stage, and for the hundreds of thousands of Tasmanians who have stood behind the Devils with such passion and pride,” he said.
“Creating a new AFL/AFLW club from scratch is no small task, there is much still to be done by the club to be ready for 2028. However, given the progress to date we could not be more confident that the Devils will make an immediate impact on the AFL/AFLW in 2028.”
For more on the project, read architect Mat Hinds’s opinion piece, “What’s the real cost of the Macquarie Point Stadium?”
Source: Architecture - architectureau
