Craig Tiley’s big vision for Melbourne’s sport precinct revival

A running path similar to “the Tan’ should be built through the heart of Melbourne’s sports precinct as well as shops, restaurants, an outdoor cinema and a futuristic museum,

Outgoing Tennis Australia and Australian Open boss Craig Tiley said Melbourne’s iconic sports and entertainment precinct needed be brought to life year-round rather than only when events were happening.

Drawcard dining experiences such as Australia’s first permanent Shake Shack restaurant also needed to open on the prime patch of real estate to drive an economic and cultural “revival” of our city.

Mr Tiley told the nation’s best cluster of stadiums were crying out to be better activated 365 days a year.

“If you said to me ‘what would you do tomorrow?’ well the first thing I’d probably do is put an open-air cinema down there,” Mr Tiley said.

“I’d have exercise stations over there. I’d put a temporary bike path and jogging track in.

“We run around the Tan, why don’t we run through the precinct?”

To help bring Melbourne back to life, Mr Tiley – the architect behind the AO’s expansion to a record breaking three week cash cow – said the buzz should remain long after men’s and women’s finals are played.

“This is the one thing that I’ve always said on the precinct: Could we replicate what happens here in January 365 days a year?” he said.

“I believe we can.

“There’s many more things that we could have on the precincts.”

While temporary infrastructure was built and taken down each year for bars, restaurants, music, fashion and more for the AO, constructing it permanently could save costs and add attractions.

Adding destination attractions such as a Shake Shack burger joint – which sparked huge queues and interest in a trial run at Melbourne Park in January – would draw people to a precinct that is a ghost town when events aren’t on.

“Entertainment is what the precinct was built for but I think with really thoughtful content builds, there can be more activity in precinct,” he said.

“One of the reasons why you want that year-round is because you want the economic impact to the city and to the state.

“But the second thing is you want to have a revival – of activity in the city every night, during the day.

“And third, you want to maximise the use of the precinct so you can justify further permanent infrastructure.”

While cafes exist at Melbourne Park, the MCG and AAMI Park and St Andrews Beach Brewery has traded near Rod Laver Arena since 2024, permanent restaurants and shops rarely operate outside event days.

Mr Tiley said that needed to change, with something as simple as a sports superstore giving fans a reason to visit the area.

“I’d immediately build some retail outlets, somewhere you can buy retail for all our sporting teams,” he said.

“If you love Collingwood, you can buy a Collingwood hat.

“That doesn’t solve things for the future. That just solves it for today.

“Solving for the future is going to require coming together with ideas and then more infrastructure build.”

While the Australian Sports Museum is already based at the MCG, Mr Tiley said there was scope for a state-of-the-art attraction in the precinct featuring holograms or the latest technology to tell our proud sporting story.

“I would build virtual celebrations of great sport in Australia,” he said.

Though the precinct is pumping during the AO, Mr Tiley said Melbourne Park needed a new injection of life at other times.

“If I’m from anywhere in the world and I come to this precinct you say ‘this is unbelievable’,” he said.

“The US and others have a sporting precinct and around the precinct they build a little city connected into the stadium.

“They build hotels, conference centres, kind of like what’s happening down at Marvel Stadium – that’s going to happen.

“So I think, when we look at the momentum, and this is the word I use all the time, you have to have momentum in content, and you have to have momentum in infrastructure.”

He said people flocked to the precinct in January because “every single hour of the day there’s activity.

“And it’s not just tennis. It could be music, it can be beautification, gaming, it could be exercise.”