Melbourne’s Ballpark Facility Audit

Melbourne’s Ballpark Facility Audit
ASSESSMENT # 1: FACILITY AUDIT
STUDENT NAME
STUDENT ID:
SUBJECT NAME: SPORT FACILITY AND EVENT MANAGEMENT
SUBJECT CODE: MMS774
UNIT CHAIR: MIKE NARAINE
TRIMESTER 2, 2018
1

ABSTRACT
Facility audit involves analysis of various features and aspects of a place. The scope of
current facility audit involves analysis of Melbourne Ballpark field which is mainly known for
hosting baseball and softball gaming events. The scope of current facility audit reflects that the
location, features and facilities offered at the park is able to cater to customer needs. This
analysis is able to reflect upon aspects, which is necessary for future proofing of the park. The
park faces immense maintenance challenges which it needs to overcome. It requires extensive
investments to be made such that appropriate maintenance can take place. Being an organization
receiving support from State Government and Federal government, the park is able to generate
funds adequately.
2

Table of Contents
ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................................2
1.0 INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................4
2.0 FACILITY AUDIT....................................................................................................................4
2.1 Nature of Facility...................................................................................................................5
2.2 Design and Construction........................................................................................................6
2.3 Strategy and Organizational Structure...................................................................................7
2.4 Marketing.............................................................................................................................11
2.5 Programming........................................................................................................................12
2.6 Operations............................................................................................................................13
3.0 FUTURE PROOFING.............................................................................................................14
4.0 CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................18
5.0 REFERENCES LISTS.............................................................................................................20
3

1.0 INTRODUCTION
A facility audit is conducted by evaluating various information to analyse the
effectiveness with which a facility performs (Timperio, Giles-Corti, Crawford, Andrianopoulos,
Ball, Salmon & Hume, 2008). Auditing of a facility requires analyzing location, staffing, design,
staffing and marketing necessary for event management. The scope of current report involves
facility audit of Melbourne Ballpark, which has a Melbourne baseball ground. Melbourne Aces
is a professional baseball team in the Australian Baseball League, which is located at Melbourne,
Victoria, Australia. The facility is located at the center of the city and has various features
including wide field, changing room, shower room and so on (Hepburn, 2013). It has an
organization which maintains the field with proper organizational structure to conduct regular
activities at the center. Initially physical components of the facility through which various
training and events are held are analysed. Thereafter, marketing activities, evaluation of human
resources and competitor analysis is undertaken to understand ways in which the facility
functions. Future challenges which the organization might face along with ways to deal with
such challenges are reflected at. The facility at Melbourne hosts Australian baseball League and
was established in the year 1990 (Emery, Crabtree & Kerr, 2012). The scope of this current
analysis takes into consideration detailed facility audit along with future challenges and
opportunities.
2.0 FACILITY AUDIT
Melbourne’s baseball ground is responsible for baseball, soft ball training and wellness
needs of Melbourne Aces team, staff and others who get selected for their team. It has a well-
defined organization structure governed by Melbourne Aces (Bainbridge, 2015). Melbourne
4

Ballpark provides training needs for Baseball and Softball in Victoria. Initial set up of the park
was done by the State Government of Victoria contributing to $ 2 million and the Australian
Federal Government contributed to $ 1.8 million, which led to a total cost of $ 3.9 million in
establishing the entire park. An in-depth facility audit of various features and aspects of the park
can reveal in detail ways in which the park functions (John, 2015).
2.1 Nature of Facility
The park was constructed by CK Designwork Architects. Former name of the park was
Altona Stadium, based on its location at Merton Street, Altona, Victoria. The state Government
of Victoria is the Owner of the park and it has a siting capacity of 3,900 of siting and other
capacity (Mygind, Bentsen, Badland, Edwards, Hooper & Villanueva, 2016). The very large
field area offers multiple facilities for spectators, participative, natural along with multi-use
facilities as stated below.
 Spectator facilities: The Park offers multiple spectator facilities such as eateries,
washrooms, parking facilities, water availability and so on. These facilities offer
spectators benefits of enjoying the show in an unhindered manner and avail any of their
personal needs or demands.
 Participative facilities: Participants taking part in any sport are provided with changing
rooms, lockers where they can keep their personal belongings, washrooms with shower
facilities, a multi-facility gym and refueling zone where they can get food and drinks for
re-energizing.
5

 Natural facilities: Natural facility of the park includes large field layout which includes
left field of 91 m, left-center being 105 m, center field 113 m, right center 105m and
right field being 91 m. The infield was initially made from Astroturf, which later was
changed into synthetic with grass outfield.
 Multi-use facilities: Multi-use features and facilities of the park include parking, with
washrooms, eateries and water facilities.
Figure 1: Melbourne's Ballpark field Facility
2.2 Design and Construction
The design and construction was initially undertaken in the year January of 1990, which
later was renovated a number of times. The following are the aspects of design and construction.
Australia Baseball Federation director Ron Smith selected Laverton location for the stadium
(Sekendiz, Gray, Norton, Keyzer, Dietrich, Eickhoff-Shemek & Finch, 2016). As the land was
free and money could be expended for building the venue instead of buying it elsewhere. The
park was finally opened by The Minister of Sport, the Honorable Neil Tresize.
6