Carrara

Carrara, also known by it's sponsor name of Metricon Stadium, is the main sporting venue of Queensland's Gold Coast region. Originally created as the home for the Brisbane Bears it is presently the home of Gold Coast in the AFL.
==Creation==
The area originally contained a simple oval called Carrara Oval. It is not known how long the oval had been there but in 1983 Nerang's rugby union team used it as their home before moving to another venue. For two years the oval was unused before the Brisbane Bears were formed and announced that they would be playing their home games at the venue and not at the Gabba. The club's financial backer, Christopher Skase, threw money at developing the venue upgrading player facilities, installing a new electronic scoreboard and stands for 6,000 people. However the stands and facilities were done as temporary structures. 
==The time of the Bears==
The Bears played their first three games of the 1987 VFL season away before debuting it's home venue in a loss to Fitzroy. The Bears would win three of it's home games during the first season but the venue's facilities combined with the distance from Brisbane mitigated against attracting crowds. In 1989, the Bears signed a 30 year lease with the Albert Shire Council and this was quickly followed by Skase arranging for lighting to be installed at the venue allowing for night matches. However Skase never paid the bill and at the end of 1989 disappeared to Spain when his company collapsed. Liquidators tried to get the money from the Gold Coast City Council but failed and they ended up writing the debt off leaving the lights in place for use.
The new owner, Reuben Pelerman, struggled with the venue and at the end of the 1992 season moved the Bears to Brisbane where they probably should have been to begin with.
==The interim period==
In 1989 baseball started being played during the summer at Carrara and when the Bears moved to Brisbane it was the only sport played there from 1993 to 1995. In 1996 the newly formed rugby league club the Gold Coast Chargers called Carrara home and stayed until the end of 1998 when they were kicked out of the NRL. Baseball left in 1999 and the venue was vacant again.
In 2007 an attempt was made to revive the venue. North Melbourne played some home games there and rugby leagues Gold Coast Titans also played there along with rugby union's East Coast Aces. But this failed.
==Redevelopment and the Suns==
In 2009 the AFL granted a license to a new club, the Gold Coast Suns. The poor state of the facilities required a complete rebuild and demolition of the original facilities was completed and the new facilities were built, completed in time for the Suns debut in the AFL in 2011 - although the first game wasn't played until late May. An increased capacity and corporate facilities that made the old venue look like a suburban backwater. An additional benefit for the venue was public transport, with the Gold Coast railway line operational and Nerang station within two kilometres of the venue.
==Other sports and other uses==
The larger venue and the facilities attracted cricket to Carrara in 2018 with a T20 game between Australia and South Africa being played there. It has also hosted games in the Big Bash League.
The 2018 Commonwealth Games were hosted by the Gold Coast and the venue hosted the opening and closing ceremonies as well as the athletics.
The only non sport use for the venue has been for concerts, with the record crowd for the venue of 39,607 enjoying the music of Queen with Adam Lambert in 2020. It has also hosted the Foo Fighters and Kiss as well as the Big Day Out in 2014.