The financial backer of the Bears, Christopher Skase, spent $1 million redeveloping Carrara Oval over a 10-week period at the beginning of 1987, which included upgraded player facilities, seating for 6000 spectators and new electronic scoreboard.

On 19 April 1987, the Fitzroy Lions defeated the Brisbane Bears in the first VFL game played at Carrara Oval, before a crowd of 17,795.

Liquidators attempted to extract money from the Gold Coast City Council for the lights but, after an unsuccessful trial, it was found cheaper to leave the floodlights in place at Carrara Stadium.

The Gold Coast Clippers[7] played their 1989–1990 Australian Baseball League season at Carrara before changing their name to the Daikyo Dolphins and moving to nearby Palm Meadows.

[12] The ground was owned by the Shire of Albert, which transferred to the Gold Coast City Council when the two local authorities amalgamated in 1995.

They continued to use the ground until the end of the 1998 NRL season when they were excluded from the competition as a part of the rationalisation of the National Rugby League.

Following the conclusion of the 2007 NRL season, Titans managing director Michael Searle warned the AFL that if a team were to be started on the Gold Coast it would disappear into the Carrara 'black hole' within five years.

On 7 December 2007 the newly appointed Kangaroos chairman James Brayshaw announced the club would not be moving to the Gold Coast permanently and would continue to be based out of Melbourne.

The AFL released North Melbourne from the final year of a three-year contract after they drew just 6,354 spectators to their first home match at Carrara for the 2008 season.

The stadium then played host to an International rules football in November 2011, with 12,595 watching Ireland defeat Australia by 50 points to 29.

[30][31] The stadium was used extensively during the 2020 AFL season, which was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, as several non-Queensland teams spent extended periods of time in Gold Coast quarantine hubs and played home games at the ground, as a means of carrying on the season while state borders were restricted or closed to interstate travel.

[37] The Gold Coast Suns played their first game at the reconstructed stadium on Saturday, 28 May 2011, in Round 10 of the 2011 AFL season.

[42] The Gold Coast District Cricket Club was formed in 1990 and shared tenancy of Carrara Stadium with the Brisbane Bears.

Controversy fell over the ground when touring English players David Gower and John Morris chose to go for a joy-ride in two Tiger moth biplanes without telling the England team management and buzzed the stadium in the middle of play.

Both players were subsequently fined £1000 for the prank, a penalty that could have been steeper had Gower elected to release the water bombs he had prepared.

[48] The stadium remains a potential future home ground for a Gold Coast-based Big Bash League side that enters the competition.

[49][50] Carrara Stadium was selected to host all Brisbane Heat home finals in the 2023-2024 Big Bash League season.

[51] The Qualifier final against the Sydney Sixers attracted a Gold Coast cricket record crowd of 20,191 spectators.

Former KISS lead guitarist and foundation band member Ace Frehley revealed in his 2011 autobiography that he punched then-tour manager Tommy Thayer in the jaw while in the dressing room at the conclusion of the Gold Coast concert in 2001.

[53] The stadium served as the venue for the last leg of the Kiss Farewell Tour and Thayer would later replace Frehley as the lead guitarist in the band.

[54] The third and final night of the long weekend saw the Anthony Mundine-Timo Masua boxing match take place at Carrara.

The stadium was set to serve as the host of the two-day SandTunes Music Festival on 30 November & 1 December 2019, prior to its cancellation.

[55] Queen + Adam Lambert played at the stadium on 29 February 2020 in the final concert of their Australian leg of The Rhapsody Tour and pulled a record crowd of 40,000 attendees.

On match and event days, special shuttle bus services from Nerang station and Broadbeach serve the stadium.

A taxi rank also operates in front of the adjacent Gold Coast Sports and Leisure Centre on match days.