Ground was broken for Football Park in 1971, giving the SANFL its own venue after years of playing out of the Adelaide Oval, which was controlled by the South Australian Cricket Association (SACA).

Due to ongoing conflicts with the SACA, the SANFL had wanted to leave Adelaide Oval and move into their own home stadium for a number of years, finally settling on the undeveloped swampland at West Lakes in 1970 (the same year as the similarly designed, but larger VFL Park opened in Melbourne).

[citation needed] Bench seating was gradually added to the stadium's bowl section, and the concourse roof was finished in 1982, by which time the grounds capacity had settled to around 55,000.

[citation needed] The new roof gave the outer of the ground a limited number of under cover seats, as well as opening up more space for advertising boards.

[4] To avoid a crush, spectators were allowed on the field between the boundary line and the fence, and thousands were turned away by police as the house full signs went up.

[5] Major artists held concerts at Football Park, including The Beach Boys, ABBA, Neil Diamond, Alice Cooper, Dire Straits, Electric Light Orchestra, U2, The Rolling Stones, Genesis, Elton John with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra on 21 November 1986 and Robbie Williams.

[7] After it was built, Football Park underwent several additions including: Further upgrades, which largely did not eventuate, were proposed in June 2008.

[18] It was announced that the land will be redeveloped for 1,600 new houses, a library, retail area and a five-storey, 120-bed aged care facility.

[19] Following the announcement, most of the seating at the ground was removed and given to local football clubs, before full-scale demolition work on the grandstands began in August 2018.