The creation of field, formerly known as Dolphin Oval, began when the
Redcliffe City Council made re-claimed land available for sporting fields in the 1970s. The
Redcliffe Dolphins, who at the time were based at the
Redcliffe Showgrounds, showed immediate interest and applied for the maximum area available. Redcliffe City Council engineer Kevin Tibbets took to the construction of the ground with the utmost enthusiasm, with the football club even hosting a trip interstate for him to study playing arenas in New South Wales. The transition from the
Redcliffe Showgrounds to Dolphin Oval presented some major problems. Due to the isolation of the area at the time of construction, normal services were not readily available and therefore had to be brought in. Due to the gravity flow to Klingner Road, expensive sewerage pumps had to be brought in, power for the floodlights had to go underground to the main oval and the run-through tunnel was
transhipped from
Western Australia at a cost of $9,000, which was still cheaper than buying one from the
Eastern states. The lighting at the showgrounds was far superior, but the Redcliffe Rugby League Old Boys, led by Neil Okamura, contributed a $5,000 loan, which was later turned into a grant, for suitable floodlighting. They also constructed a perimeter playing fence around the main oval at a cost of $2,780. In return, the football club provided the Old Boys with a solid can-booth at the northern end of the complex and were granted the rights to sell liquor on a commission basis. The pressure to build a licensed club at Dolphin Oval was met with a great deal of caution, especially when the existing club at the Showgrounds was still profitable. But within 12 months after the sod-turning ceremony, the new clubhouse was opened by the Mayor of Redcliffe, Ald. Alf Charlish. With the help of the Federal Member for Petrie,
Dean Wells, and his Government's contribution through their C.E.P. Funding, along with the football club's own financial arrangements with the
Commonwealth Bank, the move was made possible. However the heavily publicised and enforced "Don't Drink and Drive" policy by the Government struck the thriving bar trade, and, according to
From Shellgrit to Dolphins, a book on the History of the Redcliffe Dolphins, says: "Suffice to say the club only barely kept its doors open and its creditors at bay until the advent of poker machines in 1992, but proudly was able to meet its financial commitments". In January 1979, the committee proposed to name the complex the Don McLennan Oval after the club executive, but he requested that it be called Dolphin Oval. Fittingly, the first game at Dolphin Oval was between
Redcliffe and
Norths, the club that originally proposed Redcliffe's admission into the
BRL. The original lease was acquired to 1998 and later extended to 2008, before the Redcliffe Dolphins bought the land. In June 2019,
A-Leagues football club
Brisbane Roar announced it would move three of its home matches in the
2019–20 season to the venue. The club's
women's team has played high-profile home matches at the venue. In November 2019,
Brisbane Roar played the first ever
A-League Men game at the venue against
Melbourne City, attracting a sell-out crowd of 9387. The Roar came from behind to win 4-3. In October 2020,
A-League Men side
Brisbane Roar announced it would move its home matches for the
2020–21 season to the venue. For the
2023–24 season,
Brisbane Roar moved back to
Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane for men's games, with women's games held at
Perry Park and
Ballymore Stadium. In June 2025
Brisbane Roar announced that they would play 2 Home games at Kayo Stadium during the
2025–26 Season, this ended up being increased to 3 games due to Brisbane Roar VS Perth Glory being moved to the venue due to a schedule conflict at
Suncorp Stadium During the
2021 NRL season, all teams moved temporarily to Queensland due to
COVID-19 outbreaks in Sydney and Melbourne. A round 20 match between
Cronulla Sharks and
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles and a round 21 match between
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and
Wests Tigers, played on consecutive Sundays, were scheduled to be played at the stadium. However due to a
snap lockdown, these were once again relocated to
Suncorp Stadium. Subsequently, the stadium hosted its first NRL matches in round 22, when it hosted a double-header with
New Zealand Warriors vs
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, followed by
Cronulla Sharks vs
Newcastle Knights, on 15 August 2021. In September 2021, the New Zealand Warriors confirmed that they'll use the stadium as a temporary home base for at least the first half of the
2022 NRL season due to uncertainties regarding quarantine free travel between Australia and New Zealand as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. On 10 April 2022, the stadium hosted
2021 NRLW Grand Final between the
St George Illawarra Dragons and the
Sydney Roosters, the first NRLW Grand Final to be held outside of Sydney. ==Redevelopment and renaming==