NORTH Melbourne chief executive Eugene Arocca has backed the AFL's decision to take legal action against Telstra Dome over the treatment of its tenant clubs and its imminent name change to Etihad Stadium.

It was reported yesterday that the AFL had spent the second half of last year unsuccessfully lobbying the stadium management to reveal details of its sponsorship agreements, as well as the contract terms for its main non-football tenant, Melbourne Victory.

The AFL became more agitated when the stadium signed a naming-rights deal with Etihad Airlines, and finally launched a Supreme Court action just before Christmas.

Ian Collins, chief executive of the stadium's manager, Melbourne Stadiums Limited, said he would not elaborate on the cause of the dispute because "it's an action that the AFL's started".

"What we will do is be defending it vigorously, that's all I can say, basically," Collins said.

Arocca said he was "fortified by the fact that the AFL has taken this role in protecting our interests and making sure that (the stadium's) tenant clubs are getting the best possible deal.

"There are certain parts of the user agreement that make it very clear, from my understanding, that MSL's not allowed to give other codes a better deal than the AFL, given that we have such a big impact on that stadium's revenue," he told radio SEN.

"There'd be no doubt that when Melbourne Victory's able to put on a game for 20,000 people they must be at least breaking even. We know for a fact that we can't break even for much less than 31,000-32,000, and that's assuming for Melbourne Victory … their break-even point might be as low as 13,000 or 14,000 people."

Arocca said clubs should follow the AFL in not referring to the stadium as Etihad Stadium "until this issue has been determined".

He added that he hoped the dispute could be resolved before the scheduled Supreme Court hearing date of February 4, although Collins is overseas and not expected back in Australia until mid-February.

AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou could not be contacted for comment yesterday.