Perth Arena (known commercially as ) is an entertainment and sporting arena in the city centre of

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

, Western Australia, used mostly for basketball matches. It is located on Wellington Street near the site of the former Perth Entertainment Centre, and was officially opened on 10 November 2012. Perth Arena is the first stage of the Perth City Link, a major urban renewal and redevelopment project which involves the sinking of the

Fremantle railway line The Fremantle line is a suburban railway and service in Western Australia that connects the central business district (CBD) of Perth with Fremantle. History The railway on which the service runs opened on 1 March 1881 as the first suburban rai ...

to link the Perth central business district directly with Northbridge.

About

The arena was jointly designed by architectural firms

Ashton Raggatt McDougall ARM Architecture or Ashton Raggatt McDougall is an architectural firm with offices in Melbourne, Sydney, and Adelaide, Australia. The firm was founded in 1988 and has completed internationally renowned design work. ARM's founding directors wer ...

and Cameron Chisholm Nicol. With its design based on the

Eternity puzzle The Eternity puzzle is a tiling puzzle created by Christopher Monckton and launched by the Ertl Company in June 1999. It was marketed as being practically unsolvable, with a £1 million prize on offer for whoever could solve it within four years ...

, the venue holds up to 13,910 spectators for tennis events, 14,846 for basketball (the arena's capacity is capped at 13,000 for National Basketball League regular season games) and a maximum of 15,000 for music or rock concerts. The venue has a retractable roof, 36 luxury appointed corporate suites, a 680-bay underground car park, 5 dedicated function spaces, and touring trucks can drive directly onto the arena floor. It is owned by VenuesWest (which operates

HBF Stadium Perth Superdrome, known as HBF Stadium under a commercial naming rights arrangement, is a sports complex in Perth, Western Australia. It is home to the Western Australian Institute of Sport (WAIS). The venue is located in the suburb of Mount Cla ...

HBF Arena Arena Joondalup, known as HBF Arena under a commercial naming rights arrangement, is a multi-purpose sports complex in Joondalup, Western Australia, located on 35 ha of parkland approximately 25 km north of Perth. It was officially o ...

Bendat Basketball Centre The WA Basketball Centre (also known by its sponsored name, the Bendat Basketball Centre) is a multi-purpose stadium located in Perth, Western Australia. The stadium features eight courts, including two basketball show courts with 1,100 perma ...

, and others) on behalf of The State Government of Western Australia and is managed by AEG Ogden. The inaugural General Manager of Perth Arena was David Humphreys, former General Manager of the Perth Entertainment Centre and

Allphones Arena The Sydney SuperDome (currently known as the Qudos Bank Arena) is a large multipurpose arena located in Sydney, Australia. It is situated in Sydney Olympic Park, and was completed in 1999 as part of the facilities for the 2000 Summer Olympics ...

in Sydney. Humphreys died two months before the venue's opening. AEG Ogden announced Steve Hevern as the interim General Manager on 3 October 2012.

Anchor tenants In retail, an "anchor tenant", sometimes called an "anchor store", "draw tenant", or "key tenant", is a considerably larger tenant in a shopping mall, often a department store or retail chain. They are typically located at the ends of malls. Wit ...

of Perth Arena include the

West Coast Fever West Coast Fever is an Australian netball team based in Perth, Western Australia. Since 2017 they have played in Suncorp Super Netball. Between 2008 and 2016, they competed in the ANZ Championship. Between 1997 and 2007, as Perth Orioles, t ...

Perth Wildcats The Perth Wildcats are an Australian professional basketball team based in Perth, Western Australia. The Wildcats compete in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Perth Arena, ...

and formerly the

Hopman Cup The Hopman Cup is an international eight-team indoor hardcourt tennis tournament that played mixed-gender teams on a country-by-country basis.It was held in Perth, Western Australia each year from 1989 to 2019, before being replaced on the calen ...

Construction

The tender for the project was won by Western Australian construction consortium BGC, and work commenced on the site in June 2007. The construction was marred by controversy in relation to the cost and time blowouts from the original $150 million estimate to $550 million. Auditor General Colin Murphy reported in 2010 that "the initial estimates of the cost and opening date for the Arena were unrealistic and made before the project was well understood or defined." An example of the modifications to the original Arena design is the change of the carpark location from being built above the nearby railway line as a separate project to underneath the Arena itself.

Naming rights

For the first six years of operation, Perth Arena retained its non-commercial name. In September 2018, the venue name was changed to RAC Arena. The

Royal Automobile Club of Western Australia The Royal Automobile Club of Western Australia (RAC WA) is a motoring club and mutual organisation, offering motoring services and advice, insurance, travel services, finance, driver training and exclusive benefits for their members. As an indep ...

(RAC) agreed to a five-year naming rights arrangement, with the deal estimated to be worth about $10 million to the Government of Western Australia. Prior to the name change, the Government of Western Australia had paid around $8 million to stadium operator AEG Ogden as compensation for not being able to sell the naming rights.

Entertainment

On 4 August 2018

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( ; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, Dion is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, and the best-selling French-language artist of all time. Her ...

performed at this arena for the first time as a part of Celine Dion Live 2018. This was the first show by Dion since

Taking Chances World Tour The Taking Chances World Tour is the ninth concert tour by Canadian singer Celine Dion, in support of her thirteenth French-language and twenty-second studio album '' D'elles'' (2007). tenth English-language and twenty-third studio album ''Takin ...

to be held in Perth. On 12 October 2018 Cher also performed for the first time in Perth Arena as part of her

Here We Go Again Tour The Here We Go Again Tour was the seventh solo concert tour by American singer-actress Cher in support of her twenty-sixth studio album '' Dancing Queen''. This was the first time the singer had embarked on a world tour since her Living Proof: ...

. In 2022 it was announced that Perth Arena would be the new host for the Channel Seven Perth Telethon.

Sports

Basketball

Perth Arena hosted its first National Basketball League game on 16 November 2012 when the Perth Wildcats played (and lost to) the

Adelaide 36ers The Adelaide 36ers, also known as the Sixers, are an Australian professional men's basketball team in the National Basketball League (NBL). The 36ers are the only team in the league representing the state of South Australia and are based in th ...

in front of a crowd of 11,562. The attendance was the largest recorded in Western Australia for an indoor event, breaking the previous record of 8,501 set at the

Burswood Dome The Dome at Crown Perth (originally the Burswood Superdome and formerly the Burswood Dome) was a multipurpose indoor arena used for sports and entertainment. The dome was in size, with seating for 13,600 people. The whole arena was pressurised s ...

in 2004. The arena has since hosted larger crowds, with the current record being 13,615 set during the Wildcats 101–83 win to the Tasmania Jackjumpers on 19 December 2021 during Round 3 of the 2021–22 NBL Season. With a capacity of 14,846, Perth Arena is the second largest venue currently in use in the NBL ( 2016–17) behind the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney (18,200). The arena is also the third largest venue ever used in the NBL behind Sydney and the

Rod Laver Arena Rod Laver Arena is a multipurpose arena located within Melbourne Park, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The arena is the main venue for the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tennis tournament of the calendar year. History Replacing ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

(15,400).

Tennis

On 2 January 2019, a record crowd of 14,064 attended the venue for the

2019 Hopman Cup The Hopman Cup XXXI was the 31st and final edition of the Hopman Cup tournament between nations in men's and women's tennis that took place at the Perth Arena in Perth, Western Australia. On 26 June 2018, the defending Swiss team of Roger Feder ...

match between

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and Switzerland. This was also the highest attendance for a tennis match in Western Australian history. The stadium hosted the Hopman Cup until the tournament's disbandment. It was chosen by Tennis Australia to host the 2019 Fed Cup Final between Australia and France. Since 2020 the arena has been one of three Australian venues to host ties in the multi-nation

ATP Cup The ATP Cup was an international outdoor hard court men's tennis team tournament, which ran from 2020 to 2022.The tournament was played across one or three Australian cities over ten days in the lead up to the Australian Open, and featured team ...

tournament.

Netball

Netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

was first played at the arena on 27 April 2013, when home team the

lost 49–58 to the

Melbourne Vixens Melbourne Vixens is an Australian netball team based in Melbourne, Victoria. Since 2017 they have represented Netball Victoria in Suncorp Super Netball. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship. The team was formed in 2007 wh ...

in the

ANZ Championship The ANZ Championship, also known as the Trans-Tasman Netball League, is a former netball league featuring teams from both Australia and New Zealand. Between 2008 and 2016, it was the top-level league in both countries. The competition was owned ...

. The Fever continued to play occasional matches at the venue over several years, sharing fixtures with the smaller

Perth Superdrome Perth Superdrome, known as HBF Stadium under a commercial naming rights arrangement, is a sports complex in Perth, Western Australia. It is home to the Western Australian Institute of Sport (WAIS). The venue is located in the suburb of Mount Cl ...

. Ahead of the 2018 season the club shifted all home matches to Perth Arena. The crowd of 13,722 at the 2018 Super Netball Grand Final was a domestic league record. The first international netball test was played at Perth Arena on 30 October 2015 between Australia and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in the final test of the

Constellation Cup The Constellation Cup is an international netball competition contested by Australia and New Zealand. The competition features a series of test matches. The two teams have competed for the trophy since 2010. Australia won the inaugural series ...

Other events

The

UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

hosted UFC 221: Rockhold vs. Romero at Perth Arena on 11 February 2018.

References

External links

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Perth Arena

AEG Worldwide
{{Authority control Landmarks in Perth, Western Australia Sports venues in Perth, Western Australia National Basketball League (Australia) venues Tennis venues in Australia Basketball venues in Australia Netball venues in Western Australia Music venues in Perth, Western Australia Indoor arenas in Australia Retractable-roof stadiums in Australia Perth Wildcats West Coast Fever 2012 establishments in Australia Sports venues completed in 2012 Music venues completed in 2012 Wellington Street, Perth Perth City Link