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

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, Western Australia, used mostly for basketball matches. It is located on Wellington Street near the site of the former

Perth Entertainment Centre The Perth Entertainment Centre was an indoor arena and cinema complex in Perth, Western Australia, located on Wellington Street, Perth, Wellington Street at the northern edge of the Perth#cbd, Perth central business district. It was demolished a ...

, 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.

History

It is owned by VenuesWest (which operates HBF Stadium, HBF Arena, Bendat Basketball Centre, 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

and Allphones Arena 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 of Perth Arena include the West Coast Fever, Perth Wildcats and formerly the

Hopman Cup The Hopman Cup is an international tennis tournament that plays mixed teams (one male and one female) on a country-by-country basis. It was first held in Perth, Western Australia each year from 1989 to 2019, played on indoor hardcourt, before b ...

Design and construction

The tender for the project was won by Western Australian construction consortium BGC, and work commenced on the site in June 2007. The arena was jointly designed by architectural firms Ashton Raggatt McDougall and Cameron Chisholm Nicol. With its design based on the Eternity puzzle, 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. 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 (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 The Government of Western Australia is the States and territories of Australia, Australian state democratic administrative authority of Western Australia. It is also commonly referred to as the WA Government or the Western Australian Governmen ...

. 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 29 October and 1 November 2014,

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

played two sold out nights at the venue on their first visit to Perth since 1995. On 14 March 2015, Australian singer

Kylie Minogue Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter, and actress. Frequently referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Princess of Pop", she has achieved recognition in both the music industry and fas ...

performed at the arena as part of her ''Kiss Me Once'' Tour. On 15 February 2025, she returned for a stop on her ''Tension'' Tour. On 4 August 2018,

French Canadian French Canadians, referred to as Canadiens mainly before the nineteenth century, are an ethnic group descended from French people, French colonists first arriving in Canada (New France), France's colony of Canada in 1608. The vast majority of ...

singer

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion (born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Power Ballads", Dion's powerful, technically skilled vocals and commercially successful works have had ...

performed at the arena for the first time, as a part of '' Celine Dion Live 2018''. This was the first show by Dion, since her ''Taking Chances'' World Tour, to be held in Perth. On 12 October 2018, American singer-actress

Cher Cher ( ; born Cheryl Sarkisian, May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Goddess of Pop", she is known for her Androgyny, androgynous contralto voice, Music an ...

performed for the first time at the Arena as part of her ''Here We Go Again'' Tour. In 2022, it was announced that Perth Arena would be the new host for the

Channel Seven Perth Telethon The Channel Seven Perth Telethon, regionally known simply as Telethon, is an annual telethon established in 1968 by philanthropist James Cruthers, Sir James Cruthers and Brian Treasure, and produced by TVW, a Seven Network-owned television statio ...

. On 29 and 30 September 2022, the American

singer-songwriter A singer-songwriter is a musician who writes, composes, and performs their own musical material, including lyrics and melodies. In the United States, the category is built on the folk- acoustic tradition with a guitar, although this role has ...

Billie Eilish Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell ( ; born December 18, 2001) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She first gained public attention in 2015 with her debut single "Ocean Eyes (song), Ocean Eyes", written and produced by her broth ...

performed her final two dates in Australia during her tour, '' Happier Than Ever: The World Tour''. On 25 October 2023, Irish folk-rock band

The Corrs The Corrs are an Irish family band consisting of siblings Andrea (lead vocals, tin whistle, mandolin, ukulele), Sharon (violin, keyboards, vocals), Caroline (drums, percussion, piano, bodhrán, vocals) and Jim (guitar, piano, keyboards, v ...

performed at the arena as part of their 2023 tour of

Australasia Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different context ...

and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

. The group was supported by Australian pop icon

Natalie Imbruglia Natalie Jane Imbruglia ( , ; born 4 February 1975) is an Australian and British singer and actress. Born and raised in New South Wales, Imbruglia became widely known in the early 1990s playing Beth Brennan in the soap opera ''Neighbours''. A ...

, as well as Toni Childs and Germein.

Sports

Basketball

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

Adelaide 36ers The Adelaide 36ers 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 the state's capital of Adela ...

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 in 2004. The arena has, of course, hosted larger crowds since that time, 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 Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

(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), Victoria, Australia. The arena is the main venue for the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam tennis tournament of ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

(15,400). In 2024, Perth Arena became the grand final host venue of the

NBL1 West NBL1 West, formerly the State Basketball League (SBL), is a semi-professional basketball league in Western Australia, comprising both a men's and women's competition. In 2020, Basketball Western Australia partnered with the National Basketball L ...

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

match between

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. 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 tournament. In 2022 it was one of three venues to host the multi-nation mixed-team United Cup tournament.

Boxing

George Kambosos and Vasily Lomachenko fought for the vacant IBF lightweight title, and Kambosos' IBO title, at Perth Arena on 12 May 2024. Lomachenko was crowned the new unified champion by eleventh round technical

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, ...

Mixed martial arts

The UFC hosted '' UFC 221: Romero vs. Rockhold'' at Perth Arena on February 11, 2018. The UFC hosted '' UFC 284: Makhachev vs. Volkanovski'' at Perth Arena on February 12, 2023. The UFC hosted '' UFC 305: du Plessis vs. Adesanya'' at Perth Arena on August 18, 2024.

Netball

Netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

was first played at the arena on 27 April 2013, when home team the West Coast Fever lost 49–58 to the

Melbourne Vixens Melbourne Vixens is an netball in Australia, Australian professional netball team based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria. Since 2017 Suncorp Super Netball season, 2017 they have represented Netball Victoria in Suncorp Super Netball. B ...

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 has continued to play occasional matches at the venue over the years, sharing fixtures with the smaller HBF Stadium. 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 Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

in the final test of the Constellation Cup.

Professional wrestling

American

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

company

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

will host their Premium Live Event Crown Jewel on Saturday, 11 October 2025.

References

External links

*
Perth Arena
(archived 27 January 2013)
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 Postmodern architecture in Australia