The WA Basketball Centre (also known by its sponsored name, the Bendat Basketball Centre) is a

multi-purpose stadium A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used for multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a design philosophy that stres ...

located in

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, catering primarily for

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

. The stadium features eight multi-sport courts, including two show courts with 1,100 permanent seats and 900 retractable seats primarily used for basketball. Facilities also cater for

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 ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

and

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

. The stadium also holds a function room on the first floor for up to 270 people, with bar and kitchen facilities. The stadium houses the offices of Basketball Western Australia, Perry Lakes Basketball Association, and the

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, ...

. The facility is the main training base of the Wildcats, home court of the

Perth Lynx The Perth Lynx are an Australian professional basketball team based in Perth, Western Australia. The Lynx compete in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) and play their home games at both WA Basketball Centre, Bendat Basketball Centre ...

, and hosts countless state, junior and social games throughout the year.

History

In 2008, construction started at AK Reserve in Mount Claremont on new athletics and basketball facilities to replace the crumbling former Commonwealth Games facilities at Perry Lakes. Being built across the road from the old Perry Lakes Athletics Stadium and

Perry Lakes Basketball Stadium Perry Lakes Basketball Stadium was a purpose-built basketball stadium located in Perth, Western Australia. The stadium was built for the Australian Basketball Senior Men's Championships held in October 1962, and was Western Australia's home of ...

, the new facilities would join the sports precinct which was already home to

Challenge Stadium Perth High Performance Centre (Perth HPC) is a sports complex in Perth, Western Australia. The venue is located in the suburb of Mount Claremont, approximately west of Perth's central business district. Venue facilities include an Olympic-sta ...

, the

Western Australian Institute of Sport The Western Australian Institute of Sport (WAIS) is an elite sports institute set up in 1983 by the Government of Western Australia to support athletes in Western Australia. The founding director was Wally Foreman who held the position for 17 ye ...

, and UWA Sports Park. While the WA Athletics Stadium opened in 2009, the WA Basketball Centre was officially opened on 24 January 2010. The combined construction cost of the WA Athletics Stadium, WA Basketball Centre and supporting infrastructure was $73 million, with the basketball facilities costing approximately $40 million. The WA Rugby Centre later joined the precinct on adjacent land. On 1 October 2014, Basketball Western Australia took on the day-to-day operations of the stadium under a co-management agreement with VenuesWest, with VenuesWest continuing to maintain the facility after being the sole operator since its opening. On 6 May 2015, the stadium was renamed Bendat Basketball Centre in a 21-year sponsorship agreement in honour of

owner

Jack Bendat Jack Bendat (6 May 1925 – 17 February 2022) was an American-born Australian businessman most known for his ownership of the Perth Wildcats basketball team between 2007 and 2021. Previously involved in construction and media businesses with l ...

. On 23 March 2020, the stadium was closed to the public indefinitely due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The stadium was reopened on 25 May 2020, initially in a limited capacity.

References

External links

Bendat Basketball Centre
at venueswest.wa.gov.au * {{WNBL Arenas Floreat, Western Australia Basketball in Western Australia Basketball venues in Australia Perth Lynx Sports venues completed in 2010 Sports venues in Perth, Western Australia