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| Former names | Perth Arena (2012–2018) |
|---|---|
| Address | 700Wellington Street, Perth |
| Location | Western Australia |
| Coordinates | 31°56′54″S115°51′07″E / 31.9483°S 115.8519°E /-31.9483; 115.8519 (RAC Arena) |
| Owner | VenuesWest |
| Operator | AEG Ogden |
| Capacity | 15,500[4] |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | June 2007 |
| Opened | 10 November 2012 (2012-11-10)[1] |
| Construction cost | A$548.7 million[2][3] |
| Architect | ARM &CCN |
| Builder | WSP |
| Project manager | Appian Group |
| Structural engineer | Aurecon |
| Services engineer | Wood & Grieve Engineers |
| General contractor | BGC |
| Main contractors | Buss Construction |
| Tenants | |
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| Website | |
| racarena | |
Perth Arena (knowncommercially asRAC Arena)[5] is an entertainment and sporting arena in the city centre ofPerth, Western Australia, used mostly for basketball matches. It is located onWellington Street near the site of the formerPerth Entertainment Centre, and was officially opened on 10 November 2012. Perth Arena was the first stage of thePerth City Link, a 13.5-hectare (33-acre) major urban renewal and redevelopment project which involved the sinking of theEastern Railway to link thePerth central business district directly withNorthbridge.[6]
It is owned by VenuesWest (which operates thePerth High Performance Centre,Arena Joondalup,WA Basketball Centre, and others) on behalf of TheGovernment of Western Australia and is managed byAEG Ogden.[7]
The inaugural General Manager of Perth Arena was David Humphreys, former General Manager of thePerth Entertainment Centre and theSydney SuperDome.[8] Humphreys died two months before the venue's opening.[9] AEG Ogden announced Steve Hevern as the interim General Manager on 3 October 2012.[10]
Anchor tenants of Perth Arena include theWest Coast Fever,Perth Wildcats[11] and formerly theHopman Cup.[12]
The tender for the project was won by Western Australian construction consortiumBGC, and work commenced on the site in June 2007. The arena was jointly designed by architectural firmsAshton Raggatt McDougall and Cameron Chisholm Nicol. With its design based on theEternity puzzle, the venue holds up to 13,910 spectators for tennis events,[13] 14,846 for basketball (the arena's capacity is capped at 13,000 forNational Basketball League regular season games)[14] 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.[15]
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."[16] 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.
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. TheRoyal 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 theGovernment of Western Australia.[17] 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.[17]
On 8 and 9 November 2013, the American living legendBeyoncé played 2 sold-out shows there to conclude the Oceania leg of her world tour,The Mrs Carter Show World Tour.
On 29 October and 1 November 2014,The Rolling Stones played two sold out nights at the venue on their first visit to Perth since 1995.
On 14 March 2015, Australian singerKylie Minogue performed at the arena as part of herKiss Me Once Tour. On 15 February 2025, she returned for a stop on herTension Tour.
On 4 August 2018,French Canadian singerCeline Dion performed at the arena for the first time, as a part ofCeline Dion Live 2018. This was the first show by Dion, since herTaking Chances World Tour, to be held in Perth.
On 12 October 2018, American singer-actressCher performed for the first time at the Arena as part of herHere We Go Again Tour.
In 2022, it was announced that Perth Arena would be the new host for theChannel Seven Perth Telethon.[18]
On 29 and 30 September 2022, the Americansinger-songwriterBillie Eilish performed her final two dates in Australia during her tour,Happier Than Ever: The World Tour.
On 25 October 2023,Irish folk-rock bandThe Corrs performed at the arena as part of their 2023 tour ofAustralasia andSoutheast Asia.[19] The group was supported by Australian pop iconNatalie Imbruglia, as well asToni Childs andGermein.
Perth Arena hosted its firstNational Basketball League game on 16 November 2012 when thePerth Wildcats played (and lost) against theAdelaide 36ers in front of a crowd of 11,562.[20] The attendance was the largest recorded in Western Australia for an indoor event,[21][22] breaking the previous record of 8,501 set at theBurswood Dome in 2004.[23] 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 theSydney SuperDome (18,200). The arena is also the third largest venue ever used in the NBL behind Sydney and theRod Laver Arena inMelbourne (15,400).
In 2024, Perth Arena became the grand final host venue of theNBL1 West.[24][25]
On 2 January 2019, a record crowd of 14,064 attended the venue for the2019 Hopman Cup match betweenUnited States andSwitzerland.[26] This was also the highest attendance for a tennis match in Western Australian history. The stadium hosted the Hopman Cup until the tournament switched to using different host countries after 2019. It was chosen by Tennis Australia to host the2019 Fed Cup Final between Australia and France.[27] Since 2020 the arena has been one of three Australian venues to host ties in the multi-nationATP Cup tournament. In 2022 it was one of three venues to host the multi-nation mixed-teamUnited Cup tournament.[28]
George Kambosos andVasily 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 technicalknockout.
TheUFC hostedUFC 221: Romero vs. Rockhold at Perth Arena on February 11, 2018.[29] The promotion returned to the arena five years later forUFC 284: Makhachev vs. Volkanovski on February 12, 2023.[30] The UFC heldUFC 305: du Plessis vs. Adesanya at Perth Arena on August 18, 2024.[31] The arena hostedUFC Fight Night: Ulberg vs. Reyes on September 28, 2025.[32]
Netball was first played at the arena on 27 April 2013, when home team theWest Coast Fever lost 49–58 to theMelbourne Vixens in theANZ Championship. The Fever has continued to play occasional matches at the venue over the years, sharing fixtures with the smallerPerth High Performance Centre. Ahead of the 2018 season, the club shifted all home matches to Perth Arena. The crowd of 13,722 at the2018 Super Netball Grand Final was a domestic-league record.[33]
The first international netball test was played at Perth Arena on 30 October 2015 betweenAustralia andNew Zealand in the final test of theConstellation Cup.[34]
Americanprofessional wrestling companyWWE hosted their Premium Live EventCrown Jewel on Saturday, 11 October 2025.[35] As well as Friday Night Smackdown on Friday, 10 October and Monday Night Raw on Monday, 13 October. The attendance total for three days was announced as 40,503.
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