In late 2017 the new The Perth Stadium was completed. It was officially opened on 21 January 2018. It was announced by the Liberal Government that they would not be selling the naming rights to the stadium, with the then Premier Colin Barnett being quoted in The West Australian newspaper as saying that it would “not be appropriate for such a significant piece of State-owned infrastructure”
The Liberals lost the 2017 State election and Labor who had announced that they would sell the naming rights in their election campaign duly did so. The McGowan government announced on 8 November 2017 that the state government had agreed to a 10-year naming rights deal that is believed to be worth approximately $50 million. The stadium would be now officially known as Optus Stadium.
The predicted cost to the tax payer was to be $1.147 billion. The final cost ended up being around the $1.8 billion mark.
There is no doubt that it is a fantastic stadium. It has a capacity of over 60,000 people, which makes it the third-largest stadium in Australia. That may soon change if Stadium Australia is bulldozed, as that venue and the Melbourne Cricket Ground are the two larger venues.
There was no doubt that Western Australia needed a World Class sports facility. That was why in 2003 the Government of Western Australia commissioned a review to examine the future of major sporting venues in the State. The report was compiled and released in 2007.
Interestingly in that report the recommendation was not to build the stadium where it is now located. The then Premier Colin Barnett over-ruled that recommendation.
While every detail in terms of the fan-experience was explored, and in most cases has been delivered one has to wonder when the stadium will be paid off.
The development was sold to the public under the guise that it would attract big events to Perth, which in turn would result in higher visitation rates; something that is in fact very hard to monitor.
How often are the projected figures in line with those that are announced post event? (It Doesn’t Add Up) Interestingly on the 20th of January 2018 the ABC predicted that 110, 000 Western Australians would descend on the stadium as it threw its doors open for the first time the next day. What figure was then reported as making their way to the stadium? You guessed it, 110,000.
So with this fantastic stadium how many people are actually requesting that they play there?
Why is it we are seeing the Government paying for teams to come and play at the stadium? Surely that defies the object of building the stadium in the first place?
We have seen the Western Australian Government boast about its involvement in bringing Chelsea and Manchester United to Perth to play at the stadium, but at what cost?
They have also paid for the All Blacks to play their Bledisloe Cup match at the Stadium in 2019 and have also thrown money at Rugby Australia for the World Champion Springboks to play there later this year.
Rugby League was also given a financial incentive to host the State of Origin in 2019.
If the facility is the best in the country why are the State Government having to pay to attract events to be played there?
Surely with any business in which you are investing vast sums of money there is a business plan put in place as to how you are going to recoup the money spent creating that business. Or is this simply a write-off paid for by taxpayers? Even if that were the case how long will it be before the events held at the stadium are paying for themselves and do not need Government funding to take place?
If the Government continues to fund these events the governing bodies of these sports will never realise the true value of holding events at Optus Stadium. They will simply be drawn to the financial rewards for playing games in Perth.
Also more importantly we will never know the true value of the stadium itself. Do sporting codes want to play there, is the atmosphere really that great that they must include it in their planning as a venue? Is the fan experience that amazing that you know that fans will support events come what may?
It seems ludicrous that we have erected this fantastic stadium so that the players have a wonderful venue in which to perform and fans can enjoy the spectacle in one of the best venues in the world, yet the Government is subsiding those events.
The next hurdle may well be the capacity of 60,000. While that is great for blockbuster events such as some of those mentioned, the capacity may be too much for the run of the mill events. Something the MCG was recently bemoaning. Like an aircraft, you need to achieve a set number of bums on seats to break even. If you cannot achieve that capacity consistently, a figure on which you base your pricing structure, you will never make money, and could end up operating at a loss. So maybe the Government will be dipping into its pocket to support events at the stadium for many years to come, or at least to support those operating at the stadium who suddenly find the costs prohibitive.
