Perth Stadium

Perth Stadium, also known by it's sponsor name of Optus Stadium, is a purpose built sports stadium that is the third largest in Australia in terms of capacity behind Sydney's Olympic Stadium and the MCG. It is the present home ground for West Coast and Fremantle taking the place of Subiaco Oval in 2018.
==Planning and construction==
The venue was originally proposed in 2003, with the location evaluated by a taskforce seeking ways to improve major sporting venues. In 2007 the taskforce handed down it's report recommending a 60,000 seat stadium be built - suggesting either Mueller Park in Subiaco (next door to Subiaco Oval) or the old East Perth power station site on the west bank of the Swan River. The state government then decided to build it at Mueller Park and set plans in motion to build the stadium in two stages between 2011 and 2016, due to the need to demolish Subiaco Oval to make way for second part of the new stadium. It would however allow for the stadium to be used at two thirds capacity in 2014.
However things changed in 2008 when there was a change of state government, and in 2009 the project was postponed for two years.
The project was revisted in 2011 and approved, but in a different location in Burswood - a location rejected by the previous government. The reason given was the ample space for potential expansion, the ability to provide a large railway station for easy access as wel as a pedestrian bridge across the Swan River. No car parking would available at the facility - the expectation being that patrons would either take the train, or park in Perth and use the pedestrian bridge.
After new plans were drawn up and approved, construction began in 2014. It was completed in 2017 with the venue used for an exhibition T20 cricket match between the local Perth Scorchers and England's second tier team the English Lions prior to the official opening in January 2018.
==The venue so far==
When the venue opened officially the first event to take place was a week later - a one day international cricket match between Australia and England. Two weeks later AFLW debuted at the venue with a crowd of 41,975 with Fremantle taking on Collingwood. At the time this was a national record attendance for a stand alone women's event. The first concert was held there in early March with Ed Sheeran attracting a combined 114,000 over two nights.
The first AFL game was played between West Coast and Sydney later in March. The AFL quickly set records with the first Western Derby attracting 56,521. This record only lasted a month before it was beaten by West Coast's game against Richmond at 57,616. There was no surprise that the record was beaten again when the Eagles made the finals with the qualifying final against Collingwood attracting 59,588 and two weeks later they beat that mark when the preliminary final against Melbourne brought 59,608 to the venue. This is the present AFL record.
For sporting events though the rectangular configuration that has a higher capacity has allowed for two bigger crowds. The NRL State of Origin game in 2019 set a new mark at 59,721, but this only stood for six weeks before it was beaten by the rugby union Bledisloe Cup that attracted 61,241.
Perth Stadium has also hosted soccer as well as concerts. The venue record originally set by the Eagles was originally broken by Eminem in early 2019. The Bledisloe Cup beat that mark, but in 2020 Queen with Adam Lambert set a new record of 65,000.
Category:Venues