Perth’s HBF Arena and HBF Stadium to return to generic names after failure to secure new naming rights

After an unsuccessful attempt to sell the naming rights for HBF Arena in Joondalup and HBF Stadium in Mount Claremont, VenuesWest has revealed that the venues will be rebranded without the corporate names they each have carried for more than a decade.

In a statement on its website, VenuesWest advised that the rebranding without corporate names will happen in January.

The decision comes after the Western Australian Government agency attempted to attract new naming rights holders after the health insurer decided not to renew the two grounds to “balance the use of members’ funds”.

As a result, the northern suburbs facility will return to being named Arena Joondalup, while the Mount Claremont facility will be rebranded as the Perth High Performance Centre.

Revealing that some naming right bids were received, but rejected, VenuesWest Chief Executive, David Etherton explained “we were pleased to receive a number of enquiries regarding naming rights for these venues, with multiple discussions with interested parties.

“However, at this stage, none of these approaches have resulted in a commercial naming rights deal. We remain open to exploring naming rights opportunities in the future.

“In the meantime, we are excited to honour the proud history of Arena Joondalup as a community, sport and entertainment hub for the northern suburbs, while rebranding our Mount Claremont venue as the Perth High Performance Centre to reflect our commitment to high-performance sport and entertainment.”

Etherton said the new Perth High Performance Centre would reflect the facility’s purpose to support elite athlete development in the state, noting “the Perth HPC, as it will soon be known, has supported a long list of Olympic and Paralympic athletes in their quest to represent Australia, including 2024 Olympic medallists Iona Anderson and Josh Yong, who currently train at the venue as part of the WAIS athlete program.”

As advised in April, HBF will continue its naming rights sponsorship of HBF Park.

At the time, HBF Group Executive - Member Services, Jarod Avila stated “in extending HBF Park, our naming rights at HBF Stadium and HBF Arena will come to a natural end.

“This enables us to fully optimise our partnership at HBF Park as well as the need to continuously consider how we balance the use of members’ funds as a not-for-profit organisation.”

Images: Arena Joondalup (top) and the Perth High Performance Centre in Mount Claremont (below). Credit: VenuesWest.