WA dominates 2023 Austadiums Stadium Awards, winning four out of five categories

The Austadiums Stadium Awards are a fan-voted competition determining the best stadiums in Australia, and this week the 2023 results came through, with Western Australia coming out the big winner.

In the fifth edition of the awards, which were conducted via public voting between December 19, 2023 and January 5, 2024, WA took out four of the five categories.

Optus Stadium took out Australia’s Best Stadium with 43% of the vote (the MCG a distant second at 15%), and Australia’s Best Cricket Ground (36% versus the MCG’s 22%).

Meanwhile HBF Park just pipped Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium (29% to 22%) in the Best Rectangular Stadium category, while RAC Arena was a comfortable winner for Best Indoor Arena with 47% of the vote (Rod Laver came in second at 26%).

Geelong’s GMHBA Stadium won Best Regional Stadium, narrowly beating out Queensland Country Bank Stadium in Townsville by just 2%.

VenuesWest CEO David Etherton was understandably rather chuffed with the result, saying: “We are delighted that VenuesWest has won four of a possible five honours at the 2023 Stadium Awards, with recognition across three of our venues in Optus Stadium, RAC Arena and HBF Park.”

Indeed it’s been a banner year for stadium events in WA, says Etherton: “In the past 12 months, these venues successfully hosted world-class events including Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, the subsequent sold-out Matildas Olympic Qualifying games, UFC 284 and the United Cup.”

It’s the fourth consecutive year that Optus has taken out the Best Stadium award, and Etherton was also proud of HBF Park and RAC Arena rising to the top after narrowly missing out in previous years.

“The Best Rectangular Stadium award for HBF Park and the Best Indoor Arena award for RAC Arena reinforce our commitment to providing top-tier venues that exceed expectations in hosting international and local events.”

Image Credit: RAC Arena