Aussie stadium stripped of name before Ashes Test

Days before the start of the highly-anticipated Ashes series, an Australian stadium has been forced to wipe out its own name.

Perth Stadium has wiped out the word “Optus” from its signage ahead of the first Ashes Test.

As has become habitual for international cricket matches since the venue was branded “Optus Stadium” in 2017, staff have this week been spotted wiping out the sponsor’s signage before the first ball is bowled on Friday.

The deal struck between Optus and the Western Australian government has always proven divisive — especially in recent years with the telco under fire for a number of service failures.

The stadium’s name change comes after Cricket Australia in May announced it has signed a sponsorship partnership with Aussie Broadband — a direct rival of Optus.

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Despite regularly wiping out its name ahead of clashing international events, Optus Stadium branding was present when rock gods Metallica kicked off their Australian tour in Perth earlier this month.

The removal of the Optus name was spotted by cricket journalists as the Australian team practised at the venue in the days leading up to the first Test.

The same name removal caused headlines in 2022 ahead of the T20 World Cup when Optus was facing another public relations crisis.

The ICC T20 World Cup, along with most major global sporting events such as the soccer and rugby world cups, take that requirement a step further, stipulating all hosting venues must be stripped of internal and external sponsorship and branding materials and signage.

Journalist Oliver Caffrey's photo from inside the stadium. Photo: X and @ollycaffrey.

The signage is normally impossible to miss at the top of the grand stand. Photo by Daniel Carson/AFL Photos via Getty Images.

Broadcasters, news outlets and promoters are also prompted to refer to the venue as Perth Stadium.

The physical removal of signage is a process that has previously taken weeks.

Full sponsorship signage is expected to return ahead of the AC/DC Tour show on December 4.

Optus paid what is believed to be $50 million for the naming rights to the stadium in 2017, with the agreement running until 2028.

There have been public calls for the embattled telco to be stripped of its naming rights permanently after it was plagued by a triple-0 outage scandal.

Photo shared by Adam Mountford on Twitter. Photo: @tmsproducer.

Perth Stadium seats 60,000. Photo by Antony DICKSON / AFP)

On September 18, hundreds of Australians were unable to make triple-0 calls in a network disruption that turned catastrophic after a barrage of escalating failures.

Three people lost their lives as a result of being unable to reach emergency services.

Former Channel 7 footy commentator turned WA opposition leader Basil Zempilas at the time poured fuel on the fire of the movement to remove Optus from the stadium’s branding.

The former Lord Mayor said: “This is not innocent until proven guilty. Optus have admitted their failings. These are repeated failings now from Optus, and they don’t deserve to have their name on our stadium.”

In an interview on 6PR in September, Zempilas went on to say: “I’ve never thought the Optus deal was a good deal for Western Australia.

“I’ve never been comfortable with giving the naming rights away to our stadium, it’s a missed marketing opportunity, but this is not about marketing right now.”

Originally published as Aussie stadium stripped of name before Ashes Test