HBF wins naming rights to nib Stadium

Three major sporting facilities in Perth will bear the name of health insurer HBF after the organisation signed a deal for the naming rights to nib Stadium.

The historic former Perth Oval, home to Perth Glory and the Western Force, will be named HBF Park from January 1 2019.

HBF Park will be the third sporting venue to be named after the health insurer, joining HBF Arena in Joondalup and HBF Stadium in Mount Claremont.

The announcement follows NSW-based insurer nib’s decision to end its sponsorship of the stadium after eight years.

HBF chief executive John Van Der Wielen said the stadium was a site where Western Australians have played and competed for more than 100 years.

“We think it’s appropriate that it carries the name of a proudly Western Australian organisation,” he said.

While the terms of the three-year agreement were confidential, Mr Van Der Wielen said the cost to HBF was modest compared to other corporate sponsorships in WA.

The rectangular stadium has a sporting capacity of 20,500 with its largest crowd being 18,497 people at the FIFA World Cup qualifier between the Socceroos and Bangladesh in 2015.

It has a larger capacity for entertainment events and hosted 32,000 people at an Ed Sheeran concert in the same year.

Earlier this year, the state government signed deals with RAC and Optus for the naming rights to two of Perth’s biggest entertainment venues.

Perth Stadium was renamed RAC Arena on September 1 2018 under a five-year agreement, reported to be worth $10 million.

Telecommunications company Optus signed a 10-year deal for the naming rights to Perth Stadium in November last year before the state-of-the-art sporting facility was opened in December.

Public backlash followed both of these announcements as the name ‘Perth’ was removed from the titles and the potential to market the city through the promotion of these venues was lost.