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Had my first visit to Optus stadium yesterday for the ODI and overall I was very impressed with the place. It is a stadium which compares well with the Adelaide Oval in terms of comfort and quality of viewing. Adelaide has a little more atmosphere given that they have retained some of the old trees, the grass bank and the old scoreboard but Optus is a massive improvement on Subiaco and the WACA in terms of spectator facilities and comfort and puts Perth into the 21st Century as far as sports facilities go.

I was lucky in terms of the transport to and from the stadium,parked my car at Curtin uni bus station and the shuttle bus there was very frequent and not as crowded as the trains.
Very easy to get in although we did arrive about an hour before the game. Lots of friendly staff around to show where your seats are. We were sitting in the ground level row which was baked in the sun for most of the day, lucky it was only 29 degrees. This won't be an issue during the football season though. The view of the cricket from our seats was brilliant and we had the massive board to look at the replays as well. Seats were great comfort wise and the drink holder was a handy touch.

The catering has been the subject of publicity and it wasnt great. My son had a very ordinary overpriced burger and we will be more inclined to bring our own food next time. I was hoping there would be capacity to have some food vans around the venue like they have at Docklands stadium in Melbourne. I had a lovely plate of curry and rice there a few years back for $10.

Perhaps leave the Cooooooeeees, Adam's family themes and Sweet Caroline singalongs for Scorchers games.

The cricket, streaker and the beer snakes provided enough entertainment anyway and all the players interacted well with the crowd especially Johnny Bairstow.

Overall I enjoyed my day and it was a good tight game of cricket as well which wasn't decided till the second last over. I have tickets for the womens AFL game in a few weeks so will be interested to see how the footy goes in the stadium.

Would be interested to hear others impressions.

this is something I've always struggled to understand...when people go to a sporting event like footy or cricket why do they have to push food and drink down their throats? Surely spectators can go a few hours without eating burgers, chips, hot dogs etc and drinking piss? I have no doubt there'll be queues and complaints on Thursday for BBL and thing only lasts 3 hours.

It's a magnificent stadium sure there was a few teething problems that should be worked out by the time the Scorchers play on Thursday, lack of food and there prices don't worry me I refuse to buy over priced food from stadiums took my own.

I've heard people say that the stadium didn't look full, that's because there's plenty of bars that patrons used during the game, or were standing in the terraces mostly people that were sitting in the sun, it gets a big thumbs up from me .

Perth FINALLY has a world class stadium and it is one of if not the best in Australia and I have been to all of them.
Credit where credit is due thank you must be extended to Colin Barnett for finally delivering this state into the 21st century with a brand new stadium in a beautiful riverside location instead of yet another half arsed rebuild at Subi and or the WACA.

Fantastic stadium. Like an upgraded and modern Etihad or mini MCG with better facilities.

People will always find something to complain about and social media will give them a forum to make sure we all hear about it.

It's a massive improvement on Subi and the WACA

that's it exactly what we need in this state -- a mini MCG -- the Victorians will be laughing their whatsts off

Anchor even though it was a while ago Subiaco did run out of beer in the 2010 Elimination Final between Fremantle and Hawthorn. This was before half time as well.

Back to the new stadium though I went to the Open Day and it looks fantastic. Obviously we wont really know how well the stadium can get cleared until the footbridge gets finished.

Went to the ODI fantastic venue and great day,

Easy there on the train and home, spent 1 hour exploring entire place went to every level walked entire circuit, best views for mine were level 1 and 2 top level did feel a bit distant, even had a wander around corporate area of level 2.

really impressed with bar facilities and fact you can stand enjoy a beer at several points around the stadium, very much like old days, loved the bars that had tables and chairs and screens all around.

thought the Alby was fine, mid strength not a problem.

sound system and big screens amazing, easy access to toilets no more big lines there.

its taken this long to break the 1979 sporting crowd record, happy to say I was at both.

for the first time in decades I'm looking forward to going to the footy or a game again, as subi was a dive I hated.

Peter North wrote: It's a magnificent stadium sure there was a few teething problems that should be worked out by the time the Scorchers play on Thursday, lack of food and there prices don't worry me I refuse to buy over priced food from stadiums took my own.

I've heard people say that the stadium didn't look full, that's because there's plenty of bars that patrons used during the game, or were standing in the terraces mostly people that were sitting in the sun, it gets a big thumbs up from me .

That's right, unlike the hopeless set up at Subi there are a load of places to go other than your seat. Not only that but the WACA had 10K seats reserved for there members and only about 7k turned up which is annoying.

One thing I will add, is the flow of people leaving pretty much started after the first innings, the people next to us left at that point , from then on till about it was a stead stream out , by about 6pm it became a quicker, by the end I would say only 20-30K remained if that. I think the transport system will have some issues with a mass exit of 50K at one point in time.