Basil Zempilas: Optus disaster makes stadium name deal look even worse

1. I have never been a fan of the Optus Stadium naming rights arrangement. Not because the State Government sold the name to Optus but because they sold the name at all. It’s our stadium, it should have the Perth name on it, just like the Melbourne and Sydney cricket grounds and Adelaide Oval do. You don’t give away your name. And unfortunately, if you do — and that company has a bad day — the deal looks even worse. Following Wednesday’s national outage, the South Australian Premier called for all government contracts with Optus to be reviewed. Maybe the 10-year arrangement for Optus Stadium should be one of them.

2. Speaking of deals in need of review, I wonder how Ash Barty and our Daniel Ricciardo feel their respective confected roles as head of inspiration and chief of optimism with Optus are going. I’m sure it seemed like a good (and lucrative) idea at the time.