Westfield shopping centres to livestream Olympic events, even outside traditional opening hours

Australians will be able to watch the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games events at Westfield shopping centres.

Australia’s largest shopping centre owner is giving its customers the opportunity to “come together and cheer” by opening its properties outside traditional hours for the Paris Olympics.

Scentre Group has partnered with the Australian Olympic Committee and Paralympics Australia for its 37 Westfield shopping centres across Australia to be official Live Sites for the Paris Games from late July to September.

Customers can visit their local Westfield shopping centre to see dedicated live-streamed key events and matches direct from Paris, and be involved in Olympic and Paralympic themed events.

And with the Paris time difference the shopping centres will be open outside the traditional shopping hours for key events.

Scentre Group chief executive Elliott Rusanow said the strategic partnership was about creating community hubs that people choose to visit to connect and spend their time.

“We will be giving Australians here the opportunity to come together and cheer on their favourite athletes,” Mr Rusanow said.

“We are effectively creating Olympic Villages across 37 of our destinations. We’re bringing the Olympics to Australia.

“People like to watch events like this together. There’s a sense of community spirit particularly in sport events. And a consequence of that is that it drives more people to our destinations.

“These events occur late at night and in the early hours of the morning and our business partners will be able to interact with our customers outside of traditional trading hours.”

Scentre group chief executive Elliott Rusanow.

The Olympic Games partnership is part of Scentre Group’s strategy to hold events to entice more people into its Westfield shopping centres.

This year Westfield shopping centres have a full calendar of live events and activations including music acts, Disney and Marvel events, product demonstration and school holiday activities.

The strategy aims to bring more people into the Westfield shopping centres and in a recent investor update – despite the cost of living crisis – Scentre reported customer visitation in the first 18 weeks of the year to May 5 at 175 million, or 2.8 million more than the same period last year.

Scentre also reported that its business partners had achieved $6.5bn of sales in the three months to March 31, which was up 2.4 per cent compared to the same period last year.

Mr Rusanow said Westfield delivered the same concept during the 2000 Sydney Olympics but with the Games being in Paris there was the potential late into the night and early in the morning.

“Our job is to give our customers a reason to come to our shopping centres,” Mr Rusanow said.

Australians will be able to come together and cheer on their favourite Olympic and Parlympic Games athletes at Westfield shopping centres.

“The Olympic spirit will be quite evident through the activation and it will also provide the opportunity for people even during traditional trading hours to feel that.” A full calendar of the live streamed events will be available at Westfield destinations during the Games.

Scentre Group’s partnership with the Australian Olympic Committee and Paralympics Australia will also extend to the 2026 Milan Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Australian Olympic Committee chief executive Matt Carroll said the partnership with Westfield will bring the drama and excitement of the Paris Olympics to millions of Australians.

“Our Australian Olympic athletes represent their country with enormous pride and this partnership really brings home that sense of support from communities across the country,” he said.

“We are very excited about this Live Site partnership with Westfield with 34 Olympic sports on display across the two weeks of the Paris 2024 Games.”

Cameron Murray, acting CEO of Paralympics Australia, said the potential of partnership to enhance the visibility of the Australian Paralympic team was “immense”.

“By transforming Westfield destinations into official Live Sites, we are ensuring fans around the country can experience the thrill of the Paralympic Games and support our incredible athletes in real-time,” he said.

“This collaboration with Westfield represents a groundbreaking opportunity to engage with a wider audience and foster a deeper connection between Australians and the Paralympic movement.

“We are excited to see our communities come together to celebrate the dedication and achievements of our Paralympic athletes.”