NBL Assessing Canberra Stadium Options

Thursday, May 4, 2023

Up to four venues are being investigated as options for a potential Canberra NBL team, according to a Canberra Times report.

Up to four venues are being investigated as options for a potential Canberra NBL team, according to a Canberra Times report.

Canberra is one of several locations interested in securing an NBL license, as the league surveys local and international options for expansion.

One of the key factors in any expansion bid is a world-class venue, and the Canberra Times has reported AIS Arena, the University of Canberra, the Civic pool site, and Thoroughbred Park are all contenders to house an NBL team.

League Commissioner Jeremy Loeliger explained there are two sides of having multiple options for a home stadium.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Thoroughbred Park is a surprise contender for the home of the Canberra Cannons 2.0 | <a href="https://twitter.com/Super_Couch?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Super_Couch</a> <a href="https://t.co/W3e4L4gO4X">https://t.co/W3e4L4gO4X</a></p>— Canberra Times (@canberratimes) <a href="https://twitter.com/canberratimes/status/1652077984315047939?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 28, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

"The racetrack is one that's being proposed as a prospective development site … the university and the AIS are certainly others, and there's probably another as well that's been flagged as being of interest to a different party," Loeliger said via The Canberra Times.

"The physical infrastructure is one of the fundamental determining factors as to where we might want to put a licence and when you've got three or four different alternatives in the one city, there's two different ways you could look at it.

"One is that you're spoilt for choice and the other is that there's not a single voice speaking on behalf of everyone as to where this thing should go.

"So there are some competing interests within the territory … we're just trying to get as much information as we can from as many interested parties as possible and see if we can start piecing together what a business case would look like for an NBL team in Canberra."

Loeliger stressed the NBL remains in the “early stages of assessing the infrastructure component” and significant funding would need to be provided.

Canberra played in the NBL from 1979–2003 as the Cannons, winning three championships in 1983, 1984, 1988, and played at AIS Arena.