The latest comments come after the NBL announced the Ignite Cup Finals and Andrew Gaze MVP Awards will move to Canberra from 2027 as part of a landmark partnership with the ACT Government.<\/p>\n
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While Monday\u2019s announcement stopped short of confirming a new franchise, Stevenson admitted the league is actively building the foundations for a future return to the capital.<\/p>\n
CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA – AUGUST 03: Former NBL player Andrew Gaze speaks to the media uring a NBL media opportunity at National Arboretum on August 03, 2026 in Canberra, Australia. (Photo by Matt King\/Getty Images for NBL)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got strong confidence that we can work together with Basketball ACT, with everyone involved in the sport to make sure that hopefully once the venue gets approved, that we can build a great team,\u201d Stevenson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019re building is a really strong business case, and it\u2019s not just about what happens at the game; it\u2019s the economic contribution that\u2019s really important for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Canberra has been heavily linked with expansion alongside Darwin, the Gold Coast and a second Sydney team, with the NBL eager to grow beyond its current 10-team competition.<\/p>\n
A major hurdle, however, remains infrastructure.<\/p>\n
Competition executives have previously indicated any expansion market must have a venue capable of hosting at least 8,000 spectators, a benchmark AIS Arena currently falls short of with a capacity of around 5,000.<\/p>\n
Cotton scores first points for Australia | 00:27<\/p>\n
That requirement could soon be met, with the ACT Government committing to the proposed Canberra Convention and Entertainment Precinct.<\/p>\n
Chief Minister Andrew Barr confirmed the venue is expected to feature a minimum capacity of 7,500 seats, with basketball viewed as a key part of the project\u2019s long-term business case.<\/p>\n
\u201cA key element of the business case is having a basketball team play there, or more than one basketball team, actually,\u201d Barr said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it\u2019s not just a basketball stadium, it\u2019s got to accommodate other uses as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barr added the limitations of AIS Arena had prevented Canberra from attracting major sporting and entertainment events.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe AIS Arena is a fantastic venue, but it sort of maxes out at about 5,000 people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was very clear in talking both to live music promoters, to the major sporting organisations … that we were missing out because 5,000 was too small.\u201d<\/p>\n
CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA – AUGUST 03: ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr speaks to the media during a NBL media opportunity at National Arboretum on August 03, 2026 in Canberra, Australia. (Photo by Matt King\/Getty Images for NBL)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Canberra has not had an NBL club since the Canberra Cannons relocated to Newcastle in 2003, ending a successful era that included three championships.<\/p>\n
The city\u2019s basketball credentials have continued to grow in recent years, with the Sydney Kings taking selected home games to AIS Arena and the 2025 NBL Blitz selling out throughout the week.<\/p>\n
The decision to bring the Ignite Cup Finals and Andrew Gaze MVP Awards to Canberra from 2027 is widely viewed as another significant step in strengthening the city\u2019s case for an eventual expansion franchise.<\/p>\n
While no timeline has been confirmed for the league\u2019s next expansion, Stevenson\u2019s comments provide the clearest indication yet that Canberra is firmly in the NBL\u2019s long-term plans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canberra is edging closer to welcoming back an NBL team for the first time in more than two…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":841396,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-841395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=841395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841395\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/841396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=841395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=841395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=841395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}