NBL exploring Canberra return

NBL Owner and Executive Chairman Larry Kestelman says Canberra could be next in line for a league license, following the same model as the Tasmania JackJumpers.

After a recent visit to the nation’s capital, Kestelman sees potential to have an NBL team there, if the AIS Arena undergoes the same facelift as MyState Bank Arena did.

“I went to Canberra and…I don’t understand how a city of 500,000 does not have a modern 5000 capacity venue,” Kestelman told The Australian.

“What we have done in Tasmania could be a blueprint for Canberra. There have been meetings but we need the federal government to deal with the (territory) government on it. Canberra could be Hobart 2.0.

“The AIS Arena is as old the DEC (Derwent Entertainment Centre) and that got refurbished and is good as new now.

“The government spent $60m on it rather than a $200m new stadium. Now we manage it and it is going to operate 120 days a year for all sorts of events. But the NBL licence was the catalyst for that.”

Canberra played in the NBL from 1979–2003 under the Cannons name. They won three championships (1983, 1984, 1988) and played out of AIS Arena.

NBL Commissioner Jeremy Loeliger confirmed the league is having discussions about a stadium refurbishment and a potential Cannons return.

“We've certainly had preliminary conversations with both (federal and territory government) stakeholders and wanted to test sentiment as to whether or not there is an appetite to see the Cannons return to Canberra. It's certainly something we think Canberra is deserving of,” Loeliger told the Canberra Times.

“We know exactly what's required to rejuvenate a venue of that vintage in line with customers' expectations in 2022. We've done exactly that in Hobart at the Derwent Entertainment Centre. It's a building that was of very similar vintage to AIS Arena.

“We came up to Canberra a couple of weeks ago and had a look at the bones of AIS Arena, wanting to do a bit of a comparison with the exercise we'd just been through down there at the new home for the JackJumpers.

“Our sense is it's a very similar job in terms of bringing it up to the standards of an NBL facility, and a facility consistent with expectations of venue hirers and customers in this day and age. We delivered it on time and on budget, and to a standard that has obviously been very popular.”