Super Netball could make its return to Canberra in 2023, with the code's peak body ready to assess the AIS Arena once it's upgraded.
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The yearly Giants games were a casualty of the arena's closure in early 2020, with other major sporting and live entertainment events also disadvantaged.
But it's set to be reopened in the first half of next year, with construction likely to begin in the next six months to bring it up to safety standards.
And as the Super Netball season commences around April/May each year, the promised $11.4 million to reopen the unsafe venue means it could host a Giants game as early as next season.
Super Netball events and commercial general manager Adam Richardson said it could be on the cards.
"Super Netball matches have been played at Canberra's AIS Arena in the past," he said.
"And we will continue to assess the venue's capability to host elite netball games."
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The AIS Arena's closure cost the ACT government money during last year's Super Netball season.
A $130,000 three-year deal between the government and Netball New South Wales, to host one match per season in Canberra, was cut short by a year due to its closure.
Giants officials labelled it "embarrassing" last year as they scrambled to find an alternative venue to host the promised-fixture to no avail.
Exhibition Park did not meet standards on two fronts, and the National Convention Centre was deemed too small for the court dimensions so the Canberra fixture was abandoned.
Although the upgrades will reopen the venue to major sporting events, top basketball league executives are calling for further upgrades to bring it into the 21st century.
The territory's most successful team, the Canberra Capitals, stand by its reopening as a "short-term solution" to the indoor venue crisis in the ACT.
And the NBL has plans for a Canberra Cannons revival if league bosses can strike a deal with territory and federal governments to fund further upgrades that could see the league become the arena's venue manager.
Whilst the promised reopening is luring the return of another major sporting franchise to the territory, netball fans will have to wait a little longer.
Richardson said Netball Australia remained committed to expanding the Super Netball competition to ensure its status as "the world's premier netball competition", but not in the near future as COVID had dented its finances.
"The league has faced significant financial challenges over the past two seasons, with lockdowns and border closures forcing the competition to relocate several times," he said.
"While we are committed to expanding the ... Super Netball competition, the reality is this is a longer-term ambition."
Isobel Cootes
Sports reporter at The Canberra Times. A Novocastrian with a passion for football (or soccer as they call it in the capital) via The Examiner and The Port Lincoln Times.
Sports reporter at The Canberra Times. A Novocastrian with a passion for football (or soccer as they call it in the capital) via The Examiner and The Port Lincoln Times.
