Federal budget funding jumpstarts 'unique' UC Arena vision for new Canberra Capitals home

University director of sport and former Canberra Capitals coach Carrie Graf described $750,000 in Commonwealth funding for a feasibility report as a "stepping stone" to deliver a valuable infrastructure asset to benefit the whole Canberra community, where quality indoor venues are in high demand.

"We don't have enough indoor basketball courts to allow the growth of the game," she said.

"Our two little courts are used every night of the week till 10pm for a plethora of sports - netball, badminton, basketball.

"On weekends they're full from 8.30am till 6pm at night with under-10s basketball.

"If you look at Victoria, the basketball courts there grow like mushrooms."

Graf was confident the proposed arena would assist the growth of multiple sports in the capital, not just basketball, from grassroots to the professional ranks.

"This arena would mean a lot for the University of Canberra and for the Canberra community," she said.

"It'd be a multi-court indoor facility catering to netball, basketball, futsal, table tennis, badminton, and all the other indoor sports that we currently host on a 40-year-old, two-court stadium here.

"It would have the capacity to flip into a 3500 to 4000-seat arena to host high-performance sport such as the UC Capitals, international and national basketball, netball, even indoor tennis.

"It would provide a high-performance training environment for them, too, and would cater to live music, university graduations and other functions as well."

A facility similar to the sports hub that houses the ACT Brumbies headquarters and training centre at the university could also be built around the venue.

"That was sport hub stage one, and UC Arena is part of sports hub stage two," Graf said.

For the Capitals, having such a home venue would remove the reliance on the availability of the AIS Arena, which was dramatically shut down by the federal government in 2020 citing safety issues.

That led to a tense stalemate between state and federal governments over who should foot the bill to get the arena reopened.

This week the AIS Arena also received budget funding to finally have the necessary upgrades made, with a re-open date expected in early to mid-2024.

Since the AIS Arena closure, the Capitals have called the National Convention Centre their home court, but that has presented its own availability headaches, as seen last season in the WNBL finals.

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Graf predicted the feasibility report would take at least 12 months to complete, at which point they plan on seeking further funding from government - in addition to university funding and other partners - to get the arena built.

"It was on the table in early plans here 10 or 12 years ago," the former Opals coach said.

"This funding really progresses that beyond the concept stage to do something really unique for the Canberra region."

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