Can Canberra sustain A-League, NBL and Big Bash all at once?

But can Canberra sustain three professional men's teams at a time most of the city's residents are on their way down the Clyde?

The race is on to deliver a professional men's team to Canberra, with the first to strike giving themselves the greatest chance of capturing a fan base and securing corporate dollars.

Two groups of potential A-League club backers spent time in Canberra this month touring facilities and meeting with officials with the league keen to establish a men's team in the capital, while ACT Chief Minister Barr has met with Cricket Australia to outline his vision to redevelop Manuka Oval and establish a Big Bash franchise in the ACT.

NBL officials with a desire to return to Canberra are at the mercy of the city's endless venue debate, with the capital lacking an indoor arena capable of meeting the league's standards.

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Yet NBL chief executive David Stevenson - who helped engineer the initial deal between the AFL, GWS and ACT government to bring Giants games to Manuka Oval - is confident the league can have long-term success in Canberra even if rival codes beat basketball to the punch.

"We're aware of the level of interest of other sports, but we wouldn't compromise quality to get speed. There's no point in being first if you're not strong and successful," Stevenson said.

"We'd rather take the time to make sure we've got the right venue and proposition. If that takes a bit of extra time, we're okay to wait."

Canberra's summer of sport has long been dominated by women's teams in the Canberra Capitals, Canberra United and ACT Meteors, with a handful of top flight cricket games added to the calendar.

The city has been without a professional men's team in the summer codes since the Cannons went under in 2003.

The Gold Coast and Darwin have emerged as leading contenders for an NBL licence, with slowly-moving remedial works at the AIS Arena and a lack of any other venue options pushing Canberra down the list.

While ambitious NBL owner Larry Kestelman believes basketball can reel in cricket to become Australia's most popular summer sport, Stevenson says the league - which is trending upwards - will steer clear of expanding "for expansion's sake".

"We have to remember back that it was only eight or nine years ago that you had a number of clubs falling over in the NBL before Larry decided to invest and support the league," Stevenson said.

"What we want to make sure is we don't just expand for expansion's sake, we want to make sure it's not just about granting a licence but it's also about that club and that licence being successful in the community.

"The easy part is granting a licence. The harder part is how you build that connection to fans, how to put a strong high performance program in place, how do you build good corporate partnerships, how do you make the financials work so that club can be successful?

"We're less focused on the number, and more focused on the strength of those clubs and teams.

"There could be a model at 16 teams down the track that we'd look at, but we'd rather ensure all of those clubs and licences are strong, successful, have their own identity, are commercially viable, and are adding value to their local communities.

"That's our measure of success."

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