Pop-Up Arena mooted in plan to host WNBL season
CAIRNS is in the line to host the country’s premier women’s basketball competition.
The lion’s share of the Women’s National Basketball League season could be held in Townsville after a joint bid between Townsville City Council and Tourism and Events Queensland.
But there has been an approach made to Cairns Regional Council about including the Far North city in the arrangement.
The new Pop-Up Arena, at the site of the old Bunnings building at Portsmith, passed its first test with flying colours.
Three games of Super Netball’s Indigenous round were played over two days at the newly-repurposed venue and, as far as the venue itself is concerned, was a success.
The Pop-Up Arena was originally intended to be a temporary home for the Cairns Taipans, to ensure they played their NBL games in FNQ throughout the 2020-21 season while upgrades were completed at the Cairns Convention Centre.
The NBL has since delayed tip-off in the new campaign until mid-January, which could leave the arena virtually unused for the next few months.
It’s understood the WNBL has plans to host the games wholly within North Queensland, taking advantage of state government grants funding.
A successful bid would include 14 fixture matches, a semifinal and a three-game grand final series held in Townsville, while other regular season games would be split between Mackay and Cairns.
And with the success of the Cairns Pop-Up Arena, it could become the perfect venue for the
WNBL. Early Settler Stadium is the home of the Cairns Marlins and Dolphins, which compete in the NBL1 North.
The stadium is used as a training base by the Taipans, and could be an ideal set-up for visiting WNBL teams if it was to come to fruition.
A Townsville council report detailing the proposal to be central to the 2020/21 WNBL season within a coronavirus “bubble” was endorsed on Tuesday.