A new four court basketball facility would become home for one of Tasmania’s fastest growing clubs if the planned arena is constructed. The Hobart phoenix has identified a parcel of land and even has council support for the build. But it still needs to convince the state government and a fellow sporting organisation to get shovels in the ground.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00 It may not look like much, but this could be the site of Hobart's new home of basketball.
00:07 There's enough space here to accommodate four basketball courts, four full-sized basketball
00:14 courts.
00:14 The Hobart Phoenix are basketball nomads with no permanent home base. Now the club has identified
00:21 a parcel of land at the Tasmanian Rugby Grounds in Newtown. They hope to build a four-court
00:26 indoor facility there to house their 150 teams and 700 players.
00:32 That growth is in demand to play has driven us to the point where we need better facilities
00:39 to continue to support the growth in the game.
00:41 It would be really exciting just to know you can pop down and play any time you want. Whether
00:48 during basketball season or you're having a break, it would just be really exciting.
00:52 On Monday, the Hobart City Council gave in-principle support to the Phoenix to lease the land.
00:57 But that was news to Tasmanian Rugby, which in a statement said that while discussions
01:02 had been held, no agreement had been reached and that it was surprised the proposal was
01:07 raised at the council meeting.
01:10 The core thing we discussed with Tas Rugby when we sat down with them was looking at
01:13 the opportunity of utilising some under-utilised land. So not utilising any of the land that's
01:17 currently being used for games.
01:20 Basketball Tasmania believes there's a win-win to be had.
01:24 You look at the way football and cricket clubs work together, they have sharing agreements
01:28 where the facilities are used at different times of the year by different user groups.
01:31 The state government already has plans to build a multi-sport arena here at Wilkinson's
01:36 Point but says it is committed to engaging with the Hobart, Phoenix and Basketball Tasmania
01:42 about its proposed build that's expected to cost about $18 million.
01:46 [BLANK_AUDIO]