Basketball Australia welcomes the Victorian Government’s $130 million budget announcement to upgrade and expand the State Basketball Centre in Wantirna South.
The $130 million expansion, announced in last week’s Victorian State Budget, is an additional $22 million from the original funding announced in 2018, provided by the Victorian State Government ($83M) and Knox City Council ($25M).
The expansion will increase capacity at the State Basketball Centre to 16 courts, encompassing 10 new indoor community courts and elite high-performance training facilities for athletes within Victorian and national teams as well as WNBL and NBL franchises.
The additional funding for this project, makes it the largest basketball infrastructure investment in the sports history and enables a home base for organisations of all levels of the pathway.
“Basketball Australia congratulates the Victorian State Government on its vision for supporting one of the fastest growing participation sports in Australia with the announcement of funding for the redevelopment of the State Basketball Centre,” said Basketball Australia CEO Jerril Rechter AM.
“Victoria has the largest participation of basketball in the country and the state has a rich history of developing athletes, coaches and officials for national team pathways.
“The upgrading of the facility comes at an important time for the sport and we thank the Victorian State Government for their ongoing support of basketball at all levels.”
The State Basketball Centre currently welcomes almost 800,000 visitors annually and the project will increase visitation to more than 2 million people a year when complete.
The upgrade will also include a new administrative area to support the growth of its home organisations – Basketball Victoria, Knox Basketball Inc. (one of Australia’s largest basketball associations), Deakin Melbourne Boomers (WNBL), South East Melbourne Phoenix (NBL).
Procurement of the head contractor is expected by early 2021 with construction to begin in mid-2021 and completed by approximately mid-2023.
*Render image of the proposed design
In the spirit of reconciliation Basketball Australia acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.