A proposed 11,000-seat entertainment centre is looming as a game-changer for Newcastle's hopes of reviving a National Basketball League team and attracting more international netball.
The Newcastle Herald reported on Saturday that Venues NSW had completed a business case for the state government recommending a replacement venue for the ageing Newcastle Entertainment Centre.
Venues NSW says a new $350 million indoor stadium should be built beside McDonald Jones Stadium as the first stage of the 63-hectare Hunter Park sport, entertainment and residential redevelopment at Broadmeadow.
The Herald understands the business case suggests national league sporting teams could be key tenants of the stadium, supplementing income from concerts, conferences and exhibitions.
The business case explores three options for a new stadium and recommends the most ambitious plan, an 11,945-seat venue with 34 corporate suites and conference and exhibition spaces.
It says a new indoor stadium would save more than $30 million on maintenance over 10 years on the existing entertainment centre, which was missing out on $20.3 million in potential "events" revenue a year.
One source told the Herald that the business case was the "strongest I've seen".
Former Newcastle Basketball coaching director Tim Mallon said a stadium of the scale proposed would be ideal for a team in the NBL, whose owner, Larry Kestelman, has talked about expanding the number of teams in the league.
Mr Kestelman has named Canberra, Gold Coast, Sydney and Perth as potential expansion clubs, but Mr Mallon said a large new stadium would demonstrate Newcastle was "serious" about reviving its NBL team.
"It would go a long way towards showing the powers that be there is an appetite for it," he said.
"It would also show that a place like Newcastle and the Hunter deserves to have teams in the national competition.
"We already have them in football and rugby league, and basketball is a legit national league sport.
"If Newcastle build a venue like that, then I think Kestelman would be saying, 'OK, they're fair dinkum.'
"I think that would be a prerequisite for something happening. He wants them to play out of arenas."
Newcastle Basketball is focused on pushing for a Women's National Basketball League team playing out of a smaller stadium it plans to build at Glendale.
But new general manager Matt Neason agreed a new entertainment centre would improve the chances of Newcastle hosting an NBL team.
"An entertainment centre improves the prospects of a team, but there's many other things that have to fall in line to make sure it makes business sense," he said. "They've shown they [the NBL] will fund [clubs] internally."
He said an 11,000-seat venue would "clearly fit the NBL" and could host international basketball.
Mr Kestelman was unavailable for comment.
The Herald has been told unlocking $50 million from the Restart NSW fund to move the Newcastle harness racing track to Cessnock, Branxton or elsewhere in the Hunter is the key to developing the entertainment centre and the broader precinct.
A Venues NSW PowerPoint presentation says the entertainment centre is "not encumbered" by the harness racing track, but the two stand shoulder to shoulder.
A new indoor stadium could also house a Super Netball national league team, though Hunter Netball is working on an alternative plan for a 4500-seat stadium and training venue at The Forum at the University of Newcastle.
Hunter Netball chair Jodi Cassar said an 11,000-seat stadium would help attract international netball more regularly to the region and "absolutely" could host a Super Netball team.
"For the Hunter to be a viable option to be included in Super Netball into the future we first need to secure the netball infrastructure in the Hunter region that would allow us not only to be part of the league but to bring elite netball games to the Hunter on a regular basis," she said.
"This would take significant financial backing from the NSW government, corporate partners and the broader netball community but could be a real game-changer for Hunter Netball."
The Australian Diamonds' international against England at Newcastle Entertainment Centre on October 26 sold out 4100 tickets.
Lord mayor Nuatali Nelmes said after the game that organisers could have sold four to five times that number if the venue was larger.
"If you had an 11,000-seat stadium, you could guarantee that in the Hunter you would sell it out on every single occasion, because of the number of netball community people in the region," Ms Cassar said.
A master plan for Hunter Park also includes a swim centre, hotels, eat street and residential and mixed-use buildings with 2700 dwellings for up to 6400 residents.
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