NBL Blitz heads to Canberra
NBL Blitz is coming to Canberra in August 2025
The National Basketball League (NBL) today announced its pre-season tournament, the Blitz, will be held in Canberra in 2025.
Fans will converge on AIS Arena from August 27, for five days of non-stop action where all 10 NBL teams make their final preparations ahead of the NBL26 Season.
“Bringing the Blitz to Canberra is the highlight of our pre-season calendar,” NBL Chief Operations Officer and Head of Basketball Operations, Vince Crivelli said.
“It provides an opportunity for our players in the build-up to our season to showcase themselves to new fans, to new markets, and to welcome new communities into the NBL environment.
“It’s a great opportunity to test the Canberra market, too, and to challenge the basketball community to get behind NBL content.”
Crivelli said the NBL partnering with the ACT Government for its first proper taste of NBL since the Illawarra Hawks played at the AIS Arena in 2019 is a statement of intent for the League, confirming a desire to bring Canberra back into the NBL.
“We think that Canberra’s got an incredible history with the NBL, and we’d love to see that history resurrected, and we’d love to see in future years an opportunity for an NBL team eventually back in the competition, based here in Canberra,” he said.
“We have expansion ambition, and we think Canberra and the ACT absolutely deserves a team, but we also want to do it in a manner that is sustainable and is something that can be here for the long term.”
The expansion success of the Tasmania JackJumpers gives the NBL confidence about broadening the League’s footprint, and Canberra product Alex Toohey’s NBA Draft selection proves the ACT’s ability to provide a pathway.
“There are 15,000 registered participants in the ACT, and there has been some incredible talent developed. We have a real opportunity to bring them to the fore and make the Canberra basketball fan the most important person for the five days of the Blitz.
“That will give us confidence to keep exploring expansion, and it would give us great pleasure to see a team back here in the ACT.”
Canberra basketball & NBL legend, and former Canberra Cannons coach Cal Bruton says he’s incredibly excited to see the NBL recognising the Nation’s Capital again.
“This is just an unbelievable opportunity for us here in Canberra to have the top players in the NBL come and grace our courts again at the renovated AIS Arena,” the NBL Hall of Famer said.
“It’s important that we all have role models and having the top players from the NBL and all the top teams all here, it’s a huge opportunity for our next generation of young players.”
The Cannons last played in the NBL in 2003, but elite basketball has been admirably served in Canberra during that time but the UC Capitals, winning back-to-back WNBL Championships in 2018/2019 and 2019/2020.
But that has never stopped the undercurrent of old Cannons fans wishing for a return of the NBL Foundation club.
Crivelli suggests it will happen – Cannons name or not – but the timeframe remains open at this stage.
“These things do take a little bit of time. There are little challenges that we need to overcome, but we see a path.
“We are committed to walking down that path, and as quickly as we can get there, we’ll get there. But we won’t do it at a pace that will jeopardise any opportunity for this to be a successful and sustainable franchise.”
Tickets are available now, with limited free entry for kids.