The Sydney Kings and Sydney Flames will soon be the only professional basketball teams in Australia to have a purpose-built training facility, thanks in large part to $20 million of public funding.
The grant was announced on Wednesday afternoon, with $15 million to come from the NSW Government's Centre of Excellence Fund, while the Cumberland City Council will inject $5 million into the new facility, which will be built in Lidcombe in Sydney's western suburbs, adjacent to the Auburn Basketball Centre.
The Kings and Flames, both of which operate within Hoops Capital Pty Ltd, will become the first and only NBL and WNBL teams, respectively, to have an exclusive, purpose-built practice facility.
The building will feature two courts, high-performance sports science and medical facilities, a strength and conditioning facility, recovery spaces, a player lounge, and office space, among other amenities. It will be the permanent and exclusive headquarters for both teams, with the courts also set to be utilised for the Hoops Capital Academy.
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet was on hand at Auburn Basketball Centre on Wednesday to announce the funding alongside Hoops Capital chairman, Paul Smith, with an audience of Kings and Flames players.
"The success of these teams is incredibly important," Perrottet told ESPN.
"The Kings and the Flames have been an institution in basketball in this country. But, it's also for grassroots. We know basketball is one of the fastest growing sports in NSW and around the nation. We want to make sure our players have the very best, and we want to inspire young kids -- boys and girls across Western Sydney and our great state -- to get into basketball; in order to do that, you've got to have the best facilities. What we set up here will be nation leading."
The $15 million figure was the maximum the NSW Government could contribute as part of its Centre of Excellence Fund initiative. The terms of the grant indicate that construction of the new facility must begin by February 2024, with the expectation it would be completed within two years. Given that time frame, both the Kings and Flames will be able to function out of the facility ahead of the 2026-27 seasons.
"It's a bit like opening a present on Christmas morning; we finally got here," Smith told ESPN.
"For me, this is a really important point in the big plan for what we want to do with basketball, and what we want to do with the Kings and Flames.
"Building a legitimate facility, a legitimate home, that's tangible, it's aspirational. It's the things we want it to be. From my side, this is an amazing outcome. I still think it's not quite real to people.
"I hope that it's a precedent that NBL and WNBL clubs can use as a point of reference, to say 'they're doing it, why are we getting that?'. And then understanding why that isn't happening. There's always legitimate reasons from government. We know that this funding wouldn't be possible if we weren't co-joined with the Kings and the Flames. We know that. We would have no chance at receiving any funding of the government just running a men's program."
While the Kings' success within NBL competition has been more pronounced over the past five years -- and the idea of the facility being a major recruiting tool wasn't ignored -- the Flames' involvement was stressed throughout the day as a significant reason why the public funding was able to be achieved.
"It's going to make sure that players around the country and around the world are going to want to play basketball in Australia, they want to play for the Kings and the Flames," Perrottet said.
"This is the place to be. We've got the best teams; the Kings are going to go back-to-back this weekend. We want to make sure the best facilities are here. What you'll see is players around the country saying, 'I want to be in Sydney'.
"My young daughters play basketball, and women's sport is on the rise and incredibly important. But, the fact that they can't even play together (at Auburn Basketball Centre), because they haven't got the facilities, the change rooms, is terrible. This is not just important for the Kings; it's important for women's basketball, and our Flames are leading lights in sport, and also want to inspire young girls to get into basketball and go all the way to the top."
Smith described the incoming facility as 'sexy', with the expectation of emulating the sorts of training centres that every NBA team operates out of.
"That sense of enclosure," Smith said.
"You've got privacy. It's a workplace for our players. I want it to be the ideal workplace for a professional basketball player. That means they can arrive in the morning, they can practice without interference, without disruption, without prying eyes. They can then take a break, they can rest, they can recover, they can get treated, they can lift, they can do the things they need to do to get their bodies right. They'll have work stations and lounges, and then they can go home from work.
"We don't have that luxury right now. That's deemed as a luxury, but it should really be the standard that we have to offer professional basketballers, men and women. And give them that privilege and opportunity. I think that will only drive more people to say they wanna be part of it."
The idea of a purpose-built practice facility for the Kings and Flames was floated to players nearly three years prior to this announcement, and conversations between the teams' ownership and NSW Government had been ongoing since around that time.
While the Kings and Flames' ownership may contemplate financial contributions to the project at some stage, the current plan is for the facility to remain a publicly owned asset.
"This sits on the balance sheet of Cumberland City Council -- it's built on crown land -- so it can't be privately owned, and it's never intended to be privately owned," Smith said.
"What we're establishing is an asset and a legacy for the city and community. This is not a private facility; it's a public facility, publicly funded, designed to service the needs of the community. Now, those needs extend from the role of primarily servicing professional basketballers, but also there's a role to create pathways for kids; for juniors to come through, knowing there's an academy facility, and an opportunity to see and feel where the pros play and train is the ability for young people to go, 'that's where I wanna be'. It's aspirational.
"And, if we weren't marching as two teams as one club in this market, and we weren't representing ourselves in the appropriate way, we wouldn't have this opportunity. This really is built on the previous owners of the Kings, the players of the Kings. It underlines where basketball is at right now."