How the Taipans can work around convention centre upgrade delay

The Taipans can work around the delayed Cairns Convention Centre upgrades, according to club president Troy Stone, but the state government must come to the party.

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The Taipans can work around the delayed Cairns Convention Centre upgrades, according to club president Troy Stone, but the state government must come to the party.

Further delays on the $176 million Cairns Convention Centre expansion project has threatened to throw the Taipans’ upcoming NBL season into disarray.

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The project has been delayed three times since its initial announcement in 2016, the latest delay attributed to COVID-19’s impact on factories in Europe who shut down during the global health pandemic.

The gap in the supply line has left the Taipans in a pickle less than six months before the expected start of the NBL season.

With no other venue in Cairns suitable to host NBL games, there is a fear the Taipans will be forced to take home games away from the Far North as they look to capitalise on their exciting run to the NBL finals last season.

Cairns Taipans Captain Alex Loughton shakes hands with Taipans President Troy Stone after a game at the Cairns Convention Centre. PICTURE: BRENDAN RADKE

Stone has ruled out the Taipans taking their entire home schedule on the road, admitting there was a chance they might not return, but is open to taking individual games to select locations.

But their preference is to work around the current situation.

“The number one option is to work within the work schedule and still play at the convention centre,” Stone said. “That’s the only real live option.

“There’s been talk about Cairns Basketball, try to do some redevelopment there but bringing that up to broadcast standard, international floor standard, takes a lot of work in a very short amount of time.

“There’s been speculation about Townsville. At this point in time, Townsville is not on the radar for us.

“We see that as a big step backwards for the Cairns Taipans if we had to take our home season on the road to Townsville or anywhere else.

“Call it as it is: we may not come back from that situation.”

CAIRNS CONVENTION CENTRE UPGRADE DELAYED AGAIN

Stone noted that delays were due to airconditioning plant equipment and the retractable grandstand - two issues the club will gladly work through.

“If the current aircon, which was fine last year and we’ve never had an issue when we’ve got the place full of 5200 people, if that’s still there and operational, leave it there,” Stone said.

Taipans Cameron Oliver goes up for a basket. PICTURE: STEWART McLEAN

“If the grandstands doesn’t need to be touched, either don’t touch it or if we need to adapt the grandstand to allow for some works, let’s do the adaptation and let us work with our seating and floor plans to make sure we can work within that.

“Get the works cracking and get them cracking now, pause on anything that will have an impact on us through our season, then pick it up after our season.

“We’re open to really looking at anything. We’ll be adaptable, the NBL will be adaptable, they need to put their schedule together and we’re the only club at the moment which hasn’t been to give them availability about dates.

“Time is ticking. We need to get cracking on this and get it done.”

Both the club and NBL are lobbying for the state government to provide a workable solution which would allow the Taipans to play at their home court.

The Taipans president said any costs incurred by the delay should not be footed by the community-owned club.

NBL Owner and Executive Chairman Larry Kestelman said it would be disastrous if the Taipans could not play in Cairns.

Taipans supporters Darren Tonkin from Westcourt and Naomi McKinnon cheer on the Taipans on their way to winning a the second game in last year’s NBL Finals. PICTURE: STEWART McLEAN

“While we welcome the redevelopment, we have asked the Government to schedule the relevant works after the NBL season is completed so as to minimise disruption for the Taipans and their fans.

“We intend to have fans back in venues when our season is scheduled to start later this year and the Convention Centre is the only viable venue to host NBL in Cairns and it would be disastrous for the competition and the community if it was not available. We look forward to reaching agreement with the Government as a matter of urgency to ensure that we can continue to bring world class sport and entertainment to the people of Cairns this season.”

Originally published as How the Taipans can work around convention centre upgrade delay