'Slam dunk' for Canberra as it lands 2027 Ignite Cup Finals

• Canberra hosts the 2027 Ignite Cup Finals, semi-finals February 19 and final February 21
• The tournament expands from a two-team final to a four-team series
• The prize pool rises from $400,000 to a record $550,000

Canberra will host the NBL's Ignite Cup Finals in February 2027, with the in-season tournament expanding to a four-team series and the prize pool rising to a league-record $550,000.

AIS Arena hosts semi-finals on Friday, February 19 and the decider on Sunday, February 21, under a new partnership between the NBL and the ACT Government.

The format is the bigger change. When the Ignite Cup launched, the top two teams on cup points met in a single standalone final, won by the New Zealand Breakers. From 2027 the top four advance and the tournament finishes across two nights instead of one.

The money has moved with it. The inaugural pool was $400,000, split $300,000 to the winner and $100,000 to the runner-up. The new pool is $550,000, an increase of more than a third and the largest in league history. When the tournament launched, 60 per cent of the prize money went directly to players and 40 per cent to clubs. The NBL's announcement does not say whether that split carries to the larger pool.

The Andrew Gaze MVP Awards will also move to Canberra, presented from the Great Hall at Parliament House. It is the first time the awards have been presented outside Melbourne in more than a decade.

"The Ignite Cup has quickly become one of the standout innovations in the NBL, bringing knockout intensity into the Hungry Jack's NBL regular season and creating must-watch basketball every Wednesday night," NBL Group chief executive David Stevenson said.

"Introducing a Final Four series and bringing it to Canberra is a fantastic evolution of the competition. Fans will experience a festival of basketball, with the best teams battling it out over one incredible weekend for the biggest prize pool in NBL history."

"Canberra has shown time and again that it embraces elite basketball. The incredible success of last year's sold-out CODE Sports NBL Blitz proved there's a huge appetite for the game."

The dates sit neatly against the season. The NBL27 regular season closes on Sunday, February 14, which puts the semi-finals five days later and the final seven. The Ignite Cup itself runs 20 Wednesday night games from September through January, and those results count towards the regular season ladder rather than sitting outside it.

The scoring is what makes the Wednesdays different. A win is worth three cup points, with a further point for each quarter won and half a point for a quarter tied. A team can lose the game and still bank cup points, which is a live incentive in the last minutes of a quarter that exists on no other night of the NBL season.

For Canberra, the finals are the second major basketball acquisition in as many years and they arrive attached to a longer argument.

"This is a slam dunk for Canberra and a great example of what's possible when we build strong, genuine partnerships with national sporting codes," ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said.

"Bringing the 2027 Ignite Cup Finals and the Andrew Gaze MVP Awards to our city means the entire NBL family, from players, officials, and fans from every club, will be here for a full weekend."

"The Ignite Cup Finals will fill our hotels, restaurants, cafes and bars, supporting local jobs and giving our accommodation and hospitality sectors a fantastic boost."

"It is a strategic investment that supports not only our T2030 goal of growing visitor spend by $1 billion by 2030, but also our 2024 election commitment to work with the NBL on bringing elite men's basketball back to Canberra."

That last line is the point of the exercise. Canberra has no NBL club. The ACT has committed $31.1 million to planning and detailed design for a new National Convention and Entertainment Centre, and the government is now openly linking the Ignite Cup Finals to the case for a team.

The evidence it is leaning on is recent. The 2025 CODE Sports NBL Blitz sold out every day and was the busiest week at AIS Arena since the venue reopened in 2023.

"Canberrans love their basketball and it's great to see the NBL backing that in. What a fantastic outcome for the ACT," ACT Minister for Sport and Recreation Chris Steel said.

"Bringing the Ignite Cup Finals to Canberra will further enhance our city's reputation as the destination for major sporting events."

"Events like this inspire the next generation to get involved in the sport and in February, Canberrans can watch their sporting heroes compete right here in their own city."

"Basketball in Canberra is only getting bigger, that's why we're also investing to expand the Belconnen Basketball Stadium to host bigger games on state-of-the-art courts."

The Breakers hold the trophy. Four teams will get a shot at taking it off them, and the last two standing will play for it in a city that does not yet have a team in the competition.