AIS Arena

AIS Arena is a multi-purpose arena in Canberra, Australia. Its capacity is 5,200 and it was built in 1980. The arena was opened by the Prime Minister of Australia, Malcolm Fraser, on 26 January 1981 and was originally named the National Indoor Sports Centre and was the inaugural home of the Australian Institute of Sport.HistoryThe Arena was designed by Philip Cox & Partners. Architectural features include a 1200 tonne suspended concrete panel roof supported by 12 steel masts and 36 mainstay cables. The roof has a span of 100.4 metres. The stadium is partly set into the ground to reduce its scale and to establish a visual connection between the landscape and the mast and cable structure of the roof. The AIS Arena is able to seat up to 5,200 people.SportThe AIS Arena is home to the Canberra Capitals and Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) who play in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL). While the AIS won one WNBL championship the Capitals have been far more successful and have won a record seven WNBL championships.The AIS Arena was also home to defunct National Basketball League team the Canberra Cannons. The Cannons would win three championships while in Canberra yet they never got to celebrate a home grand final win as their three NBL titles (1983, 1984 and 1988) were all won in Melbourne. While the Cannons were playing at the arena it was known as "The Palace", in part due to the AIS Arena being by far the largest (from 1981-1983 the next largest was the 3,000 capacity Apollo Stadium in Adelaide), and the most modern venue used in the NBL during the leagues early years. The arena would be superseded as the largest NBL venue in 1984 when the Coburg Giants (later North Melbourne Giants) moved into the 7,200 capacity Glass House.