Cairns’ new pop-up arena

The Queensland Government recently completed a pop-up sporting arena in the heart of Cairns. Owing to its accelerated delivery, the region was able to secure three Super Netball games - a first for Far North Queensland.

Our department, in collaboration with Cairns Regional Council, brought the venue to life in just five short weeks.

The former warehouse has been transformed into a venue tailored for events to help activate the Cairns tourism industry. QBuild delivered this work with hard work of 147 local Cairns residents and the support of 52 contract packages, 100% of these packages have gone to Cairns businesses

The transformation of the former hardware store includes the installation of temporary seating, amenities and broadcast overlay for televised fixtures and other community events; creating a 2000-seat arena in Portsmith.

The venue successfully hosted the  WNBL games that were played in Cairns during November and December this year.

As the NBL season hots up, we are looking forward to the Taipans returning to the court. The first pre-season game will be played at the venue on New Year’s Eve followed by a second pre-season game on 9 January 2021. The Cairns pop-up Arena will host eight home games for the Taipans from 19 January – 15 February 2021.

The Department is continuing to work with Tourism Events Queensland and the Cairns Regional Council on event attraction for the summer.