A new Newcastle Entertainment Centre could lure international music acts and bring back the likes of Tim Tszyu after he fights for a world title next year.
Promoters say an upgraded arena would elevate the level of events Newcastle could host and make the city more competitive against other venues.
The Herald last week reported Venues NSW had proposed an 11,000-capacity entertainment centre as part of its business case for Hunter Park. It would be the largest indoor arena in regional Australia.
No Limit Boxing spokesperson Tim Ashworth said while the Tszyu family had an affinity for Newcastle, Tim's profile had grown too large to fight at the entertainment centre again. He is set to fight for a world title in Las Vegas next month. But Mr Ashworth said the proposed new arena would change things.
"It would make a compelling case for Tim to return to defend his belts," he said. "Having 11,000 would put it on par with any other venue outside of stadiums."
TEG boss Geoff Jones said his company promoted more events at Newcastle Entertainment Centre than anyone else, including the sold-out Australia v England netball test in October and Keith Urban this month.
A larger arena would mean the venue could vie for more international artists and elite netball and basketball games, Mr Jones said.
"The Newcastle market is really strong," he said. "The centre is workable and the team do a great job, but it is old and not as adaptable. A new arena would be state-of-the-art and importantly, it would be configurable so we could do those 2500-5000 shows and be intimate as well as the 8000-10,000 shows."
All three options for a new entertainment centre include corporate suites.
Mr Ashworth said the lack of corporate areas, big screens and activation space were holding Newcastle Entertainment Centre back.
"When we decide where to place an event, we have to factor all of that in," he said. "We love Newcastle, but we can't do a lot of the things we usually do there."
Sydney Kings owner Paul Smith said it wasn't economically viable to bring basketball games to Newcastle.
But he said there were talks about expanding the national league, and a new arena would put Newcastle in contention to host Kings games or even its own team.
"We operate on 14 home games a season," he said. "There are clear conversations around an expansion of the NBL, which would increase the number of home games. We would have to start 'regionalising' the regular season - 14 games is a lot already just to have in Sydney. We think Newcastle is a key market.
"Newcastle should be in consideration for an expansion team, but it won't get one without an upgraded facility."
The last time the Kings were due to play in the city was 2018, when the game was abandoned due to a slippery court. Mr Smith said while that could have happened elsewhere, it wouldn't have occurred if games were played there on a frequent basis.
