The ACT government will pay $125,000 to host the Hawks in an Australia Day clash against the Cairns Taipans at the AIS Arena on January 26, ending a 10-year wait for NBL action to return to Canberra.

As revealed by Fairfax Media last week, the Hawks hope the one-off game could be the start of an ongoing, similar to the 10-year deal the government has with the GWS Giants to play AFL at Manuka Oval.

The Hawks' move is timely given the A-League is considering adding a Canberra team as part of its expansion plans and there is an advisory board set up to investigate options for a future Big Bash team.

But NBL chief executive Jeremy Loeliger says basketball won't be deterred by other sports also trying to break into the capital's summer market and believes they can work together in the future.

"There's always a 'first-mover' advantage, but having said that there are also potential benefits of alignment with sporting clubs from other leagues," Loeliger said.

"It's one of the factors that needs to go into the mix. You don't want to be competing with each other if you can help it, and you want to be as complementary of each other as you can be.

"...None of that frightens us away and wouldn't be a reason to locate or not to locate a team [in Canberra]. But it is a factor. There's no doubt Canberra can play a role, there's a long history here in the city. This seems as ripe an opportunity as any other."

Canberra hasn't hosted an NBL game since 2008 and there has been minimal men's professional basketball in the city since the demise of the Canberra Cannons in 2003.

There have been ongoing rumblings about reviving the Cannons, but the first step has to be testing the waters with the Hawks to see if there's an appetite.

ACT Sport Minister Yvette Berry stressed any NBL team hoping to play in capital must work with the Canberra Capitals, the most successful team in WNBL history.

The Hawks have vowed to learn from previous failed models for teams trying to tap into Canberra in the NBL and A-League, and general manager Mat Campbell says the club will immerse itself in the basketball community.

"We're the only foundation club who's played in every season throughout the history of the NBL, and part of that for us is to keep expanding and keep reinventing what we are as a club," Campbell said.

"A big push for us was to expand our footprint. The ACT isn't that far down the road, it was a logical decision to explore that avenue. It was a natural progression [to partner with Basketball ACT].

"We will put all of efforts into engaging the local community, we see that as important. We want to see all ACT people get behind the Hawks and hopefully become members.

"We've seen what has and hasn't worked [previously] and the big thing to come out of that is that you have to put time into the community. Be a part of it and have the right mentality."

The game against Cairns was scheduled to be free-to-air television and could also collide with the Capitals hosting the opening week of WNBL finals action if they secure a top-two ladder spot.

"We need to keep in mind the funding we've provided to the Hawks for one game is half of what we provide to the Capitals for one season of 14 games. So that's in the front of my mind when I'm inviting teams like the Illawarra Hawks here to play," Berry said.

"The Canberra Capitals have been the most successful sport team in the ACT ... we expect there will be a very close partnership and relationship between the Hawks and the Capitals."

The challenge for the fixture is the long-weekend schedule, with Canberrans traditionally fleeing to the south coast. But the Hawks and NBL are confident of attracting a big crowd after selling out a pre-season game at Tuggeranong in September.

NBL IN CANBERRA

January 26: Illawarra Hawks v Cairns Taipans at AIS Arena, 2.50pm.