The governing body for basketball in the ACT has held the lot to the south of Belconnen Stadium for 10 years, with a vision to build two additional indoor courts.

Several feasibility studies have been undertaken about the need for additional basketball facilities in Canberra, the most recent being in early 2020, but Basketball ACT has been unable to secure any capital funding.

Participation rates have far exceeded the current availability of indoor courts across the territory, with Basketball ACT struggling to accommodate a 22 per cent increase of junior teams this year.

The ACT government has acknowledged the facilities' shortfall through the provision of double-court gymnasiums at new public high schools, including the recently opened Evelyn Scott School in Molonglo - with courts to be available for use from mid-2021.

But Basketball ACT said it was not a workable long-term solution as it planned for future growth.

The association has a four-centre strategy to have facilities in Belconnen, Tuggeranong, Molonglo and Gungahlin. But for now, the most viable option was to build next to Belconnen Stadium to take the pressure off, with the land ready to go.

The latest roadblock has been the indefinite closure of the AIS Arena, despite it having no impact on the severe shortage of community courts across Canberra.

MORE CANBERRA SPORT

Basketball ACT told The Canberra Times it received correspondence from the ACT government on Monday that said it was undertaking consultancy regarding the needs for an indoor arena and the sporting body would be included in the process.

But no decisions would be made about its request for capital funding until after that consultancy was completed.

Basketball ACT boss David Simpson was concerned they'd taken a back seat to other issues - particularly the AIS Arena - despite being constrained by the facilities available for community use.

"It's concerning for us that a decision on a single court, which has nothing towards assisting the basketball community, is holding up any sort of ongoing development of community courts," Simpson said.

"We have no idea how long that consultancy will be, either, which we've gone back to the ACT government to clarify.

"We've been in a holding pattern for the best part of 10 years now, having that block of land and a shovel ready to go. We have plans, we have feasibility studies - we simply don't know what else we can do."

The ACT government said it continued to work with the association about its requirements and would explore whether the needs of an indoor arena overlapped with that of community sport.

"Noting the closure of the AIS Arena by the Australian government, the territory needs to firstly understand if there are any potential areas of overlap between the provision of an arena/entertainment venue and community indoor courts that should appropriately be considered," an ACT government spokesperson said.

"The ACT government continues to advocate to the Australian government for some certainty around the future of the AIS Arena. Unfortunately, they have not been forthcoming on any information and this is incredibility frustrating."

Basketball ACT has had an increase of 98 teams in junior competitions this year, with a total of about 540 teams registered between the under-10s and under-19s age groups.

It's set to accept more teams for the next three to four weeks as clubs go through grading, so that number was expected to exceed the 100-mark.

Several clubs have had to close registrations and turn away players, and now also face the challenge of accommodating these extra teams at their current training facilities.

The Weston Creek Dodgers have grown from 275 to 350 registered junior players. The club has now capped its numbers due to its limited access to suitable indoor courts.

The Dodgers occupy five facilities stretched across Stirling, Woden and Forrest, and mostly have two to three teams training on the same court in one hour blocks.

Other indoor sports were also competing with them for court time, with some training sessions pushed back to late at night.

Adding to the issue, vice-president Grant Keys said the one-court facilities were not at competition standard, which meant they couldn't host matches and were unsuitable for senior teams.

"It certainly doesn't help Basketball ACT's pressure to find court space for games," Keys said.

"From a club perspective, we need more courts to train on. But particularly, we have more immediate needs in getting some of the courts we use up to scratch in terms of their standard and improve the facilities.

"We used to use the indoor stadium in Woden that was demolished a few years ago - that was a central centre for basketball in the area. That's left us in the situation we're in at the moment."

In October, the ACT Greens committed to a $22 million investment in a new multi-purpose indoor sports facility in Woden.

Keys said the pledge was encouraging and the Dodgers were willing to work with the government to make it happen.

"There's positive talk about increasing participation in sports and willingness from the government to help us to grow," Keys said.

"There's been a lot of talk for a long time about extending Belconnen and building other stadiums but it's never materialised.

"The growth we're seeing now has just exacerbated the problem. We really need to start seeing some more tangible outcomes from the government."