The recently opened University of Wollongong Recreation and Aquatic Centre (URAC) could eventually become the home of the Wollongong Hawks.
High schools have been regularly using the state-of-the-art complex for sport and PE activities since it officially opened four weeks ago.
A domestic basketball competition is up and running, while sporting bodies such as Illawarra volleyball, Illawarra netball and Futsal are frequenting the new courts.
Underlining the building's versatility, the University rugby union team moved last night's training session indoors.
The Hawks aren't rushing to move out of the 5800-seat WIN Entertainment Centre, the club's home since the 1998-99 season.
But downsizing to a smaller venue in the next few years is not out of the question.
Built to hold more than 3400 people, the URAC could ultimately be the ideal home for the NBL's last original club, which averaged less than 3000 spectators at home games last season.
Click here to see the full 2009/10 NBL scheduleWhile the centre was not created with the Hawks in mind, URAC executive director Paul Manning said he could understand the logic behind a future relocation for the club.
"It could be (the Hawks' home) one day, but it's not designed for the Hawks," Manning said. "It's designed as a 3000-seat university hall that could cater for an event like that one day with a POPE (place of public entertainment) licence.
"It's far more cost effective for (the Hawks) at the moment to play in a venue like this, (but) if they were getting anything more than 3000 people to a game then no, it wouldn't be suitable.
"The Hawks were initially keen on (the centre being) a 4000-plus venue, but it would never have worked with 4000 and we told them that. With 3000, it's much more do-able and much more sensible for them, but in the long run, we might only be a stop-gap to get them back making money and then they could probably go back to the WEC and generate the 4000-plus they were doing.
"We may never get there (as the Hawks' home) but we may never need to get there. The Hawks or anything of that nature will never be our bread and butter. We'll only be doing that to assist the community to fill in a gap where the Hawks are not viable at the WEC."
The URAC boasts 2400sqm of playing floor and 1500sqm of mezzanine space, while plans to install retractable seating and air-conditioning are in the pipeline.
"We run volleyball, Futsal, basketball ... the netballers love it because it's perfect for training with it's semi-sprung floor," Manning said.
"I went to America in 2002 to have a look and this is basically called a fieldhouse in America. It's a mini internal activity space for all sorts of outdoor activities.
"There's a lot of space. The major use over the last three weeks of rain has been all of the winter codes coming in here to train. It's a very good all-purpose floor.
"Because this BCA (Building Code of Australia) is set up for 3400 people, we could have graduation in here tomorrow."
The building has several offices which are already occupied by NSW Tennis, NSW Rugby, NSW AFL and the Australian Sports Commission.
Manning said URAC was among the nation's best university sports centres.
"We're in the top six in Australia," he said.
"Queensland is by far the best, NSW and Sydney have got good facilities, Macquarie is catching up rapidly and they're spending millions. The word is Monash University is spending between $14 and $18 million a year on sport. They see sport, recreation, fitness, health and wellness as an attraction into a university."
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