Red Energy Arena and Hoop City Partner to Bring Advance Grassroots Basketball to Bendigo

National elite basketball training brand Hoop City has officially announced a partnership with Red Energy Arena to launch a dedicated regional franchise in Bendigo.

The venue partnership ensures the sports development corporation can embed its specialised basketball training methodologies, elite coaching assets, and industrial training hardware directly into one of regional Victoria’s premier indoor sporting infrastructures.

The regional model aims to insulate local families from travel costs while building a highly stable, recurring business-to-consumer revenue stream for the brand’s expanding Victoria portfolio.

Executive Assets and Commercial Alignment

The joint venture leverages important athletic and corporate intellectual property, with Hoop City co-founder and current NBL star, Chris Goulding alongside director of coaching, Justin Schueller lending high-profile professional credentials to the regional curriculum.

Bendigo Stadium Limited CEO, David Elliott highlighted the strategic value of the alliance, emphasising that it satisfies an unfulfilled demand for top-tier basketball programming within regional Victoria.

Hoop City CEO and co-founder, Chris Moore, echoed the commercial viability of the expansion, noting that investing in a mature, high-density basketball ecosystem like Bendigo aligns perfectly with the brand’s national revenue growth targets and long-term athletic infrastructure development plans.

Regional Infrastructure and Market Capture Strategy

The agreement establishes Hoop City Bendigo inside the multi-court sports complex, effectively regionalising a premium athletic training model historically isolated within major Australian metropolitan capitals.

Managed by Bendigo Stadium Limited, Red Energy Arena serves as the primary home facility for NBL1 entity the Bendigo Braves and WNBL powerhouse the Bendigo Spirit. By positioning its physical franchise footprint within a high-traffic civic venue, Hoop City secures direct market access to thousands of active domestic participants and emerging basketball athletes who utilise the precinct weekly.

The expansion launches this July with a flagship high-performance development camp, functioning as the primary consumer activation to generate immediate brand equity. This foundational clinic precedes a structured multi-tiered rollout of continuous academy programs, localised talent identification pathways, and subscription-based player development packages scheduled for public release later this year.

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