Netball's elite to light up Tauranga | Rotorua Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Rotorua

Tauranga's days as a netball backwater are over after the city beat off bids from Sydney and Melbourne to host all 10 ANZ championship teams in a three-day pre-season tournament next year.

Already given the green light to host three transtasman competition games next season involving Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic, Tauranga's TECT Arena will be overflowing with the world's best talent from March 2-4 for the competition's only official pre-season tournament.

It is being jointly hosted by Transtasman Netball, Tauranga City Venues and Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic in March 2012.

For the first time since the competition was established in 2008 all 10 teams will contest the pre-season tournament, with SKY Television also set to use Tauranga as the backdrop for its pre-packaged tournament visuals.

Ervin McSweeney, TCVL general manager, said he and Magic chief executive Sheryl Dawson put together the bid after ANZ Championship organisers sent a letter to all 10 netball franchises asking for expressions of interest in hosting the tournament.

"We put a bid together, not necessarily thinking we were in with any sort of of chance but hopeful, because it's a great event to have here if we could," McSweeney said.

"They asked for a further proposal, so while we obviously highlighted the netball facility (the city's $40 million TECT Arena was opened in August) there was also the attractiveness of this area for teams to come to.

"Melbourne and Sydney boast a huge range of attractions but we're a smaller, newer venue and I think there were a range of factors behind why we got the nod.

"To have the best netballers in the world on show at the arena will be a boost for the community and a great spectacle for netball in New Zealand and all sports fans in the region."

Bay of Plenty played their home games in the national championships at TECT Arena this year en route to a top-three finish, while the Breakers used the main stadium for a pre-season game. Magic will play three of its home games there next year in the ANZ Championship, with Hamilton and Rotorua hosting the others.

Although the draw for the March tournament is yet to be finalised, McSweeney said it was likely three courts would be used on all three days.

"We'll use both sides of the venue due to the fact there are 10 teams and there has to be a number of games going on at the same time, and the way I envisage it is that in each session there will be a feature game going on in the main arena with all the seating (3000 capacity) in place.

"We'll create a couple of smaller arenas in the six-court area to allow three games at least to be going on pretty much most of the time, but that feature game will probably attract most interest.

"When you get all these teams here then just about every team is a highlight."

Dawson said the cost of hosting the tournament would be a joint venture between TTNL, TCVL and Magic, offset by sponsorship, ticketing and team contributions.