It was always the State Governments preference that the 36ers play at the Entertainment Centre. If you look at the configuration of the Corporate facilities, they are/were set up for basketball/netball type sports. BASA to use the old name wanted their own facilty for several reasons. These included the ability to be not restricted when the venue could be used. (just think of some of the crazy scheduling interstate), catering and parking rights and the resultant income, the cost of a transportable floor and the costs associated with the laying down and dismantling after use, unrestricted home court practise facilities, etc.
The State Government resisted overtures from BASA to help fund a new home for Basketball until the bid for the 1998 Commonwealth Games. The State Government required a mid size facility to hold events that could not be catered for in either the Entertainment Centre or the Festival Theatre. Instantly money/grants/guarantees were available for a "Basketball" facility. However restrictions were placed on venue capacity and on the number of parking spaces, no concerts, etc so it would not compete with the Entertainment Centre for concerts, etc, long the financial cash cow of the Apollo Stadium days. This is perhaps the one big factor that effected the long term viability of the Dome and also BASA. The unwinnable bid was of course lost as everyone other than the State Government knew that Malaysia was going to get the Games due to political reasons, regardless of how superior the SA bid was.