No AFL team for Tasmania, league boss Gillon McLachlan announces

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Sep 17, 2004
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2021...interesting

2021 is when current Tasmania deals with Hawthorn and North Melbourne expire... coincidence?

Looking at current deals very broadly..**

Hawthorn 2017 Operating Profit is $2.17M. Tasmania Deal is $19mill over 5 years which is $3.8M per year

North 2017 Operating Profit $633k (Pre Depreciation). Tasmania Deal was $600k per season.

** i sourced numbers from net. if incorrect i stand corrected.

Why create a team in Tasmania when Tasmania effectively covers over the financial cracks of having too many Victorian clubs. They already have 2 burning AFL holes (amongst many other holes raging with fire) .

Of course the counter is Hawthorn and North say they reinvest in Tasmania football activities that counter this however the value to branding is immeasurable on this.

Above this is the local injection of interstate traveller funds into the economy, however as calibre of teams playing there diminish, so will crowds and genuine interest from interstate teams. One could argue bi weekly games would produce bigger travelling contingent as they would attract bigger teams like Collingwood and Richmond etc.

A team in Tasmania doesn't solve the Gold Coast or GWS problem it creates at least 2 more funding AFL problems.

Until Tassie pull the rug on AFL subsidy, things will never change...

Of course AFL will hold them ransom in funding for TAS football funding and support at local level and so the circle begins again.

Hawthorn had the largest revenue base in the AFL in 2017, that figure was the consolidated and the Tasmanian arrangement incorporates the principal and naming rights corporate sponsorship.

Its lucrative but the Hawthorn Football Club would survive without Tasmania quite comfortably. Its a money spinner yes but the club is far from being at the soup kitchen
 
I'm simply not sure tassie could support an AFL side from a business perspective.

Do they have a soccer, basketball or a netball side? These are less business hungry sports and there absence may highlight the issue.
 

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Isaac Cumming No 1

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People need to let to go of the 'team in every state' romanticism and accept the reality.

Tasmania is a small state with less people than the Gold Coast and growing at a snail's pace. Not to mention that, unlike other states, the majority of the state's population live outside the capital city as well which means that selecting Hobart as the home means shutting out people from Launceston. And Hobart is tiny.

Gold Coast and western Sydney were always the most logical places for expansion. Even a third WA team has far more merit than Tasmania.
Everything you say is true, but I dont agree with the conclusion.
I dont see it as a competition between the recent expansion clubs and Tasmania anyway.
At it's heart this discussion is about whether the AFL is about a national competition that raises money to survive and flourish, as is appropriate for a not for profit organisation. I dont like the "fish and chip" shop analogy where it's a business maximising profits. If it was the issue of too many Melbourne clubs would be urgent.
To me it's appropriate that every state have an AFL licence, as long as it's sustainable. That doesn't mean a Tassie team has to make money, as long as the competition can sustain subsidising it in some form it should exist in my view.
 

Cincinnatus

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I'm simply not sure tassie could support an AFL side from a business perspective.

Do they have a soccer, basketball or a netball side? These are less business hungry sports and there absence may highlight the issue.

Their soccer bid was thrown out for reasons only FFA can explain. Just desparate for more Melbourne and Sydney teams I guess.
 

Cincinnatus

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Oh, and those who talk about a VFL team being a good start - its already been done and it did little for the state. The only decent thing about the team was the jersey.

I think Brendan Bolton was a coach at one stage actually.

Anyway, it didnt work. Crowds fell away - who could blame them? Its VFL standard.

Likely, it wont do anything.

Its just more empty promises.
 
May 2, 2007
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People need to let to go of the 'team in every state' romanticism and accept the reality.

Tasmania is a small state with less people than the Gold Coast and growing at a snail's pace. Not to mention that, unlike other states, the majority of the state's population live outside the capital city as well which means that selecting Hobart as the home means shutting out people from Launceston. And Hobart is tiny.

Gold Coast and western Sydney were always the most logical places for expansion. Even a third WA team has far more merit than Tasmania.
Hobart Hurricanes seem to survive alright down there.
 
May 4, 2009
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I'm just sad and a little bit annoyed.

Couldn't give much care about the VFL side and even if that was a success, I still don't think the AFL would give us a team. We were given no given criteria to get an AFL team. Even if we succeeded, I have no trust or faith in the AFL and I reckon most Tasmanians feel the same. We have been "promised" things since the VFL went AFL. It was always 5-10 years time or next cab off the rank. And still, we are waiting.

Been a **** week as a Tasmanian sports fan. We get nothing. Heres hoping next month, we are celebrating Richie Porte winning the tour and a Devonport Strikers win in the FFA Cup.
 
May 2, 2007
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Not just that, attendances this year:

Suns on GC:
- 17,490
- 13,637
- 10,181

North in Hobart:
- 14,266
- 7194

Hawks in Launceston:
- 15,741
- 13,007
- 9007

I know that neither of those are a 'true' Tassie team, but the numbers aren't good reading when comparing an attentive market to a growth one.

In reality, the Suns actually aren't doing that poorly for engagement, their biggest issue is they can't get out of the bottom 6 and draw in the 'casual' fans.
As a Richmond supporter would you really want to pay good money to see bloody Hawthorn or North pay? You can't compare blow in Vic teams simply there to milk them, I wouldn't go out of principle if I was Tasmanian. Blundstone sells out for the cricket because it's actually their own proper team.
 

Smartest Brain

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This is the reality. The population really caps their profitability and growth potential.
Not really. Thousands of Tasmanians have left the state and would most likely support a tassie team in an interstate manner. So it isn't as simple as looking at their own numbers as lots move away and have for decades. But you will never take the Tasmanian out of a Tasmanian. Ask one.
 
Jun 23, 2008
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Not really. Thousands of Tasmanians have left the state and would most likely support a tassie team in an interstate manner. So it isn't as simple as looking at their own numbers as lots move away and have for decades. But you will never take the Tasmanian out of a Tasmanian. Ask one.

Does that result in money at the gate, or purchases of ticketed memberships though?
 

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Smartest Brain

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I know hardly anything about footy in Tassie but I'm supremely confident that if they had a team it would be a success.
It would be bigger than both the bulldogs and North Melbourne, easily. I don't think a Tassie team will ever take on the top financial teams of the comp but it will hold its own.
 

Smartest Brain

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Does that result in money at the gate, or purchases of ticketed memberships though?
Not sure how interstate memberships go but they would turn up to watch them when interstate, they would have a lot larger interstate crowds than GWS/GC and some smaller melb teams. But that doesn't really help them financially so much, but the league overall.

Problem I have with a Tassie team is both their stadiums suck and one of them would need an upgrade. Launceston may make more sense as it is closer to Devonport and hundreds of fans roll in from the spirit of tasmania. But Hobart is the bigger city and has more infrastructure.
 

Cudi_420

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End of the day, Tassie simply does not have the market viability to have its own team. Can you imagine the TV ratings for Tassie vs GC? The reality is that most of the noise about Tassie football and the need for an AFL club, comes from expats living elsewhere in Australia, or mainlanders who have a resentment towards GC and GWS. Ballarat would be a more viable option for a team than Tassie. And I mean that.
 

Smartest Brain

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End of the day, Tassie simply does not have the market viability to have its own team. Can you imagine the TV ratings for Tassie vs GC? The reality is that most of the noise about Tassie football and the need for an AFL club, comes from expats living elsewhere in Australia, or mainlanders who have a resentment towards GC and GWS. Ballarat would be a more viable option for a team than Tassie. And I mean that.
Ballarat bigger than a Tassie team? What next Bulldogs to beat Collingwood financially?
not-sure-if-serious-gif.gif
 
Sep 22, 2011
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I'm simply not sure tassie could support an AFL side from a business perspective.

Do they have a soccer, basketball or a netball side? These are less business hungry sports and there absence may highlight the issue.

As a traditional, ingrained sport, cricket is the best comparison - they have the Hurricanes.

Plus of course, they have two current AFL venues and already host seven home games a year.
 
Jun 6, 2016
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Football will be lost in Tasmania. The AFL know the s**t hits the fan big time when both Lynch and May defect from the Gold Coast at the end of the year.

This! gc is hanging on a thread and if both May and Lynch (almost a given!) leave it would surely be the death knell of gc being a competitive team. It would only serve as a development team for the rest of the competition. That can't be allowed.

Far better to have a dedicated team in Tassie with Tasmanian's on the list. Cmon AFL do the righty, close the doors on gc and start a dedicated Tasmanian AFL team.
 
May 4, 2009
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How many latte sipping phone addicted millenial footballers are you going to entice to live in....Tasmania??
You should come down here. We have latte's as well and some might say, the freshest and hence, best food in Australia.

Isn't the Gold Coast meant to be where everyone wants to move to? How come so many AFL players seem to do the opposite. Team culture far more important than location.
 
Mar 5, 2005
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Make it like the Green Bay Packers and plunk them in Launceston full time... when people think of Launceston, they'll immediately think of the footy team... have them play a token game in Hobart.... but have them embrace their ruralism.... can even adopt the same green and gold.... can even joke about the frozen tundra of York Park on a winter's afternoon
 

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