No AFL team for Tasmania, league boss Gillon McLachlan announces

[Freomaniac]

They need to turn things around within the next 5 years another decade like this and the afl would seriously have to start thinking about cutting there loses it’s not fair on the rest of the competition to have one club continue to be given priority handouts !

lol no chance. There has been VFL teams that have spent 15-20 years out of finals. Hell your mob didn't play finals between 1974-1990

 

[hamohawk1]

If a team is named Tasmania but based in Hobart will the north of Tasmania get around them, conversely if they were based up North would the south get around 'their' team?

Seems logical to place the team in Hobart though due to population.

 

[hamohawk1]

lol no chance. There has been VFL teams that have spent 15-20 years out of finals. Hell your mob didn't play finals between 1974-1990

my thoughts exactly. People forget (or fail to mention) their team has been a basket case for a prolonged period of time. Hell even hawthorn were useless for years

 

[kranger]

On a side note, my two biggest pet hates of things I read people write against a Tasmanian team are:

1. Tasmania can’t financially support a team.
2. Tasmania doesn’t have a strong enough state league or local produce to form a term.

My thought to both is... why do they need to, when they would be in a national competition?

Players are drafted from all over the country and move states to play in the AFL. There is no need for Tasmania as a state to have sufficient stock to field a whole team. No current AFL team is made up purely of players from the state they are in.

Again, this is a national competition. With sponsors with headquarters all over Australia sponsoring teams that are not in the same city, and even international sponsors coming into the fold. Whatever companies that are based purely in Tasmania is irrelevant. Because when a company wants brand awareness in a national competition they can go to any team.

But also, several Melbourne teams have near on half of their revenue coming from the AFL as per this thread:

2018 Financial Results (links, rankings - now in post #2)


https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/inde...s-(links,-rankings---now-in-post-#2).1202176/

So why can’t Tasmania at the least do the same?

To me the biggest question as to whether there should be a Tasmanian team is, is there enough fans that will come onboard to make it worth it? I think, yes there is.

 

[Ando727]

Numbers matter.

If all it needs is 'fill the stadium' and 'all the locals support it', then why not add a team in Kalgoorlie, or Alice Springs, or Mt Gambier, or Shepparton? I'm sure they'd regularly fill the local ground and the locals would be all over it after all.

An AFL team needs at least $40M to operate (probably more than $50M to be realistically competitive)....Sure, the AFL will provide some of that, but if the AFL is to put $10M in, then the AFL is going to want that team to add at least $10M in revenue for the AFL (it's not like they can pass it off as an investment in growing the game like in GC or GWS). Yet, we're told that Hawthorn is 'bleeding Tasmania dry' by taking $6M or $7M/year...

To make that kind of money, you need a LOT of support, and home ground attendances of <20K every week in one of the poorest regions in the country wont exactly have the big corporate sponsors jumping at the opportunity to associate with the team.

Yes, I'm talking about filling 20,000 seat stadiums, obviously not a 3000 seat country outpost. They will get that here. Locals have been still turning up to some extent and that's when they couldn't give a crap about the teams.

 

[Holden Hillbilly]

If a team is named Tasmania but based in Hobart will the north of Tasmania get around them, conversely if they were based up North would the south get around 'their' team?

Seems logical to place the team in Hobart though due to population.

6 games in Hobart and 5 in Launceston.

 

[hamohawk1]

Also feel player retention could be a huge issue.

 

[madmug]

Yes, I'm talking about filling 20,000 seat stadiums, obviously not a 3000 seat country outpost. They will get that here. Locals have been still turning up to some extent and that's when they couldn't give a crap about the teams.

The Roos v Dees game this weekend at Boot Park. At least it won't lose as much money as if they played it at the MCG.!!!

 

[Freomaniac]

my thoughts exactly. People forget (or fail to mention) their team has been a basket case for a prolonged period of time. Hell even hawthorn were useless for years

Yeah hawks Prior to their 1961 flag went through a horrible 30 year period without finals. They made up for it getting 12 or 13 flags after 1955

 

[TheGhostOfJohnBelushi]

Tasmanians have expressed over and over that they want their own team with their own identity, not some transplant. If you feel so strongly about the competition staying at 18 teams, advocate for the two poorest Melbourne teams to merge instead of sending their club interstate. Or you could offer up your own team for relocation instead of idly speculating which set of fans you want to rob of their club.

There's a perfectly good VFL comp they could relegate some of these Melbourne clubs to.

 

[Sherrinator]

Bump an old thread for the love of God.

 

[FootyJunkie]

Does the Tasmania team get to play State. Of Origin too?

 

[BIRDBRAIN]

Does the Tasmania team get to play State. Of Origin too?

Ben Brown flops often enough already.

 

[La Dispute]

Something seriously novel about a club having up to ten first-round draft picks in one draft.

Or as SOS likes to call it ‘slow Tuesday’

 

[telsor]

Yes, I'm talking about filling 20,000 seat stadiums, obviously not a 3000 seat country outpost. They will get that here. Locals have been still turning up to some extent and that's when they couldn't give a crap about the teams.

Point is, that's still tiny...

Remember, we're still talking about needing $40M+

20K crowds aren't going to bring in big money, or inspire corporate sponsors...Especially when those stadia don't exactly have the high level facilities for corporate schmoozing. (Premium seats, corporate boxes, dining facilities, etc.)

 

[nobbyiscool]

There's no indication whatsoever that the AFL is entertaining a 19th team.

I think I'll go on deathriding GC.

 

[Freomaniac]

I dont think they need as much concessions as GWS or GC.

Each AFL club has 43 players, 38 in the main squad, 5 in the rookie list.

I thought let them get one uncontracted player or free agent from each club. thats at least 10 players possibly up to 18.

give them the 1st 2 picks of each round, thats 14 picks. so thats potientaly 24-32 players chosen.

Hand them 10 prelisted players or delisted players from other clubs. so thats 34-42 players chosen

Hand them 9 rookie picks.

Worse case scenario they have 43 players in the squad: 34 in the main team, 9 rookie listed players.

 

[parano1a]

Once GWS is established as a full time Sydney club (2025), Canberra and Tasmania should be the 19th and 20th teams.

 

[Ando727]

Point is, that's still tiny...

Remember, we're still talking about needing $40M+

20K crowds aren't going to bring in big money, or inspire corporate sponsors...Especially when those stadia don't exactly have the high level facilities for corporate schmoozing. (Premium seats, corporate boxes, dining facilities, etc.)

I only said 20,000 because you mentioned that as a number somewhere - and the fact that it's the current capacity of Bellerive oval. With stadium expansion, they'll get more than that if it's a reasonable game (maybe not against GWS or GC). The state government has already committed to supporting it - in case you were unaware. The startup cash will be there. Sponsors will get on board - they'll have national cameras on them with the coverage. There are national companies down here, you know. Your idea that there are barely 2 pennies to rub together down here is total BS. There is money. A Tassie team will pull its weight. Why do you need it to do more than that?

 

[Carringbush2010]

To me, another team relocating interstate is not going to help a struggling team. The support who choose to leave the relocated team are not going to just jump on board the next struggling team. If anything they will be lost to the sport.

Well you've just answered your own question. No one is going to support a relocated or merged team, we've already seen the backlash with the propose melb / hawth merger- barely anyone.

No supporter of the supposed "small" vic teams are just going to accept changes i:e mergers or culling for the sake of an equitable competition. They'll just snub the game or at least follow a local league.

Maybe question yourself as to why the comp is the way it is and accept it for what it is.

 

[The_Wookie]

 

[bixente]

While we're at it let's get a team from Bendigo established.

 

[Johnny Bananas]

Well you've just answered your own question. No one is going to support a relocated or merged team, we've already seen the backlash with the propose melb / hawth merger- barely anyone.

I have no idea how you just arbitrarily came up with "no one" supporting a merged team that pays proper respect to both identities, it doesn't follow from anything said earlier.

As for the Melbourne-Hawthorn merger, a chief reason it didn't happen was that it didn't pay proper respect to both heritages. It was voted down by Hawthorn members because the proposal looked like a simple takeover of their club by Melbourne, as can be seen by the jumper, which was clearly a Melbourne jumper with a hawk pasted on it. And Hawthorn proved they didn't need to merge to remain solvent anyway. The Footscray-Fitzroy merger died for similar reasons. I reckon that if the North-Fitzroy merger went ahead, it would have been embraced by both sets of supporters since both teams were in real trouble and the proposals actually demonstrated respect to both identities, and North's future remains speculated about to this day.

Think about this, what's more likely to keep a fanbase invested in the game: a merger, or their club being relegated to the VFL? I'm certain it's the former, because fans want to watch top-level football. Otherwise all state leagues would be thriving right now. Keeping the status quo would be even more likely to keep them invested of course, but we don't know if that's sustainable. Several clubs, including the one I support, only remain in existence due to central AFL funding. Our clubs continue to exist at their whim. If they decide they no longer want to keep funding every single struggling club to their present extent, we had better start finding alternatives or risk going out of existence. A merger is better than total collapse.

No supporter of the supposed "small" vic teams are just going to accept changes i:e mergers or culling for the sake of an equitable competition. They'll just snub the game or at least follow a local league.

Ah yes, all those thousands of Roy Boys and Girls who regularly attend VAFA games. Not all of them went on to support the Brisbane Lions, of course, but many did. And it's harder to remain engaged with a club when the team doesn't play 11 games a year and their identity and culture is no longer mostly Victorian. I don't think there'd be some huge drop off in support if two small Victorian teams merged. Some people will, no doubt, but you have no real evidence to say "no one" will support them, or that most fans would drop off.

Maybe question yourself as to why the comp is the way it is and accept it for what it is.

Because of some archaic decision made 30 years ago, to keep every VFL team when it became the AFL, no matter how low their support? That's already been proven to be an unwise decision, as Fitzroy only lasted six more years after that. There's no reason we have to keep respecting a decision that has already been altered since.

 

[Tassieboy]

Bellerive is a farce. They couldn’t expand it much more.

 

[jarrod_island_doggies]

You don't think GC and GWS will grow over time?

Can you blame this view? It's not like GWS have gone from 10 to 30,000 members in 7 years, 18th position on the ladder with 3 wins in 44 games to 5 years of consecutive positive win-loss ratios and playing in prelims, mid-table for membership/marketing revenue & assets...oh wait.

Same posters would be calling the two newest clubs monsters and illegitimate blights on the game if they were winning flags.