I get a bit of a Martin Niemoller vibe (First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out...) from this whole thing. Yes its true our supporter base has seemed to hang in just enough through the decade of misery, but the calls to ship us off or merge were strong circa 2013.
It feels a bit odd though to ship off a vic club that despite a temperamental supporter base, is still viable in Melbourne. There is a couple of points the entire discussion leaves out on the MB:
1) Melbournes population is growing by 3x North's membership numbers a year. There are plenty of opportunities to get new members (Eddie had great strategies over his time).
2) Due to this growth, Melbourne's economy is also growing fast, giving the consumers, the investment dollars, and the foundation for clubs. Whilst I tend to agree we probably have 1 or 2 too many clubs, the reality is that with that sort of growth, it should get easier with time to fit them all in, not harder. Not every sporting club has to be a single or one of two in a town, meaning tickets costs a bomb and only a fraction of a team's supporters can ever see any given game.
3) Tasmania's bid for a team is so heavily reliant on the Mars sponsorship and money from the State govt. The Govts can change sides, policy, economic spending. Its hardly certain. Also, Mars is food manufacturing business. It will move to somewhere closer to a port/major city eventually, because it costs to much to do business in Tasmania (unless youre a brewery, a farmer or an artist).
4) Tasmania's population is tiny. Vic has 10 teams and a population of 5 mill. Tassie could have 1 with a population of 500,000..... but there is a big difference. In Tassie, there is a different demographic, as so many young people leave to find work. The work that is there is largely not highly paid (i.e not many investment bankers down there to join the coterie), and they plain don't get behind sport in the same way (I mean they don't even rock up to the cricket when they get a Test). If you think Melbourne is saturated, the addition of 1 team in tassie would be over saturated. Add the fact half of them barrack for the Hawks/other teams, then its even worse.
TL

R Tassie isn't economically sound enough to justify a new team, let alone a transplanted one. Would be GC 2.0 with empty stands and bugger all members.