Quote Originally Posted by boydogs View Post
Why do you think North ditched Ballarat for Hobart?
The history behind that is that North were effectively horse-traded out of Ballarat. Their separation from Ballarat definitely wasn't by their choice. They were quite happy to stay there and were offering four games per season if Eureka Stadium was redeveloped. But it was the Ballarat Council who announced in early 2015 that they would cease their $300,000 per year sponsorship of North Melbourne to maintain a VFL presence in Ballarat and instead pursued an association with the Bulldogs backed by the State Government, noting that the Bulldogs had expressed a desire to the AFL and the Ballarat Council back as far as 2012 to harbor Ballarat as a potential playing venue. As far back as 2014, the Tasmanian government and Tourism Tasmania were concerned that North Melbourne was being courted by Ballarat and may be lured away from Hobart so in 2015 they gave North an offer that they couldn't refuse. North were forced to quit Ballarat and to go where the money was being offered. The Bulldogs have definitely gotten the better end of the deal.