Quote Originally Posted by boydogs View Post
Yes, North didn't want to leave Ballarat, but they were forced to choose between Ballarat and Hobart. Why didn't they do what we are doing, try and own the rural extension of their inner city homeland instead of playing interstate? Because Tassie offered more money. It's worth more to them because people fly there, stay there, eat there etc. Same as Cairns
No let's not gloss it over or try to re-write any history. I live in Ballarat, make no mistake, North were shown the door and were told that they were no longer going to be sponsored by the City of Ballarat in early 2015. They didn't even get the 2015 NAB cup gig in Ballarat, that instead went to the Bullies and the Dees (that tells you something). There was a lot of back room wheeling and dealing that went on between the Ballarat Council, the AFL and State Government. At the same time, because the Andrews government were still to confirm if they were going to develop Eureka Stadium (which wasn't announced until June 2015), it was the Tasmanian government (Tourism Tasmania) who got in first having made a very lucrative offer to the Roos. They offered the Roos 1 million per year to play three games in Hobart until 2021. The Hawks get around 1.5 million for four games in Launceston.