AFL reaches in-principle agreement with Tasmania for 19th team

[GVGjr]

Gill wants a stadium with a roof on. Not worth spending money on a roofed stadium with a capacity of only 22k

I tend to agree with Dog God, the population is just not there in Tassie to warrant a team.

Then why have they been going through this again and again for a few years now?
Dunedin in NZ has an multi purpose indoor stadium and a population of about 130K albeit the roof isn't retractable.
When it was originally built it had a capacity of 20K but they planned that it could be reconfigured to 30K which they currently can configure for concerts etc. This is what they could do in Hobart and configure it for 22K with and be able to reconfigure it later.
AFL is a vastly bigger playing surface but I think something similar could suffice.
I think the bigger challenge for TAS is the distance between Hobart and Launceston. If it was a comfortable 45 minute train ride or drive the combined population would be more than sufficient. The population is there but perhaps a question on if people want to go and watch games there.

Neglecting the AFL state competition has eroded peoples love of the AFL game but I do think it could be recaptured because the Jack Jumpers have done well.

[Bulldog Legend]

The arrival of North Melbourne and Hawthorn with Tasmanian State Government sponsorship of $20 million dollars has effectively killed off the quality and interest in its local 3 major competitions.
We shouldn’t forget Tassie’s amazing number of quality players that have gone on to play with other League Clubs.
These include Royce Hart, Peter Hudson, Daryl Baldock, Ian Stewart, Brent Crosswell, Steve and Rod McPherson,
Scratcher Neal, Colin Robertson, John Greening, John Bonney, Barry Lawrence and many others. It is going to take enormous dollars as the AFL hasl done with GCS and GWS to become competitive coupled with a huge input of good players from other League Clubs to make it competitive. It will be a monumental task. In fairness it should have happened years ago at the expense of Gold Coast Suns and GWS,
but thanks to the almighty dollars from National TV rights it required the AFL to have 2 Clubs in both Sydney and Queensland.

That’s true but those players did not all play at the same time they simply do not have the population to sustain a AFL list on their own and will definitely need to draft Vics, SA, WA talent
Wheteher they deserve it is another question

[mjp]

Neglecting the AFL state competition has eroded peoples love of the AFL game but I do think it could be recaptured because the Jack Jumpers have done well.

Let's see what happens if they sit near the bottom of the table for a few seasons...