The announcement by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of a $240 million pledge in the Federal Budget to assist the construction of a new stadium and precinct in Hobart finally means that at long last Tasmania will have a footy team in the Australian Football League (AFL) that it can truly call it’s very own. You can hear the collective sigh of relief from across Bass Strait as the Apple Isle finally has its own club in the Australian Rules national competition.
So why has this happened?
First, there is the football case. Tasmanians love the game. It is not a matter of sending missionaries to Tasmania to ‘convert’ the local population from another code to Aussie Rules, as Tassie is a sophisticated footy-literate state. The data points this out.
According to James Coventry, in his book “Football-istics”, Tasmania has over 335,000 footy fans, which is a greater share of its population than any other state at 78.9 per cent compared to 75.7 per cent in SA and well above 70.2 per cent in Victoria and 62.3 per cent in WA. In addition, looking at Google Trends there was a higher proportion of footy-related searches made in Tasmania that anywhere else in Australia. If the Tasmanian index was 100, SA was 96, Victoria 89 and WA 79 (Next came NT 63, ACT, 36, Queensland 26 and NSW last at 23).
Similarly, in his fascinating study of rival football codes in Australia “Code Wars”, Hunter Fujak found that in Tasmania, Aussie Rules is really the only game in town on the Apple Isle. Whilst in the northern states (above the Barassi line, the mythical line that splits Australia between Aussie Rules and Rugby League) fans may split their time between two or maybe three football codes. But in Tassie 35 per cent were ‘AFL only’, with zero interest in other codes above the national average of 19 per cent, and equal to Adelaide on 35 per cent and above Melbourne on 34 per cent and Perth on 28 per cent. Its clear Tassie is all about footy, cricket and now a bit of basketball thanks to the new club in the NBL the Tasmanian Jack Jumpers.
The Tassie Devils (as the team is likely to be nicknamed wearing the state colours of bottle green, gold and rose) will have a ready rusted on supporter base from day one, in contrast to GWS Giants and Gold Coast Suns. So there won’t be any special propaganda fund needed in Tassie like that Aussie Rules has had to use in the northern states, to win over rugby union or league fans, something they’ve being trying to so since the late 19th century.
In addition, football culture is well established given the traditional footy talent born in Tassie. It doesn’t take long for any footy fan on the mainland or the Apple Isle to list the great Tasmanian champions like Peter Hudson, Laurie Nash, Darrel Baldock, Ian Stewart, Royce Hart, Brent ‘Tiger’ Croswell, Brendan and Michael Gale, Matthew Richardson, Nick and Jack Riewoldt and the like. Interestingly, Tasmania provides a fair share of commentators too, in footy (and cricket), with Tim Lane, Alister Nicholson, Brent Costelloe and Neville Oliver immediately coming to mind.
Second, there is the business case now bolstered by the announcement from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for funding from the Commonwealth in the Federal Budget to match Tasmania and the AFL.
The AFL support of $360 million includes support for the stadium and club administration and training facility, support for game development to boost community football, an allocation for talent development (in AFL and AFLW) and 10 year seed funding so Tassie can develop a strong AFL and AFLW list as the league’s 19thclub.
The question of the new stadium has also entered the equation. The Tasmanian Government already announced support for the team and the stadium – a sports and arts precinct in Macquarie Point on the Hobart waterfront, together with upgrades to sport infrastructure in the North and North West of the state.
The total funding requirement for the team and the stadium is $715 million. The Tasmanian Government has announced a commitment of $375 million on top of the $15 million included in the $360 million from the AFL and a further $85 million will be funded through borrowings against land sale or lease for commercial uses.
The remaining capital funding provided by the Australian Government is $240 million on the basis that the Arts and Sport Precinct could provide significant infrastructure for multiple events and activities with benefits for the Tasmanian community as a whole, not just the new club. This was the condition for the funding announced by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Hobart as part of the May Budget. Albanese, a former infrastructure Minister knows the Macquarie Point site well and the ins and outs of making infrastructure projects sustainable with a long-term legacy.
The amount the Commonwealth is considering is a minor amount compared to the $3.4 billion Queensland is getting for stadium upgrades for the Gabba and other facilities for Brisbane 2032. This is also minor compared to stadium funding for NFL in USA and UK and European soccer stadia. Recent Cost Benefit analysis used an out of date discount rate (from NSW Treasury in 1997) overstating the costs, and underestimating the benefits in terms of Tasmanian tourism in particular.
However, is this well money well spent? Some critics (particularly on social media) believe that the money would be better spent on public housing and health than a football team. Others support the team but think the existing stadiums in Hobart and Launceston are adequate. The Tasmanian government’s case is that if the new stadium is part of a new arts and entertainment precinct then the benefits in extra economic activity – $2.2 billion in economic activity over 25 years – and 6,270 new jobs around the precinct will be in the public’s interest.
This will depend on Tassie attracting major events as well as the AFL fixtures. The potential benefit is that at least 44 events (28 new to Tasmania) could be hosted at the new stadium, seeing 587,000 attend per year, including 123,500 overseas and interstate visitors. The recent successes of Adelaide Oval (especially after the AFL’s Gather Round) and Optus Stadium in Perth help the case for new precinct.
Third, there is the social or ‘public good’ case in terms of fans and participation. Gillon McLachlan emphasised the need to use the new team to inspire future Tasmanian champions but also improve the participation of young Tasmanian boys and girls playing the sport. Accordingly, the AFL has announced that 10 per cent of revenue generated by the new Tasmanian team will be devoted to community football. This will be used to double participation in the sport by the end of the decade, provide access to and upgrade 70 new ovals across the state, and provide new regional academies for the South (in Hobart), the North (in Launceston) and North West (in Penguin).
The vision is similar to other successful sports clubs who thrive in small population regions like the famous Green Bay Packers in Wisconsin in the USA, and in Australia the North Queensland Cowboys based in Townsville and Geelong, the only AFL team in regional Victoria and not based 15 km from the Melbourne CBD like the rest of the clubs. According to the Taskforce report, Townsville, where the North Queensland Cowboys play in the NRL, has 192,000 people, and Geelong, where the Cats play in the AFL, has 198,000 people, so Tasmania with over half a million people has adequate population support. In the NFL, in Green Bay, a small city in Wisconsin of just over 100,000 (which is much colder than Tassie), the legendary Packers are one of the most successful and best supported teams in American sports history.
Will it help participation? Or will all the money accrue to highly paid players and stadium owners? The taskforce shows the growth in cricket participation after the entry of the Hurricanes, and now basketball with the Jack Jumpers. However, more importantly, grass roots AFL participation is expected to decline without a Tasmanian team to inspire young kids.
In many ways, one reason the AFL has decided to back the team, for similar reasons as backing the AFLW, it is good for the growth of the game, and there are social reasons as well as economic reasons to back the team. Even if AFLW may cost a lot initially with free entry and the like as the game has grown and become more popular, entry fees can be charged, players can be paid better and get more TV exposure. Footy is a public good, and as the legendary Richmond President Peggy O’Neal told the ABC: ‘It’s sort of a blend of strict financial business and nor for profit…it’s about a mission, it is about emotion, it’s about a platform to do things in the community. If we wanted just to make money, our model would be quite different.”
However, in Tasmania, there were economic considerations too – and some of them have been resolved especially given the recent announcements. They will enter the league with $375 million from the Tasmanian Government, $360 million from the AFL, and now the $240 million from the Commonwealth.
That is a pretty well resourced start-up with the potential to grow with the Tasmanian economy for the rest of the 21st century and beyond.
*Tim Harcourt is Industry Professor and Chief Economist at IPPG at University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and host of The Airport Economist www.theairporteconomist.com and Footynomics – The Economics of Sport www.footynomics.com.au
This article first appeared on ‘theconversation.com’ website on 1 May, 2023.
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Should’ve happened in 2010, but I hope this isn’t a case of bread and circuses for the good folk of Tasmania who have more than their fare share of disadvantage.
When Tassie gets Gather Round, will the Queenstown gravel get a look in?
When does Brendan Gale start?
An interesting read. Last night I commented on Sal’s weekly preview on the 19th team. I won’t regurgitate it here but would love readers to have a look and make comment on either article. It is an interesting (and emotional) topic.
The general case for a Tasmanian AFL team is well made, particularly from a youth/community engagement perspective. The $715M budget for the new stadium and team looks “optimistic”.
It is a 23,000 capacity stadium whereas Optus in Perth is 60,000. We started with a $700m budget and the construction contract was given for $900M in 2014. It took 3 years to build and cost $1.6-$1.8B to build. This included transport infrastructure – largely a new train station on an existing line and a pedestrian bridge over the Swan River.
Building now in an inflationary time I have my doubts that the project can be delivered for anything like the allocated funding. Perth Stadium was built with State Government funds and is a legacy of the mining boom. Tasmania’s 5 marginal Federal seats make it fertile ground for pork barrelling and I can see the Macquarie Point stadium being a vote buying drain on taxpayers nationally for many years and way more than $240M.
Tend to agree re the construction cost blowing out as I cant recall any Govt backed project coming in on budget That aside an injustice has finally been righted and I have no doubt Tassie will be a success which i very much doubt will ever be the case with the Gold Coast and to a lesser extent with GWS .
As a sample of 1 I wont be missing a Bulldogs game in Tassie as we love going down there . I have never contemplated going to a Gold Coast game and the only time i went to GWS was for the 2016 prelim albeit i would go back there .
Great news for footy and even better news for Tassie