Hawthorn is paid $3.8 million a year over five years, to play four roster games and one pre-match game. As well, the club takes all gate receipts at Aurora Stadium and has minimal overheads. The Launceston City Council picks up most of the tab.

On paper it looks as though we are being very generous, but if, as Premier Will Hodgman says, we make almost $30 million a year in naming rights and tourism, it is a lucrative investment.

The best team in the AFL, not a bum-loser side but a dual premiership side, having won three premierships since 2008, plays five games a year in Tasmania and will boost the standard of teams it plays at Aurora.

In the south, North Melbourne is sponsored by TT-Line and the Hobart City Council to play three matches a year at Bellerive Oval.

We can hope the deals are interim measures while Tasmania prepares for its own AFL side, but we won't achieve a competitive side overnight.

The health and welfare sectors also may ponder what they could do with about $5 million a year, freed up from these elite footy deals.

But, you don't have to be an accountant to work out that the sponsorships for the Hawks and 'Roos are stacked in favour of Tasmania, especially at the time of year when our tourism capacity is struggling.

Hawthorn signed on for another five years because it does very well out of the contract, but so do we, and let's not forget the fans. At least eight times a year Tasmanians can watch elite football on a home ground.

Like the $6 million V8 super car agreement, it's the price of being an island state with a small population.