Hobart's Blundstone Arena has not been locked in as the preferred venue to host an AFL final in Tasmania from the government's perspective despite mainland speculation on the issue.
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The state's capital was highlighted alongside Adelaide and Brisbane on Channel Nine's Footy Classified on Wednesday night to potentially host a final in the first two weeks of the finals series where a Victorian or New South Wales side has hosting rights rather than those games being played in empty stadiums in Victoria.
"We know they could get at least 10,000 and probably more at Blundstone Arena in Hobart, I think more likely Hobart [to host] than Launceston, and that would be a final between two Melbourne teams or the Sydney sides,'' respected football journalist Caroline Wilson said on Footy Classified.
ELSEWHERE IN SPORT:
Until there was more understanding about how many finals may be needed to be played outside of Victoria and therefore what the overall finals fixture might look like, it was too early in the piece to mention venues.
"Given the ongoing challenges with COVID being faced by Victoria, we are open to hosting more AFL matches in Tasmania according to the strict COVID-safe protocols that are in place, as long as the health and safety of Tasmanians are protected,'' Premier Peter Gutwein confirmed on Thursday
"We will continue these discussions in coming days, keeping in mind the finals fixture cannot be finalised until after this weekend's games are completed."
While crowds would more than likely be capped for any finals in Tasmania, UTAS Stadium has historically had better attendance figures than Blundstone Arena, which in part has been credited to the fact that geographically it is more favourable for those from the North-West.
UTAS Stadium has recorded an average crowd of 15,089 since its first AFL match in 2001, while Blundstone Arena, which has hosted matches since 2012, has an average crowd of 10,932.
Tasmania is set to host its 12th AFL match of the season when St Kilda and Fremantle battle it out at Blundstone Arena from 12.15pm on Sunday.
AFL IN TASMANIA:
In a year of crowd restrictions, UTAS Stadium is averaging 9979 in 2021 while Blundstone Arena has an average of 5867.
Meanwhile, Gutwein said he and AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan were "engaged in an ongoing discussion on a timeline for consideration of a Tasmanian AFL licence".
The AFL's decision not to provide a Tasmanian timeline has seen Gutwein hit the pause button on contract negotiations with Hawthorn and North Melbourne.
"I expect these discussions to continue into next week,'' Gutwein said.
He told former Collingwood president Eddie McGuire the government would "pivot" funding to other sports and that he was "frustrated" as he believed the AFL would "table a resolution to [club] presidents in December" following the release of the Carter report last week.
Alex Fair
Deputy Editor of The Advocate on the North-West Coast of Tasmania.
Deputy Editor of The Advocate on the North-West Coast of Tasmania.
