Lost in all the talk about the new Tasmanian AFL team and where the stadium will be built is the question, what will the AFL contribute?
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It is time for the AFL to show Tasmania some love.
I am a Queenslander. I am down here for a few weeks helping out at the Examiner. I love my footy and a Tasmanian AFL team should have happened years ago. A Tasmanian team should undoubtedly have had precedence over a Gold Coast team. It is well known the Gold Coast is the place football teams go to die. A long line of teams have started and folded on the Coast mainly because locals don't seem to embrace football of any code fanatically enough to support a team fully. But that's another argument, and there is no way the AFL would fold the Suns and relocate them holus-bolus to Tasmania.
However, using the Suns and its stadium as a guide, the AFL should be stumping up a considerable amount of money for the Tasmanian team's home ground.
Of course, Metricon Stadium on the Gold Coast was initially assigned to the Brisbane Bears in 1987.
The stadium was jointly funded by the Queensland Government ($71.9 million), the Commonwealth Government ($36 million), the Gold Coast City Council ($23 million) and the AFL ($13.3 million).
With its $13.3 million commitment (in today's dollars, that is $32,800,235), the AFL was by far the stingiest contributor. That can't happen for the Tasmanian situation. The money the AFL makes from its television rights deal (more than $640 million per year) shows they have the money to spend. Arguably with an extra team and an entire state added to its viewing audience, it may get even more money the next time it negotiates a deal. The AFL stands to gain the most from a Tasmanian team, so they should contribute the most.
The Gold Coast Suns were established in 2009, and the ground now has a capacity of around 25,000.
If the Tasmanian ground is a boutique stadium like Metricon with a capacity of 20,000 or so, I am sure footy fans would fill it each time a game was played. Launceston should be the team's home town.
If a brand new stadium is built, The AFL should not leave the burden of paying for it primarily up to Tasmanian taxpayers. Even if the federal and state governments kick in funds, the AFL should show Tassie some love and spend at least half the stadium cost. That would be a fair and reasonable thing to do, and the Premier and Tasmanian football fans should accept nothing less. - Craig Thomson-ACM Queensland and Northern Territory Editor
Why not have your say? Write a letter to the editor here:
Why not have your say? Write a letter to the editor here:
Craig Thomson
I am a media and communications professional with experience across print, digital, social and radio broadcasts. I am currently the Editor of Australian Community Media's Launceston Examiner.
I am a media and communications professional with experience across print, digital, social and radio broadcasts. I am currently the Editor of Australian Community Media's Launceston Examiner.
