Fixture Hawks after Tasmania? Sponsorship extended to 2025!

[Walshawk]

With a $750m stadium coming for Hobart and a $135m upgrade for UTAS, there is not much doubt Tasmania will be in the AFL by 2027. Surely the time has come for us to form an exit plan. Pretty sure our deal ends after this season, and with UTAS being redeveloped in 2023/24/25 this could well be our last season there.
Does the club push for more MCG games? No other MCG tenant plays less than nine games there. Pies 9, Dees/Tiges 10.
Do we look for a new second home? Albury? Newcastle? NZ? We should move quickly before North does.
I would be happy with 9 MCG and 2 Marvel or anywhere really.
I just hope Jeff is not still with his head buried in the sand planning to scupper Tassie’s inevitable inclusion. We need a plan.
What do we want?

 

[Blackhawk42]

With a $750m stadium coming for Hobart and a $135m upgrade for UTAS, there is not much doubt Tasmania will be in the AFL by 2027. Surely the time has come for us to form an exit plan. Pretty sure our deal ends after this season, and with UTAS being redeveloped in 2023/24/25 this could well be our last season there.
Does the club push for more MCG games? No other MCG tenant plays less than nine games there. Pies 9, Dees/Tiges 10.
Do we look for a new second home? Albury? Newcastle? NZ? We should move quickly before North does.
I would be happy with 9 MCG and 2 Marvel or anywhere really.
I just hope Jeff is not still with his head buried in the sand planning to scupper Tassie’s inevitable inclusion. We need a plan.
What do we want?

As a local and huge fan of the new redevelopment at the Lavington sports ground, I can't even begin to explain how incredible it would be if Albury became our second home.

Pure tenancy at the MCG is obviously a fine outcome also.

 

[Ned Ryerson]

Do we look for a new second home? Albury? Newcastle? NZ? We should move quickly before North does.

This isn't the worst idea. If we could do 3 games regionally and if it paid similarly to the Tassie deal or the Bulldogs deal with Ballarat then I would be happy to entertain it. Would hope it would be Victorian based however so it is accessible to Melbourne based games - and with the Commonwealth Games bid there is likely to be money spent on regional stadiums. Might be a good long-term strategy to look at one of the regions that gets a possibly updated stadium for a deal like this.

 

[BIGHAWK23]

As a local and huge fan of the new redevelopment at the Lavington sports ground, I can't even begin to explain how incredible it would be if Albury became our second home.

Pure tenancy at the MCG is obviously a fine outcome also.

Our deal with the AFL is that when we leave Tasmania, they will have contributed to Dingley and we get pure tenancy at the MCG

 

[Ned Ryerson]

Our deal with the AFL is that when we leave Tasmania, they will have contributed to Dingley and we get pure tenancy at the MCG

Is the latter confirmed to your knowledge? And does pure tenancy still mean 1-2 games at Marvel like Collingwood and Richmond end up doing?

 

[Blackhawk42]

This isn't the worst idea. If we could do 3 games regionally and if it paid similarly to the Tassie deal or the Bulldogs deal with Ballarat then I would be happy to entertain it. Would hope it would be Victorian based however so it is accessible to Melbourne based games - and with the Commonwealth Games bid there is likely to be money spent on regional stadiums. Might be a good long-term strategy to look at one of the regions that gets a possibly updated stadium for a deal like this.

Albury is Victoria if you use Sydney and Melbourne as the reference points. It's 3 hours from Melbourne if you don't stop. Incredibly easy to jump on the Hume at 8am, arrive before lunch for a 1:10pm game, jump in the car at 4:30 and be home before 8. It's a long day but not difficult by any stretch.

 

[Pessimistic]

IN my uneducated and unsourced opinion it’s why Jeff is hanging around

No to another non melbourne home ground. We’d be playing Tassie most years as the away team too

 

[CaptainWorpedo]

The Hawks have stated they will not move away from Tas even if the funds stop.

The games may be reduced, but i think you will find we will play a couple of games a year there still.

 

[BIGHAWK23]

Is the latter confirmed to your knowledge? And does pure tenancy still mean 1-2 games at Marvel like Collingwood and Richmond end up doing?

Confirmed and it would be along the same lines as Richmond Collingwood

 

[cryptor]

The Hawks have stated they will not move away from Tas even if the funds stop.

The games may be reduced, but i think you will find we will play a couple of games a year there still.

9 home games at the G and 2 home games in Launceston would suit.

11 home games at the G sounds nice but - especially while we're down the ladder and not drawing larger crowds - we'll make more money by playing a couple games at a smaller stadium. And I seriously doubt it would be 11 home games at the G anyway. No club gets that.

 

[hamohawk1]

I feel we will still be at Tassie in some capacity for years to come. A Tassie stand alone team wont happen before 2030.

 

[Steven Tyler]

Albury is Victoria if you use Sydney and Melbourne as the reference points. It's 3 hours from Melbourne if you don't stop. Incredibly easy to jump on the Hume at 8am, arrive before lunch for a 1:10pm game, jump in the car at 4:30 and be home before 8. It's a long day but not difficult by any stretch.

Wouldn’t work as a player though

Not sure players would be willing to do overnighters in Albury

 

[Blackhawk42]

Wouldn’t work as a player though

Not sure players would be willing to do overnighters in Albury

The Swans and Giants players didn't seem to mind. Were put up in the Mantra. Saw plenty around town at cafes etc.

Are Ballarat and Canberra honestly any better?

7 and a half thousand people turned up to see Sydney play an expansion club in a pre-season game. IF a team wanted to sell a game/s here there is plenty of interest.

 

[Walshawk]

9 home games at the G and 2 home games in Launceston would suit.

11 home games at the G sounds nice but - especially while we're down the ladder and not drawing larger crowds - we'll make more money by playing a couple games at a smaller stadium. And I seriously doubt it would be 11 home games at the G anyway. No club gets that.

Once Tassie get their team there is no chance to be other clubs playing home games there. They are not spending $135m there so Hawthorn can play there.

 

[Pessimistic]

Remember since the vic gov afl mcg deal the fixtures there pay significantly more than when we found Tassie to be more lucrative than docklands - where it cost money to play home games

Also there’s the talk of a 20 team 20 round season. Meaning one less home game

 

[KermitJagger]

We'll probably take the ferry

 

[Ned Ryerson]

Also there’s the talk of a 20 team 20 round season. Meaning one less home game

If it went to 20 teams then I'd prefer 22 games with each team once and then 3 games for every club with rivalry games where you are guaranteed to draw a bumper crowd. We should always play two games per year vs Geelong, * and Sydney.

 

[cryptor]

Once Tassie get their team there is no chance to be other clubs playing home games there. They are not spending $135m there so Hawthorn can play there.

So Tassie spends close to a billion dollars to build a stadium in Hobart and upgrade another in Launceston and then they're just going to limit the total AFL games played between them to one every second week?

I can understand them not wanting to allow us to play a home game down there that might conflict with people attending a Tassie side's game, but there's huge opportunity to use existing clubs like us to attract more supporters down there for a weekend that will then stick around to watch both games. At the very least it still draws in tourists to spend money in the state.

 

[Ned Ryerson]

So Tassie spends close to a billion dollars to build a stadium in Hobart and upgrade another in Launceston and then they're just going to limit the total AFL games played between them to one every second week?

Put simply - yes.

And even if they let us play games there each year - the Tasmanian government is hardly going to be our major sponsor any more. The sponsorship is the main reason we do it - so once the money dries up I don't think we'll be heading down there. The state would also get tourism from 11 visiting sides throughout the year - so it's not as if that is going to dry up for them either.

 

[BIGHAWK23]

I feel we will still be at Tassie in some capacity for years to come. A Tassie stand alone team wont happen before 2030.

oh This is wrong

 

[Middle Pocket]

Once Tassie get their team there is no chance to be other clubs playing home games there. They are not spending $135m there so Hawthorn can play there.

Hawks verses the Tassie devils twice a year

 

[thehardway]

Tassie arrangement has been good for us both financially and playing. But if Tassie get their own team the sponsorship ends so no incentive to play home games there. Be nice to have 16/17 games in Melbourne rather than 13.

 

[cryptor]

Put simply - yes.

And even if they let us play games there each year - the Tasmanian government is hardly going to be our major sponsor any more. The sponsorship is the main reason we do it - so once the money dries up I don't think we'll be heading down there. The state would also get tourism from 11 visiting sides throughout the year - so it's not as if that is going to dry up for them either.

Look, I'm a MCC member (and if memory serves, you are also?) so if we play 11 home games at the MCG plus a few more as the away team then I'm hardly going to complain about that. I just find it hard to believe that the AFL would ever allow us that kind of deal. A deal that clubs like Collingwood and Richmond haven't even got. Best (realistic) case we get 9 MCG and 2 Marvel home games. Chances are in any given year our opponent at Marvel could end up being a Marvel tenant club anyway.

I know we won't have the Tasmanian sponsorship any more. North Melbourne don't have it and they still play games down there. What we do still have (for now) is >10k Tasmanian based members. Many I wager will stick with us or dual support alongside a new Tassie team providing we continue to maintain a presence down there.

Makes little sense to play GWS/Suns/Port/Freo at the MCG or Marvel and be lucky to crack a 20k crowd. We'll make next to nothing on that kind of game, if not a loss. It's a huge waste for the state of Tasmania to have two AFL quality stadiums not be utilised for the majority of the football season. And let's be honest, if they build this Hobart stadium York Park is going to see at best 5 home games from the Tassie side - probably less.

Two games a year there and we make far more on ticket margins and keep in touch with the Tasmanian members we've spent decades gathering. Tassie gets tourism, more shifts for stadium workers, and generate some revenue on stadiums that would otherwise be sitting there costing them money. Win-win.

And remember, until we actually start performing on field and playing an attractive brand of footy again over a sustained period the AFL isn't going to be scheduling many (if any) of those MCG home games in prime time slots. So while on paper 11 home MCG games sounds nice, they could all end up being Sunday twilight timeslots

 

[Ned Ryerson]

Look, I'm a MCC member (and if memory serves, you are also?) so if we play 11 home games at the MCG plus a few more as the away team then I'm hardly going to complain about that. I just find it hard to believe that the AFL would ever allow us that kind of deal. A deal that clubs like Collingwood and Richmond haven't even got. Best (realistic) case we get 9 MCG and 2 Marvel home games. Chances are in any given year our opponent at Marvel could end up being a Marvel tenant club anyway.

I know we won't have the Tasmanian sponsorship any more. North Melbourne don't have it and they still play games down there. What we do still have (for now) is >10k Tasmanian based members. Many I wager will stick with us or dual support alongside a new Tassie team providing we continue to maintain a presence down there.

Makes little sense to play GWS/Suns/Port/Freo at the MCG or Marvel and be lucky to crack a 20k crowd. We'll make next to nothing on that kind of game, if not a loss. It's a huge waste for the state of Tasmania to have two AFL quality stadiums not be utilised for the majority of the football season. And let's be honest, if they build this Hobart stadium York Park is going to see at best 5 home games from the Tassie side - probably less.

Two games a year there and we make far more on ticket margins and keep in touch with the Tasmanian members we've spent decades gathering. Tassie gets tourism, more shifts for stadium workers, and generate some revenue on stadiums that would otherwise be sitting there costing them money. Win-win.

And remember, until we actually start performing on field and playing an attractive brand of footy again over a sustained period the AFL isn't going to be scheduling many (if any) of those MCG home games in prime time slots. So while on paper 11 home MCG games sounds nice, they could all end up being Sunday twilight timeslots

I just can't see it happening. Tassie is already an AFL state so any further exposure than having their own team just doesn't seem likely. The only way Launceston may be up for it is if they get screwed on their allotment of home games for the Tassie side - but as it stands I think they would get 5 of the 11 so that's already more games than they are getting in a normal season so I can't see the need for even more games. Also is the local support going to be there when they have their own side? And would the gate takings actually make up for the costs we would incur for hosting games interstate when the government is no longer our financial partner in the exchange?

Canberra is another good example - it is a favourable place for Aussie Rules, particularly with the Riverina being on their doorstep. They get fairly good crowds at Manuka for the Giants - yet there is no moves to have even more games played there.

You're right that away games against the lower drawing sides won't exactly be compelling at the G - I think we will most likely see them played at Marvel when the time comes. I don't envisage we will ever see 11 home games at the G either, much as I would like to (and sadly not a MCC member - but an 11 game member none the less). This is why I said earlier in the thread that I wouldn't mind maybe 2-3 games per year being played in regional Victoria so long as we got a similar deal to the one the Bulldogs got to play in Ballarat. This is win/win for Victorian members - we get a couple of fun road trips each year and a few million dollars banked from the state government for helping out the regions.

I am all for exploring opportunities to play some less than appealing games elsewhere if it is to our advantage- I just don't think it will be in Tassie once they have a team.

 

[cryptor]

I am all for exploring opportunities to play some less than appealing games elsewhere if it is to our advantage- I just don't think it will be in Tassie once they have a team.

This is essentially what it boils down to. I just think there is a win-win in there for Hawthorn and Tasmania with a 2 game arrangement on their terms (ie. We only play there on a week they are playing away so as to not to draw attention from their game, or we play on the same weekend with the hope that extra people attend both games - whatever they think works best).

And if Tassie truly isn't an option then either the terms of playing a couple at Marvel need to be good and a guarantee we won't be hosting any Marvel tenants, or we need to look to host a couple games at a regional stadium where we can spin a profit off lower drawing fixtures.