Fixture Hawks after Tasmania? Sponsorship extended to 2025!

[Hawkk]

If this happens then every person who came up with excuses such as 'bbbut it was too cold to go to Burger's 350th' or 'bbbut the Socceroos were on' can absolutely opt out from having a whinge.

If Reeves and Nank want to get judged on their merits then securing us a 9/2 split will be their minimum benchmark. If that doesn't happen then I will bloody challenge for the presidency (well, no I won't - but boy will I seethe!).

Our crowds at Docklands are decent

I really don’t understand why so many posters are keen for us to seek another secondary market like we are another Melbourne based run of the mill minnow

 

[Ned Ryerson]

Our crowds at Docklands are decent

I really don’t understand why so many posters are keen for us to seek another secondary market like we are another Melbourne based run of the mill minnow

Well we already play 4 games in Tasmania and aren’t a run of the mill minnow - so I hardly see how 2 games in Gippsland or somewhere similar would make us one. And the reason I’d like it as a solution is the same reason I don’t hate the Tassie deal - money. The government pays for the Bulldogs to play in Ballarat so I wouldn’t say no to us getting a similar deal.

And I wasn’t complaining about our crowds at Marvel - I was saying that if the AFL designate less games for us at the MCG when we are no longer playing in Launceston those supporters who can’t be bothered showing up at the MCG have zero rights to complain.

 

[MightyHawks]

Can we add Sunshine Coast to the poll?

 

[cryptor]

The chance of getting shit on by a seagull at Marvel is way too high for a stadium with a roof.

 

[Walshawk]

Can we add Sunshine Coast to the poll?

Not until/unless they have a suitable venue.

 

[Walshawk]

No chance we get a 9/2 agreement - not with 2025 around the corner and the Essendon deal up for grabs.

I dont want to be a broken record on this but we really missed the boat in terms of negotiating an exit - our time was 2010 and again in 2014/15 when our bargaining power was at its zenith.

The last 3-4 seasons we've had 6 MCG games, 1 Docklands game and 4 Tasmanian games.

My money is on the AFL pushing Hawthorn into a Carlton / Essendon (After 2025) fixed stadium deal where we get 6 MCG home games and 5 Docklands home games.

That way, the AFL will get 15 home and away fixtures featuring 3 of Victoria's 5 biggest clubs.

The key for HFC is a stadium deal where we can provide our 30,000 MCG season ticket holders with a guaranteed level 1, 2 or front-row level 3 seat for the Docklands home games which will almost certainly fall our way.

No chance the AFL will allow Essendon to become a MCG tenant. They will get one more MCG game, and like Carlton will be 6/5 Marvel/MCG. So, if we play two @ Marvel (up from one), the number of Marvel games remains the same.

So there is definitely a chance of a 9/2 split.

 

[MightyHawks]

Not until/unless they have a suitable venue.

But would be very convenient

 

[Ned Ryerson]

But would be very convenient

As somebody who is within a 10 minute walk to the MCG I am absolutely understanding of your point.

 

[offtherails9]

No chance the AFL will allow Essendon to become a MCG tenant. They will get one more MCG game, and like Carlton will be 6/5 Marvel/MCG. So, if we play two @ Marvel (up from one), the number of Marvel games remains the same.

So there is definitely a chance of a 9/2 split.

My only question is does 9/2 split work as far as scheduling on the G?

 

[Walshawk]

My only question is does 9/2 split work as far as scheduling on the G?

Yes. The contract is 45 games per year (less than two games per round), but the MCG would love more. With footy Thursday to Sunday and the occasional public holiday the ground could cope with three games per round (72). So 49 with an extra Bombers and three extra Hawks games is easy.

 

[CaptainWorpedo]

We will not walk out on Tas, we may reduce our games. However we will still be playing a few games in Tas.

 

[Suntory Boss Coffee]

We will not walk out on Tas, we may reduce our games. However we will still be playing a few games in Tas.

Hope it is one game a year only.

 

[KermitJagger]

Honestly Canberra would be a decent market, plenty of footy supporters and it'd be great if we ever needed any funding. That's on the proviso that we don't get more games at the MCG which I think is fairly likely.

 

[Walshawk]

We will not walk out on Tas, we may reduce our games. However we will still be playing a few games in Tas.

No other club besides Tasmania will be playing games in Tasmania once Tasmania get their team.
1. There will be no funding for us
2. Neither Tasmania FC, nor the Tas govt will want any other teams playing there
3. AFL will not allow any other teams to play there, as it will compromise the success of the Devils

It has been mentioned in various AFL media that Hawks would leave Tassie as soon as they get a team. 2022 could well be our last season there as half of UTAS stadium is being knocked down and rebuilt, either in 2023 or 2024. It is possible that we might play a game or two in Hobart in the interim, but there is zero chance of us playing anywhere in Tas once the Devils enter the comp.

 

[Walshawk]

Honestly Canberra would be a decent market, plenty of footy supporters and it'd be great if we ever needed any funding. That's on the proviso that we don't get more games at the MCG which I think is fairly likely.

If the Giants revert to Western Sydney, I would be happy with two games in Canberra.

 

[Pessimistic]

No chance the AFL will allow Essendon to become a MCG tenant. They will get one more MCG game, and like Carlton will be 6/5 Marvel/MCG. So, if we play two @ Marvel (up from one), the number of Marvel games remains the same.

So there is definitely a chance of a 9/2 split.

They were once

 

[MightyHawks]

As somebody who is within a 10 minute walk to the MCG I am absolutely understanding of your point.

I used to live near the MCG.

BUt our club needs to move with the times.

 

[Pessimistic]

Play GWS somewhere else perhaps canberra fo the lols

Every other club the home crowd floor is 28k. Enough to break even or better with current improved (since 2000) in marvel or MCG. The regional ship has sailed

 

[TassieGrown]

We will not walk out on Tas, we may reduce our games. However we will still be playing a few games in Tas.

I am sure we will be playing at UTas after Tassie get their license. $40 mill committed to upgrading Eastern Stand if license is granted.

Tassie Team playing 3 to 4 games and maybe Hawks play a couple of games a year there, don’t see the point of upgrade if the ground only gets used for a few games each year.

 

[Pessimistic]

I am sure we will be playing at UTas after Tassie get their license. $40 mill committed to upgrading Eastern Stand if license is granted.

Tassie Team playing 3 to 4 games and maybe Hawks play a couple of games a year there, don’t see the point of upgrade if the ground only gets used for a few games each year.

Our club paid for an expansion directly, and the crowd numbers fane dwindled since

But I understand we sell out most days so will have recovered some of the cost, it’s just it wasn’t needed

 

[KermitJagger]

Play GWS somewhere else perhaps canberra fo the lols

Every other club the home crowd floor is 28k. Enough to break even or better with current improved (since 2000) in marvel or MCG. The regional ship has sailed

Don't think the regional ship has sailed so much, might be coming back into vogue. Look at property prices in the Northern Corridor. Chuck a 30k capacity stadium in the GV and watch it sell out.

 

[Hawkk]

I am sure we will be playing at UTas after Tassie get their license. $40 mill committed to upgrading Eastern Stand if license is granted.

Tassie Team playing 3 to 4 games and maybe Hawks play a couple of games a year there, don’t see the point of upgrade if the ground only gets used for a few games each year.

It would be a complete waste of our match day assets to continue taking our games to a region where we would be competing directly against a home grown product with support from the Tasmanian Government and AFL.

It’s bad enough that our games have been cannibalised by North playing games in Hobart.

Not just in crowd numbers but access to academy players, corporate sponsors and an AFLW licence

 

[Hawkk]

No chance the AFL will allow Essendon to become a MCG tenant. They will get one more MCG game, and like Carlton will be 6/5 Marvel/MCG. So, if we play two @ Marvel (up from one), the number of Marvel games remains the same.

So there is definitely a chance of a 9/2 split.

The MCC will absolutely push for it - Essendon is the second largest club in the membership.

In addition, more Essendon FC games at the MCG allows the AFL to greatly expand its AFL membership (in 2002 EFC had the largest AFL membership in the AFL, it’s now dropped below Coll, Carl and is level with Rich and Haw).

Hawthorn by comparison has the 5th largest membership in the MCC and AFL members reserve - in many ways it is the perfect club to push into a hybrid MCG / Docklands model.

The AFL landscape is very different in 2025 vs 1999

 

[wizzard400]

If we were forced to move the games from Tassie the most realistic short term option is Marvel, that's the reality we face. Longer term if we have the capacity to build a good enough ground at the KCC then I can see us playing lower drawing games there. In fact, I have a sneaky suspicion that this is exactly what we're planning.

 

[Hawkk]

Well we already play 4 games in Tasmania and aren’t a run of the mill minnow - so I hardly see how 2 games in Gippsland or somewhere similar would make us one. And the reason I’d like it as a solution is the same reason I don’t hate the Tassie deal - money. The government pays for the Bulldogs to play in Ballarat so I wouldn’t say no to us getting a similar deal.

And I wasn’t complaining about our crowds at Marvel - I was saying that if the AFL designate less games for us at the MCG when we are no longer playing in Launceston those supporters who can’t be bothered showing up at the MCG have zero rights to complain.

We signed the deal to play Tasmanian games in 2000 for 2001/02 - that was in the shadow of Waverley Park closing down, having a floor Melbourne crowd of 16,000 (cite Haw v Fremantle games in 1999-01) and a B/E point at Docklands of 28,000 (in fact pre 2002 Docklands didn’t even have walk ups)

The economics re low drawing Melbourne games was transformed when the AFL did a deal with MSL (previous managers of Docklands) and the MCC in 2010 - what were once loss making games are now B/E games.

The HFC floor for Melbourne based home games (at Docklands and the MCC) is considerably larger than before.

Take out Mothers Day twilight games against GWS in the rain and it’s about 28,000.

The 5th largest Victorian club really should be playing all 11 home games in their home state