AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan has revealed that anyย bid for a standalone Tasmanian team in the league will be unsuccessful without a new stadium.
Speaking after a meeting with Tasmanian premier Jeremy Rockliff in the Apple Isle, McLachlan was adamant that the potential Tassie team would have to have the modern facilities to rival that on the mainland before they would be considered.
โIf you look around this country โฆ and you look at the cities where AFL and other sports (are) being played, you need a stadium that can compete in 2022, or 2025, 2026,โ McLachlan said.
โWhether itโs contingent or however you want to frame it โฆ this team needs and will have a new stadium if it wants a licence.
โAnd I think Tasmanians will expect that.โ
Debate around a potential Tasmanian team is set to heat up over the coming months, with all 18 AFL club presidents set to vote on a potential new license in August.
McLachlan earlier confirmed that the league was not interested in relocating a current team, instead revealing that the state was unlikely to see their own club for at least a decade.
โI love Tasmania, I really do. But the biggest challenge in Tasmania is a couple of things - itโs not big enough in absolute terms and itโs not growing,โ McLachlan said earlier in the month.
โAnd so it has a challenge supporting an AFL team in itโs own right ... and thatโs exacerbated by the fact that the state is split in two. The north hate the south and the south hate the north. So it actually canโt quite support a team.
โTasmanians are obsessed with football. They should have a team .... but itโs a problem and I canโt see them having their own team for least a decade, which is about as far out as I can look.โ
Tasmania's new premier has already confirmed plans for a new stadium in the state, with the state government announcing plans in March for a new $750 million arena in Hobart.
He doesn’t want us to have a team, we ARE growing Mr Gill and sport has nothing to do with said north and south hating each other, I don’t hate the north so stop using that as an excuse Gill, you are the problem, you’ll take our champions but you make sure you shit on us.