AFL expected to green light Tasmania’s AFL team after Feds back Macquarie Point stadium

No stadium, no team – that was the hard line message from the AFL, and after Macquarie Point funding was confirmed, league boss Gill McLachlan is set to confirm Tasmania’s team dream has come true. DETAILS >

AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan, Hobart stadium at Macquarie Point.

No stadium, no team – that was the hard line message from the AFL last year, and after Macquarie Point funding was confirmed in Hobart on Saturday, league boss Gill McLachlan will arrive next week to confirm Tasmania’s team dream has come true.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was in Hobart bearing gifts on Saturday – a $240m Federal Government contribution toward a $715m Macquarie Point stadium and urban redevelopment.

The PM was lobbied hard by the state government and in particular by McLachlan to back the stadium.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Hobart in relation to funding for a stadium at Macquarie Point. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

“I have worked closely with Gill,” Mr Albanese said.

“The AFL run a pretty good operation, and it is an operation that provides a great deal of pleasure to Australians every weekend.

“Tasmania having its own team is a very good outcome.”

McLachlan said the AFL Commission and clubs agrees that “a new stadium is critical to the success of the club”.

Gill McLachlan. Picture: Ben Clark

The stadium was the last piece of the 11 workstreams that the AFL had navigated over the past 12 months, and with the Albanese Government’s announcement, the AFL would now formally go to the 18 clubs for support of a 19th licence to be based in Tasmania.

The AFL Commission will then meet and an official update from the AFL will be provided in the coming days.

FIRST LOOK: New designs of what Hobart's new AFL stadium at Macquarie Point could look like. Images supplied by AFL

“On behalf of the AFL, I thank Prime Minister Albanese and the Federal Government for realising the vision for the Mac Point precinct and all the economic activity the urban redevelopment will bring to the state,” McLachlan said.

“The redevelopment itself as part of a wider urban renewal vision can play a major role in transforming the city and the state and provide wider social benefits for the Tasmanian community, and I wish to also thank and congratulate Premier [Jeremy] Rockliff and his team on today’s announcement.

“For a club to compete and succeed on the national stage, it needs a home that enables and empowers it to compete from the start, on and off the field, and today’s announcement gives a potential Tasmanian club that opportunity.

“It is why so much work has been done between the AFL and the Tasmanian State Government to ensure not just a team for Tasmania but a destination club, playing in a destination stadium, in a destination state.

“The stadium at Mac Point is the final work-stream, with the question on a 19th licence to be answered in the coming days.”

Originally published as AFL expected to green light Tasmania’s AFL team after Feds back Macquarie Point stadium