AFL CEO Andrew Dillon seeks solutions to five key issues facing $715M stadium build at Macquarie Point
A team of AFL officials led by CEO Andrew Dillon have arrived in Hobart for key discussions with the Tasmanian government. Here’s what is on the agenda and who is there.
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AFL officials have arrived at the Executive Building in Hobart for discussions with the state government on the Hobart stadium, Tasmanian AFL team and High Performance Centre.
League boss Andrew Dillon said he was looking forward to the critical catch up.
Top of the agenda was the Macquarie Point Stadium and a status report on the $715m development.
“We’ll be going through the High Performance Centre, how the (Tasmania Devils) club is going and the stadium,” Dillon said.
“So it’s exciting - plenty of stuff to talk about”.
Dillon was joined by Brian Walsh, the AFL’s executive general manager of corporate affairs, government and communications, and Judith Donnelly, the league’s head of government relations and corporate social responsibility.
EARLIER
AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon leads a delegation of AFL officials to Hobart today for a critical progress report on the state Tasmanian government’s Macquarie Point stadium project.
It is understood the AFL wants less talk, more action on the $715m project ahead of the Tasmania Devils big league debut in 2028, with the women’s team expected to join the AFLW in 2027.
The Tasmanian government has numerous mountains to climb to get its Mac Point 1 23,000-seat stadium off the ground.
Namely, they are:
1 – The century old Goods Shed was given heritage status in April and will now need to be relocated.
2 – Taswater estimates it will cost $314 million to move the sewerage treatment plant at Mac Point.
3 – The RSL vehemently opposed to Mac1 as it threatens to overshadow the Cenotaph monument and interrupt line-of-site between other batteries lining the Derwent.
4 – The Royal Hobart Regatta Association opposes the Mac1 precinct plan, which includes a residential development on its foreshore.
5 – Federal Hotels, the biggest player in Tasmanian tourism, objects for its proximity to its Henry Jones Art Hotel and future plans for Evans St.
While a state-of-the-art stadium development known as Mac Point 2 on the opposite side of the Cenotaph has been designed and accompanied by extensive stakeholder consultation, Mac1 has a “cone of silence” approach.
It is believed that latest estimates are that Mac1 may come within 30m of the Cenotaph monument, and that is not good news given the Greens are pushing their Cenotaph Protection Bill.
Unlike Mac2, which released designs last year and a series of renderings over the past six months, Macquarie Point Development Corporation only appointed a Mac1 lead designer last month.
COX Architecture won the $37.9m tender to act as lead design consultant, partnering with local firms including architects Cumulus Studio, and specialist engineers and technicians, including AECOM, Cova, Aldanmark, and Pitt & Sherry.
There also a question mark over whether or not it will fit on the site, but at the time of the announcement Macquarie Point Development Corporation CEO Anne Beach was in no doubt.
“We have done the work and we know that it will fit. We have done extensive work last year looking at benchmarking, field sizes, different stadia, considering whether or not it will fit on this site,” Ms Beach said.
Originally published as AFL CEO Andrew Dillon seeks solutions to five key issues facing $715M stadium build at Macquarie Point
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