AFL future push: Eddie McGuire says Collingwood needs to play against Tasmania and Darwin teams by 2028
Eddie McGuire is pushing for two more teams to be added to the competition, but Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett does not share the same view.
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Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett does not believe the AFL has the “appetite” for two more teams in the wake of Eddie McGuire’s revolutionary plan to expand the competition by 2028.
Kennett said the league needed to wait for a report into the business case for a stand-alone Tasmanian team before making any firm plans for new clubs.
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But Tasmania Premier Peter Gutwein welcomed the former Collingwood boss’s comments, saying “now is the time”.
McGuire has proposed a 20-team competition, with Tasmania and a combined Northern Territory/Queensland franchise being added to the roster by 2028 to create a “truly” national competition.
McGuire said the Tasmania government would need to kick in $20 million a year as well as building a covered stadium to make his blueprint work.
“The point I would make is that Eddie McGuire is the ex-chairman (president) of Collingwood and I am the state treasurer,” Gutwein said.
“In terms of funding, I’ll be the one that looks at those matters. But look, welcome to the party Eddie.
“We’ve been talking about a Tasmanian team for three decades. It’s about time you got on board.”
Gutwein added that his government would “determine the types of stadiums that we have in Tasmania”.
“But the key point that Eddie McGuire made, which I’m very pleased with, is that the time is right now for Tasmania to have a team,” he said.
“So I say, ‘welcome on board Eddie. It’s about time’.”
The AFL has asked ex-AFL commissioner and former Geelong president Colin Carter to review the business case for Tasmania’s bid by mid-year.
“I’m expecting to hear from Colin in the coming weeks, obviously, during an election campaign that has changed the timing,” Gutwein said.
“But in terms of Colin Carter, from what I understand about him, while I read about him, what I’ve been briefed about him is that he is a very fair, a very reasonable, but importantly, somebody that has always looked over the horizon in terms of the AFL business model.
“The business case that we put forward indicates that Tasmania based on its current investment, that we make into the two teams that we have here, could support an AFL team in Tasmania with less support from the AFL than it provides more than half a dozen teams currently that play for them.”
Kennett told the Herald Sun he had already spoken to McGuire about his proposal.
“I have always greatly respected Eddie’s knowledge, experiences and creativity, and what he is proposing he has discussed with me,” Kennett told the Herald Sun.
“Right now, I don’t think there is any appetite whatsoever within the AFL for a 19th and 20th team.
“Given what we have been through last year (with the COVID pandemic) and what we are looking at down the barrel this year – while still hoping it could be a good year – there are too many vagaries.
“I think we have got to work with what we have got. We have to make those clubs who are a little weaker even stronger.”
Kennett said the AFL’s financial outlook remained clouded in the short term, saying the game needed to “get through the next four or five years” before locking into decisions on the future.
“But I would never, ever reject an individual of Eddie’s experience from bringing forward ideas,” Kennett said.
“That’s life is about, we are being challenged to think and to think differently. That is what he is doing, and I appreciate that very much.”
The Herald Sun approached the AFL and North Melbourne, but they did not want to comment.
EDDIE’S $40M ULTIMATUM TO TASSIE
Glenn McFarlane
Eddie McGuire has drawn up a revolutionary blueprint on the future of the AFL that would see 20 teams competing by 2028.
The former Collingwood president and long-time football powerbroker believes the game has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to introduce a 19th and 20th franchise – with Tasmania and a combined Far North Queensland/Darwin side the most likely options.
But he sent a pointed warning to the Tasmanian Government and Premier Peter Gutwein, saying it needed to “step up or step out” or potentially “miss the boat again”.
McGuire said unless the Tasmanian Government agreed to commit $20 million annually to the code and the new club — which included investment in a roofed stadium, better junior pathways, universities and sports medicine facilities — it could forfeit its last hope of having a stand-alone team.
“The time has come for all the parties promulgating a team in Tasmania to put up or shut up,” McGuire said on Footy Classified.
McGuire’s bold plan to push football’s boundaries into the next generation includes:
■ A 20-round AFL season in which all teams would play each other once (19 rounds), which “fixes the fixture”, plus an extra round comprising Blockbuster/Showdown/Derby matches;
■ An expanded 12-team finals series, which would add at least $20 million to the TV rights;
■ At least three matches to be played on the west coast of the United States to tap into American markets; and,
■ A proposal for one Victorian team to be Tasmania’s “breakthrough” side until the stand-alone team is ready in 2028.
That Victorian “breakthrough” team — which he suggested could be North Melbourne given it already has a contract to play matches in Hobart — would be allocated four “home” and four “away” matches in Tasmania between seasons 2022 and 2027, with a further 12 games played in Melbourne and only two matches in different states.
McGuire said the Tasmanian Government had to find the best venue for a new stadium with a retractable roof.
It is understood McGuire — who was on the AFL’s “coronavirus cabinet” last year — has already discussed his proposal with a range of AFL heavyweights including league chief executive Gillon McLachlan and other club presidents.
His message to the Tasmanian Premier — whose Government will face an election on May 1 — was pointed: “You can have a stand-alone team in the AFL competition in 2028.
“(But) from this year you need to contribute not $10m but $20m per season indexed forever.
“You also need to hit the Federal Government up for a further $20m.
“The AFL will be in for a similar amount and you will need to find $10m-15m in commercial profit to make this work.
“In the next six years you (Tasmania) need to declare you are all in (for) AFL men’s and women’s football.”
McGuire said Tasmania under Gutwein would need to build pathway programs, scholarships and talent identification programs to contribute six players per year into the AFL Draft.
“You are averaging two at the moment,” he said of Tasmania.
“Sandringham Dragons average six from their catchment area. (That’s) not too much to ask.
“Premier, you need to decide where your ground is and to get a gold star your state needs a stadium with a roof on it.”
Part of the funding would come from infrastructure/health/education and tourism budgets.
“The economic impact more than covers the cost,” he said.
McGuire said a Victorian team could safeguard their future forever by choosing to be a part-time Tassie team for the next six seasons.
McGuire said a Victorian team could safeguard their future forever by choosing to be a part-time Tassie team for the next six seasons.
He once considered Collingwood playing a number of games on the Gold Coast after North Melbourne knocked back the AFL’s massive deal to base themselves up there at the end of 2007.
“It’s a competition challenge with a competition solution,” McGuire said on Footy Classified.
“A team has to decide it wants to be the Tasmanian breakthrough side.
“Let’s say it is North Melbourne. I (would) propose that North Melbourne play four home and four away games in Tasmania until 2028.
“They then get 12 games in Melbourne and play two interstate. Members would receive free KAYO (deals) and deals to travel to Tasmania.
“The four away games (would) come from AFL assisted clubs.
“One game per year (would be) a blockbuster versus a BIG club with a full festival of football scheduled in Tasmania with (AFL) Commission/President’s meetings, media relocation and symposiums to generally show we love them and are building something fantastic.
“At the end North (would be) seen as a great contributor to the competition. They get as many games in their home city as every non-Victorian team and their future is assured.”
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