AFL’S GAMES PLEDGE

Clubs may decide if Tasmania games take place

AFL games could still be played in Tasmania next year even if Premier Peter Gutwein follows through on his threat to dump lucrative sponsorship deals with Hawthorn and North Melbourne. The clubs face having to decide if they are prepared to play for less than the $8m they share to play games in the state.

THE AFL has committed to home-and-away matches in Tasmania next year even if the Apple Isle’s “rivers of gold” dry up for Hawthorn and North Melbourne.

Those clubs might have to decide if they are prepared to play for less than the $8m they share at present to play games in Tasmania.

The league will attempt to restart discussions with Tasmania premier Peter Gutwein in coming weeks after AFL boss Gillon McLachlan informed him on Friday that the league would spend up to a year on its own independent study into a stand-alone team for the state.

Gutwein said his government would not renew contracts with Hawthorn and North Melbourne to play in his state beyond 2021 until there was a road map for a Tasmanian AFL team.

The league’s statement on Friday night said if the Tasmanian government followed through on its threat, “the AFL would propose to deal directly with the two clubs and the implications for them in 2022, as well as for Tasmanian football”.

It is believed that that means the league would continue to schedule games in Launceston and Hobart in 2022 to continue to develop the state’s football economy.

But there would be no guarantee those teams playing in Tasmania would secure a financial windfall, which would force them into tough decisions about whether they played in the state for the love of the game.

Hawthorn’s current deal has it playing four home-andaway and one pre-season game per year from 2017-2021 for $20m over the five years of the agreement.

Hawks president Jeff Kennett says the club needs a resolution into the impasse by mid-year before it moves to secure another major sponsor.

Members of the Tasmanian task force, which produced an exhaustive report in early February last year, are insulted the league will wait more than two years to respond.

But the league believes it would be financially irresponsible to commit to a new team midway through the pandemic which is expected to again have a significant impact on the league’s finances in 2021.

The AFL said yesterday it was not yet ready to reveal who would conduct that investigation. But before committing to a new team the league will likely want to restock its future fund after running down $60 million of savings and posting a $22.8 million loss for the 2020 season.