JackJumpers lesson one we should learn from

GETTING to watch Tasmania’s premier sporting team in action is no easy feat. The JackJumpers sell out the Nest nearly every week, and it’s no wonder. The product is a good one. The team, coach and management have gelled to put on a spectacle for fans at MyState Bank Arena each and every game.

And all the success is now causing problems, good problems – there are not enough seats to go around.

On Monday chief executive Simon Brookhouse announced the club’s strong desire to expand the capacity of the Nest to cater for public demand. With the JackJumpers membership tally now sitting at about 6100 and the capacity at the arena just 4300, many members are missing out on seeing the JJs live.

Mr Brookhouse has a few tricks up his sleeve to cater for the demand but the only real way to grow the game and keep the current membership happy is to get more seats at MyState.

Mr Brookhouse said he would like to see the second tier at the arena become fully enclosed around the court.

“I think if you could get it [capacity] to say 6000, like some of the other arenas around the country, that would be ideal for us,” he said.

“Logically, if you look at it [the seating plan], it’s a U-shaped top tier of the arena, and if we could enclose that to a full oval that would certainly be the optimum for us if we could have that second tier all the way around the court.”

It’s smart thinking and should give those saying Blundstone Arena is a suitable size for a Tassie AFL team food for thought. With a capacity of about 19,000, (13,000 seated), the venue is hardly big enough to host the predicted average crowd of 18,000, let alone the numbers expected for a blockbuster match.

Blundstone does not have the capacity to make the team a success, and spending money to upgrade the site means something has to go, whether that be the hill, local homes or the popular parkland.

As the JackJumpers have found , the stadium needs to be fit for purpose.