The Tasmanian Government and the Hawthorn Football Club have reached a new deal which will see the Hawks play five games per year in Launceston until 2021.
Despite being into its 14th year, the popularity of the Hawks hasn’t waned, with some of the biggest attendances ever for Hawks games being recorded this season.
This new deal is fantastic news for Tasmania, Hawks fans, and the broader economy.
The total Tasmanian Government investment in the new deal is $19 million plus CPI, or $3.8 million per year.
For this investment, the latest modelling shows the total value of the Hawks deal, including the direct economic impact of games, as well as national brand exposure, to be nearly $30 million per year.
In total, the agreement provides for 20 fixture matches and five pre-season matches at Aurora Stadium in Launceston, over the period 2017 to 2021.
Importantly, the Tasmanian Government has negotiated the removal of finals and grand finals bonus payments, meaning a saving of up to $1 million on the current contact (already $750,000 in bonus payments have been made under the current contract, which climb to more than $1 million if the Hawks win the Grand Final this year).
The new deal has all the benefits of naming rights sponsor and includes an additional community or junior football initiative within Tasmania.
The new deal also retains arrangements in the current contract that allow the purchase of a fifth game, subject to AFL and participating teams’ agreement.
The deal remains subject to final ratification from the AFL.
It is expected negotiations around the North Melbourne deal, which currently sees three games per year in Hobart, will commence late this year, or early next year.
While our ultimate goal is for Tasmania to have our own AFL team, given the position of the AFL this is clearly not achievable for the foreseeable future, which means renewal of the Hawks’ deal is the best outcome available at this time.
For the longer term, we remain absolutely committed to seeing Tasmania take its rightful place in the AFL and we are working closely with the AFL on how this can be achieved.