{"id":333579,"date":"2025-12-07T21:32:42","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T21:32:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/333579\/"},"modified":"2025-12-07T21:32:42","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T21:32:42","slug":"tasmania-to-build-macquarie-point-stadium-tassie-devils-get-afl-licence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/333579\/","title":{"rendered":"Tasmania to build Macquarie Point stadium; Tassie Devils get AFL licence"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Tasmanian<\/a> state government’s upper house has voted in favour of building the $1b Macquarie Point stadium in Hobart.<\/p>\n

The project needed a majority vote from MPs to approve the project, with independents Tania Rattray, Bec Thomas and Casey Hiscutt the deciding affirmative votes.<\/p>\n

This means the state will get its AFL licence and the Tassie Devils team will come to be in 2028.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: ‘Not the best course’: McIlroy’s blunt Royal Melbourne call<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: Cagey Smith refuses to reveal XI as Cummins twist looms<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: Post-race Piastri snub exposes McLaren rift<\/a><\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A render of what the Tassie stadium would look like.\u00a0Twitter<\/p>\n

The AFL<\/a> has been steadfast throughout this entire process that the licence granted to the state was provisional on a 23,000 seat roofed stadium built at Macquarie Point in Hobart.<\/p>\n

Had the vote on Wednesday gone the other way, not only would the stadium have ceased to exist, but the state’s AFL dream for another generation would have to.<\/p>\n

This is also a big win for Cricket Australia, who have agreed to host international and Big Bash League games at the venue in the summer.<\/p>\n

Unlike the AFL, who is tipping in $15m for the project, Cricket Australia isn’t paying a cent, but gets the shiny new stadium anyway.<\/p>\n

The federal government has promised $240m for the project and the development of the precinct. <\/p>\n

Thomas, one of the deciding votes, said her decision was contingent on safeguards to protect the state from a financial catastrophe.<\/p>\n

This includes a fixed cap of $875m on the state’s contribution to the project, as well as independent watchdogs and experts to be involved plus additional funding for grassroots sports. <\/p>\n

“With all my heart I have wanted to support this project,” she said.<\/p>\n

“But I remain deeply aware of the community’s mixed feelings about it. Many Tasmanians are worried about the cost, location, and whether the benefits will truly flow to local people. Those concerns are valid.<\/p>\n

“All the public focus has been on who will back the stadium. For me, the question has been under what conditions could it possibly earn support. That’s why my support for the project is strictly conditional on economic, governance, design and community safeguards that seek to protect the welfare of Tasmanians.”<\/p>\n

\"Tassie<\/p>\n

Tassie Devils\u00a0AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

With all the votes secured, it is now a matter of time across the next couple of days for an official vote to take place.<\/p>\n

The stadium was initially supposed to be ready for the start of the 2029 AFL season, but Devils chief Brendan Gale has conceded that is now incredibly unlikely.<\/p>\n

Tassie will enter the AFL in 2028 and play out of Ninja Stadium in Hobart and UTAS Stadium in Launceston until the venue is ready at some point in the 2030s. <\/p>\n

They have a CEO, a board and a recruiting team, but the big question surrounds who their inaugural coach will be.<\/p>\n

Collingwood champion Nathan Buckley has expressed interest and has been firmly linked to the role.<\/p>\n

He has joined Geelong as an assistant coach for the 2026 season as he prepares to get back into the coaching landscape.<\/p>\n

\"Nathan<\/p>\n

Nathan Buckley embraces Jamie Elliott during the 2025 season.\u00a0via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Gale has said that he hopes to have the coach and football operations boss in place in the back-half of 2026.<\/p>\n

The Devils will then gain access to numerous levers in order to build their list, including a bevvy of picks in the 2027 draft, most of which will need to be traded for established players.<\/p>\n

They also have a $5m signing bonus pool they can use to lure star players from around the competition. <\/p>\n

Tassie will also have the ability to sign out of contract players from rival clubs, with some limitations.<\/p>\n

With the stadium now official, they can now go full throttle with the construction of the AFL’s 19th club. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Tasmanian state government’s upper house has voted in favour of building the $1b Macquarie Point stadium in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":333580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-333579","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/333580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}