the finishing date for the club\u2019s brand-new stadium at Mac Point was quietly delayed<\/a> until the start of the 2031 stadium.<\/p>\nThe venue, which is tipped to cost $1.13 billion, will be roofed and hold 23,000 seats at Hobart\u2019s Macquarie Point, which was approved by Tasmanian parliament late last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe update now is that the new Mac Point Stadium will be ready in 2031. 2028 is the first season, so that\u2019s three full seasons at Hobart\u2019s Ninja Stadium, and also Launceston\u2019s UTAS Stadium,\u201d Ralph continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cGale says, in his words: \u2018It\u2019s not ideal\u2019. But, he does admit it might mean more games across Launceston than across Ninja (Stadium). Launceston just had a $120m renovation, it will be an elite stadium there. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou actually have to give Tasmania three full years to say: \u2018We want to win these people back\u2019 … I think those three years are even more important than they\u2019ve ever been , given the lack of a stadium at Mac Point.\u201d<\/p>\n
New renders of the proposed Macquarie Point stadium, home of the Tasmanian Devils. Provided May 26, 2025.Source: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n
The Devils will play their first ever VFL match this Saturday afternoon against Coburg at North Hobart Oval, two seasons prior to their AFL debut.<\/p>\n
But, while the club won\u2019t officially begin recruiting current AFL players until at least the end of this year, Gullan notes that the lack of continuity for the club and its home venue for the first three years could be a major turn-off for any potential recruits they approach.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest issue is a player going there … three years, going all over the state. If I\u2019m a star \u2014 let\u2019s go with Ryley Sanders \u2014 he\u2019ll be 26 when the stadium is finally built, he would\u2019ve had eight years in the AFL. Why would you go earlier than that?\u201d Gullan questioned.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think he\u2019s going there, but his name keeps on coming up. Why would he go before that fancy, billion-dollar stadium\u2019s there to welcome him?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tasmania has identified its maiden AFL rival two years before it\u2019s even entered the league, as it attempts…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":546902,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,270790,270794,162493,270791,270793,1127,7492,64029,212191,681,270792,29653,85,270789],"class_list":["post-546901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-baby-getting","tag-brand-new-stadium","tag-business-case","tag-elite-stadium","tag-finishing-date","tag-fox-footy","tag-hawthorn-hawks","tag-home-games","tag-home-venue","tag-jon-ralph","tag-long-standing-relationship","tag-scott-gullan","tag-sports","tag-stadium-delay"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546901","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=546901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/546902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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