AFL Club Presidents unanimously approve 19th team licence for Tasmania

Club Presidents of the AFL’s existing 18 teams have today voted unanimously to grant a licence to a Tasmanian team to join the competition.

The AFL Commission endorsed the vote for the 19th team licence this afternoon, with outgoing League Chief Executive Gillon McLachlan set to travel to Tasmania tomorrow to make a full announcement.

Following the Federal Government's announcement at the weekend of it financial input to the planned new waterfront stadium in Hobart, existing club presidents met on Tuesday and unanimously agreed the Tasmanian Government-led bid for a team from the state to enter the League.

The approval will see the team, set to play games out of both Hobart and Launceston, become the first expansion team since Greater Western Sydney was awarded a licence in 2010 and entered the AFL in 2012.

AFL Chief Executive-elect Andrew Dillon had said on Monday all the "building blocks" were in place for a Tasmanian expansion club, commenting "it's a really exciting time and there's some key decisions probably to be had in the next potentially day or coming days and coming weeks about Tasmania.

"But all the building blocks are in place and we're really looking forward. It's exciting."

The AFL has committed $360 million over a decade towards a team, including $90 million in game development and $33 million for player talent academies.

The Tasmanian Government, which spearheaded the bid, will contribute $12 million per year over 12 years towards a team, plus $60 million for a high-performance centre.

It will contribute the major $375 million share for the new $715 million 23,000-seat roofed stadium at Hobart’s Macquarie Point.

The announcement ends a long term campaign by Tasmanian stakeholders for entry into the national competition.

Attention will now turn to the logistics around the team entering the League, along with its proposed name, understood to be the Tasmanian Devils, and colours.

The addition of a 19th team means the AFL Premiership will go back to having an uneven number of clubs, with one of the 19 sides to have a bye each round.

Richmond Football Club Chief Executive, Brendon Gale, who took part in today's meeting with club presidents and executives, said Tasmania's bid had been widely supported in the AFL community "for years".

Tasmanian-born Gale told media “you don't get many opportunities (to be) part of history, and to be in a meeting today where you're actually creating history is really special when it's your home state

Former Woolworths Chief Executive Grant O'Brien, who was part of the taskforce which put together the business case for the bid, noted “we were always confident the business plan stacked up … but these things are never that simple, there's 18 presidents that needed to be convinced, the commission itself and the government and political issues as well.”

O'Brien, who hails from the state's north-west and is now the Chairman of Tourism Tasmania, is enthusiastic about the new Hobart Stadium, adding “the AFL made clear from the early days is that these licences aren't built for the next five, 10 or 15 years. They need to be built to last for the next 100 years.

"It's money that generates a return whether that's the team or the stadium. Yes, they're big numbers, but they're investments that provide a return."

No date was provided for when the new team will enter the League but Tasmanian interests will likely be pushing for entry to the competion as of 2026, or even as early as 2025.

Images: The AFL's famous Sheerin will be kicked by a Tasmanian team before in the near future (top, credit: Shutterstock) and AFL Chairman Richard Goyder, AFL Chief Executive-elect Andrew Dillon and current Chief Executive Gillon McLachlan at Marvel Stadium after on Monday (below, credit: AFL Photos).