“Something bigger than the sum of us”: Tasmanian businesses celebrate boost from new AFL team

Tasmanian business leaders are celebrating the state’s first official AFL team, saying benefits of the long-awaited project will go far beyond the playing field.

League officials and club personnel launched the Tasmania Devils on Monday, revealing the team’s name, logo, and guernsey, while offering foundation memberships to eager footy fans.

In less than a week, the Tasmania Devils have secured more than 120,000 members — a greater number than 2023 leaders and AFL premiers Collingwood, surpassing the new club’s wildest ambitions.

Those fans will have to wait until 2028 to see the men’s team compete, pending the completion of a controversial new stadium development in Hobart.

Despite lingering uncertainty around the Macquarie Point complex, its eventual cost, and some public critiques over the team’s corporate identity, state business leaders are sharing their optimism about the project.

“Let us stop searching for the negatives and start to embrace the positive economic and social benefits that will come from this team and flow all the way through our community and economy right down to our kids kicking a ball in our backyards,” said Nick Haddow, founder of the famous Bruny Island Cheese & Beer Co.

The Tasmania Devils allow the state to “lean into the amazing feeling of something bigger than the sum of us and use that unity to meet other challenges in our state,” Haddow wrote on social media Thursday.

“This is so much more than sport,” he added.

Roger Hosie, co-founder and director of insurance broker RSM Tasmania, said the Devils are more than a football team alone.

“They represent our collective aspirations, resilience, and the shared joy of Tasmanians,” he said.

“Let’s unite behind our team and showcase the best of Tasmania together,” Hosie continued.

Judging by the immense commercial success of the AFL, it is fair to equate civic pride caused by the Tasmania Devils with economic opportunity.

Club personnel claim the bulk of the 120,000-plus members reside in the state, but proud Tasmanian expats — and diehard supporters of mainland clubs — could visit in droves when the Devils kick-off.

The presence of a new team in Australia’s most-watched and best-attended sporting league poses significant sponsorship opportunities to local businesses, too.

Tourism Tasmania and the Tasmanian government have spent millions of dollars sponsoring Hawthorn FC, which plays four games a season in Tasmania, in an effort to promote the state nationwide.

Any brand that ultimately winds up on the Devils’ guernseys will, through the sheer cultural power of the AFL, become somewhat synonymous with Tasmania itself.

Such a partnership won’t come cheap, however.

Plans to launch a Tasmanian team have come and gone over recent decades, including a 2008 effort that saw confectionary giant Mars pledge $4 million in sponsorship funding if the club took flight.

That attempt was unsuccessful, leaving Mars to sponsor Carlton FC instead.

Any bid to become a prime Tasmania Devils sponsor will cost significantly more than that in 2028.