Tasmania’s bid for its own AFL team has been intertwined with a stadium at Macquarie Point ever since Gil McLachlan turned up in Hobart in 2022 and pointed at the grey, mostly-vacant land.
The deal was then formalised in writing last year when the AFL stipulated if there was no stadium, there would be no team.
But now, it’s become a key sticking point on the first day of the state election campaign, as both the Liberals and Labor try to shape the narrative over the deal — and whether it can be changed.
The price tag is at the centre of the debate.