As Australia's sporting market continues to expand, Tasmania's JackJumpers and Devils know exactly what they need to thrive
The Tasmania Devils will be hoping to capture more than just hearts when they begin playing in the AFL. (Supplied: Tasmania Football Club/Solstice Digital)
Sporting success can be measured by winning or by improving over time but ultimately a professional franchise can only be viable if it is a financial success.
It’s why Australia’s national leagues are littered with the ruins of defunct clubs that either couldn’t attract a crowd or sell their brand, or fell victim to poor business decisions.
Clive Palmer backed Gold Coast United’s entry into the A-League in the 2009-10 season before a public spat with league administrators, and a controversial decision to limit crowds to avoid paying a state government levy,
The NBL had dozens of failures, including the Hunter Pirates, South East Melbourne Magic, Canberra Cannons and West Adelaide Bearcats.
The Western Reds and Adelaide Rams are just some of several rugby league sides to fold including the Giants, Seagulls and Chargers, all on the Gold Coast.
It’s an area Tasmania, a state that finally has some national league teams, is trying to avoid.
When the JackJumpers lifted the National Basketball League trophy at the end of just their third season, every franchise in the country wanted to know their secret, including the recently launched AFL franchise the Tasmania Devils.
JackJumpers coach Scott Roth arrived in Tasmania in late 2020 to find almost nothing waiting for him.
“It was during COVID, there was no staff, no players, there were no walls, no practice facility.
“But the excitement was to build something from scratch using my experience.”
Before he came to Tasmania, Roth had more than two decades as a player and assistant coach in the NBA.
He was a player when the Minnesota Timberwolves joined the league in 1989 and was an assistant at the Grizzlies when they moved from Vancouver to Memphis (neither has won an NBA title).
So, when he showed up in Tasmania and found little to work with, he didn’t mind.
“The first two or three months I just travelled the corridor between here and the top of the state,” Roth told 7.30.
“I was trying to find out about what it meant to be Tasmanian, what it meant to be here and what people were expecting from a team.
“I never heard about winning or losing. I heard about competing, about grit and grind, about tough-minded people who love this island and have always been punched down.”
When building his team, Roth went for people who would fit in with him and the state.
And it resonated with the people who came out in droves to sell out all the club’s home games.
“I was looking for people who had been knocked down, knocked out, got back on their feet.
“It’s easy to go out and find the star, but does the star fit in Tasmania? I don’t think a lot of people do, to be honest with you.”
Finding backers
JackJumpers CEO Christine Finnegan came to the club after stints with the NRL’s highly successful Melbourne Storm and Super Rugby’s less successful Melbourne Rebels.
“I’ve seen some really, really great cultures and I’ve seen some pretty average cultures,” Ms Finnegan told 7.30.
“I was very fortunate to work with Craig Bellamy and Frank Ponissi at Melbourne Storm and that was a great grounding for me.”
She was tasked with approaching local sponsors and found a host of businesses desperate to get on board.
“Tasmania’s not known as an economic powerhouse, but what I found when I got here was that there were so many businesses that hailed out of Tasmania that had very big footprints on the national and international stage.
“They’d never been given something like a sporting team or the JackJumpers to be part of.”
Some argue the team’s success also played a role in the AFL’s decision to establish a team on the island, so as not to lose its hold on what is seen as a “footballing state”.
“I hope we’ve played a role in that,” Finnegan said.
“If you bring (Tasmanians) into the tent, they’ll be much more part of it, they’ll buy into it, and they’ll support it.”
Riewoldt is sensing a unique style
It’s a success the Devils are looking to replicate when they enter the AFLW in 2027 and the men’s competition the following year.
Richmond great and Devils employee Jack Riewoldt is part of the team working to bring the club to life.
“The JackJumpers are a great example, not just to us, but to everyone of how to do things great,” he said.
“They’re not a huge business, they don’t spend the most money in the NBL, but they just do things the right way.”
It’s taken 35 years of work by passionate Tasmanians for this proud footballing state to be granted entry into the AFL, and Riewoldt hopes to tap into that.
“We’ve been loud and proud about our desire to be the biggest community sporting club in Australia, if not the world.
“We know who our people are, they’re right here.”
The AFL’s previous two expansion teams, the Gold Coast Suns and Greater Western Sydney, were explicit attempts to grow the code in high-population areas that don’t traditionally follow Aussie Rules.
Gold Coast and GWS have been in the league since 2011 and 2012 respectively, and since that time the AFL has put in hundreds of millions of dollars and given them priority access to young talent to ensure their competitiveness.
Despite that, average home game attendances have rarely topped 13,000 in a season and only GWS has been successful on the field, making the grand final in 2019, where they were humbled by Riewoldt’s Richmond.
Last year, both clubs did break their membership records, with the Gold Coast signing up 23,000 people and GWS 33,000.
Sustainability the key
Tasmania started offering $10 “foundation memberships” in March, and at the time of writing has sold more than 180,000.
“I mean 180,000 foundation memberships, 100,000 in Tasmania shows that Tasmanians believe in us at this early stage,” Riewoldt said.
“(Gold Coast and GWS) are extremely great growth areas for the AFL, so that is an investment from the AFL in those two sides.
“Hopefully we can be a bit more sustainable.”
Attracting players is a potential challenge, and Riewoldt believes the building of a new $750 million stadium and $70 million high-performance centre is crucial to making it an attractive place to play.
“It needs to be at a level that gives us a chance to perform from day dot,” he said.
“I think being competitive is important, and I think the AFL wants us to be competitive early on.”
Ultimately, the club wants to take a JackJumpers-like approach when it comes to finding talent that suits the smaller market.
“It happens in the AFL that certain areas don’t suit certain players,” he said.
“For us, we know that there is a certain type of player that will suit being down here, and that’s important to identify those characteristics.”
If Tasmania can find them, keep them and bank wins, the off-field success may just follow.
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