They really don't seem to want it to work for the Huskies. I feel like maybe someone on the committee or whatever lives on a nearby road and doesn't want to hear the horrors of unsolicited noise or something. This is why Tasmania sucks and will always suck. Small minder crab people side stepping in eachothers way rather than moving forward.

There's an article on the Mercury website (behind a paywall) that quotes a GCC source as saying that the Huskies offer was "below half" the lowest valuation of the DEC, and equivalent to "a nice house in Battery Point" (Hobart's most expensive suburb). Given the state valuer general's valuation was quoted as $4m, that would imply an offer of less than $2m.

Yet there's a comment from the Huskies on their Facebook page which says:

"We've not been able to see anything relating to the site so we took a stab in the dark at a valuation based on a losing business and land value. It turns out we were pretty close to the Valuer Generals valuation and would have paid it. We'll most likely seek to build our own stadium now."

Which would indicate it was closer to the $4m mark. Very odd way to carry out a negotiation. One presumes the newly built stadium won't be in the Glenorchy area, if you know what I mean.

Also, there's a line in the Huskies' statement about obtaining a license to play in an unnamed competition in 2019. Given the Tassie teams' woes with BV, I'm assuming it's not the SEABL replacement. NZNBL?

It is probably a bit of a complex scenario...

The GCC is not in a good financial position and has a history of poor management by the elected council members.

Therefore the council wants to maximise the amount of money they get for any asset. Which is the right thing to do for their community.

The Huskies don't want to pay too much for an asset that will require substantial capital investment to provide the venue facility they need to build & provide a quality entertainment venue. Overpaying for the asset is not good business, so they too are also doing the right thing.

Alternatively if the Huskies have the $$$, do a deal with TAS State Govt, and obtain some State Land and takeout a long peppercorn lease and build a new stadium from scratch hopefully with the Govt support to provide appropriate transport infrastructure.

Ideally, if they could find a spot near the docks and build the entertainment precinct they are planning there it would be huge for Hobart. State govt should be right behind that and would make their venue even more viable. Lots of ifs and buts there, but would be a great result. On the flipside, doing it at the DEC has potential to be another significant boost for the northern suburbs, so hopefully the council handles this ok and gets the deal done with a slightly improved offer from Hydraplay.

We are generally biased cos we love basketball, the council is probably biased cos they dont care about it.

Perhaps some of the thinking of some Councillors is that if they refuse to sell, force the consortium builds elsewhere, and then the council can close down the DEC and use/sell the land for something that is cash flow positive.

On a darker interpretation,
I know more than a few local Councillors whose thinking would be precisely that, some even have business interests/associates that make a good living off disposed disposed land that was ex Local govt, state govt, NFPs or community run NGO's and charities

There's a new post on the Huskies’ Facebook page; Luuuc has posted a link in the other Huskies thread. It sounds much more positive than the Mercury interview with Hickey; basically they’ve completely shut the door on the DEC and will now look to build their own stadium ready for the NBL bid. Macquarie Point was mentioned as a possibility, as Paul suggested.

That of course leaves the question as to where they’ll play if they join the NZNBL next year. Assuming that the DEC is out of the equation, the only other venue I can think of is Kingborough, where the Devils used to play prior to the DEC being built, and it’s not very large.

Another thought - given how close David Bartlett is to the Huskies consortium, will this impact where the Chargers play next year, assuming they’ll be in the new BV league? It’s certainly been an interesting few weeks for Tassie basketball.

And yet these Taswegians think they can support an AFL team...Embarrassing!

I'm not really involved with the Slingers anymore; I haven’t been up to Singapore in years. Michael Johnson is still there, though.

I’m actually based in Hobart these days, so the Huskies bid is of great interest. Hoping it all goes well for them!

The latest post mentions the Huskies playing games in Launceston in 2019. They could be considering re-branding the Chargers as the Huskies in this new SEABL comp? playing games between Hobart and Launceston.

From memory Hydraplay are a sponsor (part owner?) of the Chargers.

Dave, I would imagine they could still rent the DEC next year if needed. I hope they end up with a stadium at Macquarie Point, it would be better for them and better for the city, would be an amazing development in that spot if done right.

Update? It's been two weeks or so

A build and council approvals to build a stadium could take years!

If the council couldn't get organised on a sale of the venue how do we think the Huskies will go get a lease thats fair and reasonable negotiated?

Unless something happens and the state government get invovled we could be looking at 2021....the State Government need to dig in for Basketball in Tassie or the window might get slammed shut!

It doesn't surprise me they didn't make an announcement,we will probably be waiting a long time before any announcement unfortunately.

One is coming soon...

Not sure where this is all headed now unfortunately.

Huskies moving forward. 100% Exciting times ahead.

More info?

Has this been officially announced?

I can't understand why an overseas league would want a new team that would only be in the league for 3 to 5 years.

Where in Hobart would they play?

I don't see them ever building a new stadium in hobart,i have done a google search on potential prices for a stadium and they would be looking at 40 million minimum for their size range.

I don't see them entering the nbl for 4 to 5 years,especially considering we lost a golden opportunity to own the DEC.

True,the glenorchy city council will probably regret that decision,but we have also lost our big hope of getting an nbl team awell.

No worries!