The largest attendance at a football game in Tasmania was set at the 1979 TANFL Grand Final with 24,968 spectators watching Clarence defeat Glenorchy by three points at North Hobart Oval.

"[2] The Tasmanian Football League was in a dire financial position at the time, and the AFL granted the TFL a rescue package of AUD$250,000.

[4] Tasmania was an option at this point, but the TFL declined the licence fee, reported to be around AUD $4 million, and announced it would be at least 10 years before it would be ready to enter the AFL.

These were targeted expansions covering Gold Coast, Western Sydney and Canberra – three rugby league dominated markets with large growth potential.

[10] The AFL argued that New South Wales participation numbers were in excess of that in Tasmania,[11] to further its argument that a team in Western Sydney was a higher priority.

In 2012, there was increased speculation when North Melbourne – which had considered relocation to Gold Coast prior to the Suns' admission – committed to move home games to Hobart's Bellerive Oval, initially two, then later four.

[17] In 2016, the Garlick report confirmed that a stand-alone Tasmanian team would have to wait until at least after the active broadcast deal expired at the end of the 2022 season to enter the AFL.

[20] Around the same time, the A-League (Australia's top soccer league) announced a planned expansion for 2019/20, and identified an ultimately unsuccessful Tasmanian bid as a contender.

In mid-2019, a government-appointed taskforce comprising businesspeople Brett Godfrey, Errol Stewart, Grant O'Brien, Julie Kay, Paul Eriksson and James Henderson formed to work on the bid.

[27][9] The bid's progress stalled in 2020 due to the uncertainty and upheaval of COVID-19 pandemic, particularly as the 2020 AFL season was suspended and the full financial impact was yet to be seen.

In 2020, Tasmania had new premier in former East Launceston player Peter Gutwein, who took a much more aggressive stance than his predecessors in driving the Tasmanian bid with the AFL.

[30] In 2021, Gutwein's government refused to negotiate an extension of the Hawthorn and North Melbourne deals – set to expire in 2022 – until it received a firm timetable for the introduction of a Tasmanian team.

[31] One week later, the AFL formally responded by rejecting the demand for a concrete timeline, and instead pledged to set up an independent review into the merits of Tasmania's bid which would report back no later than early 2022.

[43] The same month, an AFL review concluded that it had the finances and resources to support a Tasmanian team in an expanded competition, after suffering far lower than feared losses during the COVID-19 pandemic,[44] although significant State Government financial backing would also be required to secure their admission.

[45] At the AFL club presidents meeting ahead of the 2022 season launch, McLachlan said that while the ongoing work around Tasmania's bid remains confidential, that "The framework is there, the discussions are getting meatier, and the heavy lifting will be happening over the coming months.

"[46] In November 2022, in-principle agreement was reached between the AFL and Tasmanian Government – now under new premier Jeremy Rockliff – on commercial terms for Tasmania's bid for a 19th licence.

A Tasmanian AFL team's main home venue in Hobart would be a new stadium at Macquarie Point, to begin construction in the near future, and be completed by 2029.