Beloved AFL great implores Tasmania not to make 'huge mistake' on stadium vote

AFL champion and Tasmanian legend Matthew Richardson has implored the state government to approve the stadium build for the new AFL team, when the vote comes through the upper house in July.

If the vote goes against the building of the Macquarie Point stadium, Tasmania will lose its provisional AFL licence and the Tassie Devils dream will be dead.

Richardson, one of Richmond's all-time great players, hopes those voting see the bigger picture and understand the impact the stadium will have on the Apple Isle.

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"I'm a big advocate for the stadium and I think we need to have it and I think we need to get off with a bang at a great new facility," Richardson told 3AW radio.

"If you've been to Bellerive, it's a nightmare trying to get in and out of. You can't play over there. You just simply can't. I do think (the team) needs to be in Hobart.

"I just think if it doesn't happen, there won't be a team if (the stadium) doesn't happen, I think it would be a huge, huge mistake.

"It's not just the football. Hobart currently doesn't have any conference facilities to host big national conferences. Five hundred is the biggest room. You're going to have a room with a capacity of 1500.

"I've spoken to Stadiums Tasmania, there will be 37 days at least of footy, cricket and concerts. There'll be 40 major conferences there a year. That means all the hotels will be full. There'll be at least 300 smaller events.

"The Adelaide Oval has 1500 little or major events there every year. Every day at the Adelaide Oval in the rooms and the facilities, there's events happening.

"These are the things people don't realise. It's just simply got to happen. It'll be huge for Tassie.

"People think it will take away from hospitals and housing and that funding, but they're not touching that funding. This is a one-off investment that will pay off big time for for Tasmania."

Richardson added that he was lucky growing up that his father had an existing relationship at Richmond, but says it is significantly harder for kids in Tassie to commit to AFL pathways right now without their own bespoke team.

"Most kids wouldn't see the pathway. It's a million miles away, getting to the AFL (from Tasmania). You just think you can't do it," he said.

"With the Devils on the ground, you can touch it and smell it, it's going to inspire a lot of boys and girls to pursue their dreams. There's a lot more to it."

Reports into how much the stadium could cost vary between $775m and just over $1b, with hopes it can be ready in 2029 or 2030.