TWO KEY Tasmanian stakeholders want to see North Melbourne play at least four 'home' games a year in Hobart from 2015.
North has just completed the first season of a three-year deal to play two annual games at Hobart's Blundstone Arena, for which it receives about $500,000 a game from Spirit of Tasmania, RACT and Hobart City Council.
At the end of that deal, AFL Tasmania chief executive Scott Wade and Hobart City Council alderman Marti Zucco told AFL.com.au they would like to see more of North in the Tasmanian capital.
"Certainly we've got a plan where we'd like to see the number of Hobart games grow to four as quickly as possible," Wade said this week.
"We've obviously got two games for the next two years, but we'd certainly like to see that grow from 2015."
Zucco said the deal's stakeholders had to sit down at the end of this year and evaluate North's first season in Hobart before considering any changes to the current agreement.
However, Zucco said he was confident that a deal could be negotiated for North to play four games a season in Hobart from 2015 and, ultimately, up to six games a year.
"The second game against West Coast was just an absolute success - everyone involved said so - so I don’t think it would be as difficult to move forward now to four games as it was to get the initial games off the ground," Zucco said this week.
"There are opportunities from my point of view to at least get five to maybe six North games here, subject to North wanting to play and subject to all the parties coming together and working out an appropriate deal."
North's acting chief executive Cameron Vale was reluctant to speculate on whether North would increase its annual number of Hobart games, telling AFL.com.au the club was focused on completing the current agreement to the best of its ability.
However, Vale was optimistic North would continue to play in Hobart beyond 2014.
"We think our Hobart games have gone really well this year, so there's certainly no reason to think that this isn't going to continue," Vale said.
"And could it grow? I think it's definitely something that will be discussed, but probably not right now."
Vale, Wade and Zucco all agreed North's first year in Hobart had been a success.
Vale said the biggest positive for the club had been the growth in its Tasmanian membership from 1383 last year to 3803 in 2012, a 175 per cent increase that helped North reach a record total membership of 33,611.
The Roos also attracted healthy crowds to its first two Hobart games: 11,127 against Greater Western Sydney in round two on Easter Sunday and a capacity 14,113 against West Coast in round 15.
Both Wade and Zucco said the Hobart community had embraced the Kangaroos and praised the commitment the club had shown to engaging with the locals.
Zucco, who is a member of the Tasmanian Hospitality Association, said the influx of people into Hobart for the West Coast game had transformed a typically flat trading week into one that rivalled the busy New Year period.
However, Wade and Zucco said the scheduling of Hobart games could be improved in the future, both recommending matches not be played on Easter Sunday and - at least in the next few years - expansion clubs GWS and Gold Coast not be drawn as North's opponents.
