Jenna Price | Jacqui Lambie has valid Tasmania stadium concerns. But every state needs one

The deal is that the AFL, the Tasmanian state government and the federal government go kind of thirdsies on the cost - all up over $700 million. For that contribution, the state will get the Devils it has so longed for. A local team matters. It brings people together. And Victorians will then stop taking credit for all the Tasmanians who have ever stepped up there.

But Senator Lambie represents a state which has a truckload of problems. Research from the University of Tasmania reveals one in two Tasmanians of working age are functionally illiterate, one in four Tasmanians don't complete schooling and one in five Tasmanians start year 7 at or below the national minimum standard for reading. It gets worse.

The health system is in crisis with major hospitals experiencing significant staff shortages, Tasmania has the highest proportion of population with one or more long-term health conditions, including arthritis, diabetes and mental health. And don't even ask about housing which is, like everywhere in Australia, chaotic.

I get Lambie's resistance. Her demands for her state are heartbreakingly small, too. A trial in Tasmania for counsellors to get the Medicare rebate; an increase in teacher's aide numbers; an urgent revamp of the pitiful hospitals on Tasmania's north-west coast (plus housing for health workers).

"We need to stop putting Band-Aids on Tasmania's health system and to back that up we need first responder housing for them to live in," she says. Plus she would like to remind everyone that Tasmanian Aboriginal people were promised their own space on the proposed stadium site.

Yet I think every single state and territory in Australia deserves a place to call home (ground). The ACT, for example, deserves better than Bruce. It needs a palace for the ACT Brumbies - Australia's most successful rugby union team - and the Canberra Raiders - the team which "gave Canberra a soul" all those years ago. Not to mention a space for an A-League Men's team to grow into if Canberra can secure a licence.

It needs a roof over the heads of spectators (that allows and even encourages the kind of audience which wants to see Metallica as well as Messi). Also, one where the full pitch can be seen from 90 per cent of the seats. That's not Bruce.

David Pocock who is arguably Australia's only political expert on stadiums having played on so many of the best says a bold stadium plan in Civic could unlock private investment to deliver world-class venues that would reinvigorate the city centre and allow Canberrans to watch their favourite sports teams and musicians play.

"Our community deserves infrastructure that's not some of the oldest in the country as is currently the case. We can develop a plan that will also help address the housing crisis, support local business and ensure Canberrans have an updated pool and other facilities," he says.

Are stadiums really good for the economy? Short answer, no. Victor Matheson, a US professor of sports economics and the author of The Economics of Sports, has been studying whether stadiums really bring more money into local areas.

He says public financing for sporting facilities has somewhere between zero to little impact on local economies. So how do they get up?

Often, intense fans go hard on trying to make it happen. He tells the story of Jerry Jones, the owner of the NFL team the Dallas Cowboys, who lobbied local government to pitch in big money. He ran a campaign to persuade voters to support the stadium. Spent a million bucks but saved himself a motza.

"Highly passionate people outvote any number of dispassionate people," says Matheson.

Tasmania will get government funding. But there are other risks. While we tend to think of these massive facilities as income generators, Matheson says that's far from the truth.

READ MORE:

First, punters who spend their money at the stadium are just substituting one form of spending for another. It's money they would have spent elsewhere.

Then, money spent leaks elsewhere - that's particularly true of the round ball game where somehow money always gets back to FIFA. And then, there's the disruption. That puts off other visitors. Let's be clear. Matheson is a huge fan. For years, he was a top-level football referee in the US. In Australia with his kids 10 years ago, he somehow tuned into AFL and turned the children into Collingwood fans. He'll be back this year to watch the Matildas.

But he does not think governments should ever fund these kinds of facilities.

I'm just one of the many punters who roll up to games to watch favourite teams. I'm off to see an early round Matildas match in the World Cup. I can remember the glory of the Sydney Olympics relay finals. I can also remember the moment Matt Burke kicking a goal after the siren in 2002 (my husband had sweetly come to a musical with me so I was there with a bit of quid pro quo). But those big stadiums have incredible atmosphere.

Which brings me to the problem of how to fund them. I consider these to be social infrastructure. Maybe we just need some philanthropists to step up. The lovely people at the Museum of Old and New Art in Tasmania tell me founder David Walsh is constantly being asked for his opinion on the stadium. He could easily cough up a few million. Maybe Jan Cameron (founder of Kathmandu) or Burnie mining truck maker Dale Elphinstone could give a handout. Does donating to an AFL team mean you get a tax deduction?