The Hawks played their first home match in Tasmania in 2001, and since 2006 have played four home matches each season at Launceston's Aurora Stadium.
President Jeff Kennett said the new deal would be for four home and away matches plus one pre-season game, but Hawthorn would seek AFL approval for a fifth home and away match each season, given the introduction of the AFL's 18th club, Team GWS, from 2012.
Kennett said Hawthorn would be better off financially if it abandoned the Tasmania arrangement, but the club "liked being in Tasmania" and "life was not always about money".
The Hawthorn president said there were many reasons the club wanted to continue playing games in Tasmania, one of which was a quest to gain a genuine home ground advantage in its games.
"While the MCG is here in Melbourne the reality is other teams have that as their home ground," Kennett said. "Therefore we don't have a distinct home advantage [that] we do by playing at Aurora.
"Secondly, we thought there was a really good chance of growing our membership over time because the Tasmanian community have a greater per capita love and interest in AFL football than any other community in any other state in Australia."
Kennett said the deal to play some of Hawthorn's home games in Tasmania was considerably less than the agreement by Team GWS to play some games in Canberra.
Kennett said he could understand why the Tasmanian state government had spoken with North Melbourne and Richmond about playing some games in the Apple Isle but admitted disappointment it was risking its relationship with the Hawks.
"We were a bit disappointed about that because it showed a lack of understanding and a bit of disrespect for the enormous amount of work our people had done in Tasmania over the last four years," Kennett said.
