Relocating the North Melbourne Football Club has been a priority for the Australian Football League (AFL) since the 1980s especially during times of financial and on-field difficulty, to secure the club's future.

The league has had an agenda to relocate its Melbourne-based clubs since the presidency of Allen Aylett in the early 1980s as part of its the expansion from a Victorian league to a national league. The push to merge or relocate Victorian clubs continued strongly under Ross Oakley from 1986. Since rebranding to the AFL, a legacy of 10 of its 16 AFL clubs based in Victoria was seen by the league as unsustainable over the longer term. The AFL has consistently pushed for its Melbourne based clubs to relocate interstate, offering significant incentives. North Melbourne has been a regular target of these offers due to financial and on-field pressures throughout the latter 20th and 21st century, and as such has been involved in interstate relocation or merger proposals similar to that of the Sydney Swans in 1982 or the Brisbane Lions in 1996.

For several proposals, most notably an AFL-supported relocation to the Gold Coast, Queensland in 2007, the issue has been put to a club member vote. Following the Kangaroos' rejection of the Gold Coast relocation offer – resulting in the admission of the Gold Coast Suns to the competition in 2011 – there was a push from the AFL for the Kangaroos to relocate to Tasmania in preference to awarding a license to a Tasmanian team, which ended when Tasmania received the 19th AFL license in 2023.

The club has rallied and strongly resisted all proposed relocation attempts.

Canberra (1984-2009)

The idea of a national competition started in Canberra as early as the early 1980s. Australian rules had become the most popular code in Canberra by the late 1970s and the territory made its first bid for a VFL license in 1981. After its rejected bids (which coincided with the relocation of South Melbourne to Sydney) the territory began resorting to relocate a Melbourne based club and commenced discussions with North Melbourne. The prospect of North Melbourne playing home games in Canberra was first raised publicly as early as 1984, with the club expressing an interest in playing a role in developing a national competition. By 1990 it was suggested that the ACTAFL was in ongoing discussions with the club to relocate it to Canberra. While the ACTAFL said that it would welcome the club, North Melbourne strongly denied the rumours. The proposal was raised by the ACTAFL again in 1992 and in 1993, however strong on-field performance of the Kangaroos made it a more difficult target for the ACTAFL. In 1999 the club dropped the name North Melbourne in its branding to become The Kangaroos in an effort to appeal to interstate markets (at the time, Sydney and Canberra). The move was to prove lucrative with the AFL and North Melbourne gaining ACT government backing to play home games at Canberra's Manuka Oval from 2002. The government backed the deal in the hope that the club would eventually commit long term to the region and for a time, the team playing in the territory were promoted locally as the "Canberra Kangaroos".Should we have a Canberra team in the AFL? By Megan Doherty 22 May 2022 North Melbourne's matches against the Swans in Canberra in 2004 and 2006 became the territory's record crowds for the sport peaking at 14,922 in 2006. However in 2006 the Kangaroos, encouraged by the AFL, received a more lucrative offer to move its interstate home games to the Gold Coast. The ACT Government set a deadline for the club to choose between Canberra and the Gold Coast, to which North Melbourne executive Geoff Walsh announced that it would be turning its back on the ACT and signed a three-year deal to play ten home games at Carrara Stadium between 2007 and 2009 at AUD$400,000 per game. After the AFL's AUD$100 million push to relocate the club to the Gold Coast failed, North Melbourne in 2009 attempted to re-negotiate with the ACT government, however the club was told that it had suffered irrepairable reputation damage in Canberra.A fair go for local footy fans Released 30/05/2009"North Melbourne Kangaroos eye return to Canberra" from The Australian by Greg Denham | 6 May 2009

Brisbane (1986)

In 1986, a consortium bidding for a VFL license for Queensland tried to woo North Melbourne to relocate north to Brisbane however North Melbourne president Bob Ansett did not publicly respond to the proposal.

Sydney (1999-2002)

In 1999 the AFL, buoyed by the success of the relocated Swans 1996 Grand Final appearance, sought to make North Melbourne Sydney's second team. The club had gained some market exposure by defeating the Swans in their first re-location Grand Final appearance. The AFL helped newly branded "The Kangaroos" secure an agreement to play some home games at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 1999 until 2002. The Sydney Swans, having worked for decades to build a following in the city, were fiercely against the move and set out to assert the club's dominance over the market and the SCG.Footy Flashbacks: North Melbourne By Zachary Gates on 17 May 2019 Ultimately the venture was unsuccessful as The Kangaroos failed to build a following in Sydney. After several games a season the club never managed to draw crowds of over 15,000 at the SCG and the club turned its attention to increased interest from Canberra.

Gold Coast (2006-2007)

In 2006 the Kangaroos agreed to play 3 home games at Carrara Stadium in the Gold Coast throughout 2007, which fuelled speculation of a possible relocation there by 2010.

The Kangaroos had full AFL backing for their Gold Coast experiment, and the team had filmed a television commercial shown in South East Queensland promoting their team and the game. The AFL had stated that it wanted one game a week played in Queensland by 2015.

On 2 December 2007, media reports from The Age stipulated that the AFL had garnered support from 75% of the Kangaroos Board to move the club to the Gold Coast. With the club having a unique shareholder 'system' which gives members little say in the matter, the fact that the majority of the board saw the future of the club on the Gold Coast did not bode well for opponents of a move.

The Kangaroos answered their critics with a 24-point win in their first "home" game at Carrara in Round 4 against the Lions. Hamish McIntosh picked up 20 possessions while Leigh Brown kicked three goals. Jess Sinclair, Glenn Archer and Daniel Wells were the Kangaroos best. In Round 8, North achieved its highest ever home game attendance at Cararra, 11,647 against Carlton. However this was still lower than what other non-Queensland clubs had achieved playing home matches on the Gold Coast.

During October, supporters started to mobilise in opposition to the proposed relocation. A group, led by David Wheaton, called We Are North Melbourne emerged and launched a public campaign, calling for the club's shareholder structure to be wound-up and for ordinary members to be given the final say on the relocation issue. The group also raised questions about the viability of the AFL's relocation offer which grabbed national media attention.

Another group, created by Shane Lidgerwood, staged a "Roosistence" rock concert at the Prince of Wales Hotel in St. Kilda, headed by You Am I frontman and North Melbourne supporter Tim Rogers, to raise funds for the club to remain in Melbourne.

On 6 December, the AFL announced to the Kangaroos that it had rejected their request for "12 months' grace" to consider the Gold Coast relocation. That afternoon, the club's board voted to reject the AFL's proposal. It also unanimously endorsed James Brayshaw as the new chairman. At a club information meeting at Dallas Brooks Hall in the evening, Brayshaw announced the board's decision to 2,500 club members, but warned them that the club now faced a tough fight to secure its financial future.

On 7 December they announced an intention to return to the name North Melbourne (instead of being known only as "Kangaroos"), underlining their desire to stay based in Melbourne.

The club announced a major upgrade to their Arden Street facilities in an attempt to remain competitive off the field.

Shortly after, Rick Aylett quit as CEO of the club, citing personal reasons and an inability to work with a board which was split on the issue of relocation to the Gold Coast.Aylett quits as Roo boss Following the announcement, James Brayshaw named a new board, committed to remaining in Melbourne.Chairman James Brayshaw names his North Melbourne board

On 8 December news of a new major sponsorship deal broke, suggesting Vodafone will put up to A$2 million into the club over the next 2 years for primary naming rights.

Ballarat (2010-2014) In 2010, the AFL assisted the club to set up a base in the city of Ballarat, Victoria west of Melbourne, with a deal to play home games there. The AFL offered to increase the Kangaroos Eureka Stadium matches to four as a potential future base in a growing city under 100 kilometres from the Kangaroos' spiritual home.AFL supports North's move to Ballarat By Jake Niall for The Age 25 November 2010 The move was heralded by many as a good strategic choice.Ballarat a sensible choice for North Melbourne By Michael DiFabrizio for The Roar 25 November 2010 In 2012, the club began to recruit local Ballarat employeesNorth boosts links with Ballarat by Pat Nolan for The Courier Ballarat 28 February 2012 and formed a playing alignment with the North Ballarat Football Club.Fitzpatrick speaks on North Ballarat's link to North Melbourne from The Courier. 2 November 2012 In 2012, redevelopment of Eureka Stadium became a major local issue for the 2014 Victorian state election creating uncertainty over the AFL's future in the market.Western Bulldogs vow to make Ballarat home base regardless of election result By Pat Nolan for The Courier 6 November 2014 With the Western Bulldogs offering to set up in Ballarat regardless of the election result and stadium redevelopment, the Ballarat community began to question North Melbourne's commitment, particularly in light of its deal to move some of its home games to Tasmania.

Just a few years after its foray into Ballarat, the Western Bulldogs muscled in with a better long-term deal for the city including a package of premiership season home gamesNorth Melbourne is set to end its partnership with Ballarat as Western Bulldogs move in by Glenn McFarlane for the Herald Sun 21 November 2014 and North ended its bid to establish a base there. North failed to attract more than 8,000 to Eureka stadium, ironically this figure was achieved in a 2012 pre-season match against the Western Bulldogs when the Bulldogs had announced its intention to challenge North for the Ballarat market.AB Cup: North Melbourne d Western Bulldogs from Austadiums

Tasmania (2006-2023)

From 2006 to 2023, there were discussions around the possibility of an AFL club relocating to Tasmania.

Tasmania had been bidding for its own team since 1992, however the AFL had rejected their bids and offered the relocation of a struggling team from Melbourne as an alternative. At the start of the 2006 season, the Devils and the Australian Football League's North Melbourne Football Club began a partial alignment, allowing North Melbourne listed players to play for Tasmania when not selected in the seniors, an arrangement which lasted from 2006 until 2007. This was unpopular among local fans, harming the popularity of the club, and the season proved to be a disappointment on-field, with the Devils finishing ninth and missing the finals, ultimately going into recess at the end of 2008.