Li Keqiang and Malcolm Turnbull prior to a Port Adelaide Power match in Sydney. Photographer: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images
Looping
a team scarf around Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s neck at a football
game in Sydney in March wasn’t just a smart marketing ploy. For an
Australian Rules club, it could portend one of the sport’s biggest
coups.
Port
Adelaide, a team hailing from a working-class suburb of Australia’s
fifth-largest city, is now trying to leverage off the trade and
diplomatic ties cemented during Li’s five-day visit by making a play for
Chinese fans. In Shanghai on Sunday, it will take on the Gold Coast
Suns in front of a sell-out crowd in the sport’s first premiership match
to be held in Asia.
While
Australian Rules, a physically rigorous game combining elements of
rugby and basketball, is the nation’s favorite spectator sport, it’s
struggled to gain traction overseas. Port Adelaide Football Club
Chairman David Koch aims to change that by convincing Chinese executives
that they can make business connections through the club.
There’s also the fact that China’s sports industry is forecast to be worth 5 trillion yuan ($724 billion) by 2025.
Most-Watched Game?
Koch
said he predicts that Sunday’s match in front of 10,500 spectators will
be viewed by as many as 20 million -- making it by far the most-watched
game of Australian Rules football played.
“I am sure there will be fans of this great sport in China,” Li said at the game in Sydney in March, Fox Sports reported .
The Chinese Premier was adorned with scarfs in the black, white and
teal colors of Port Adelaide as well as the red and white of their
opponents, the Sydney Swans, supported by Australia’s Prime Minister
Malcolm Turnbull.
The
value of the television broadcasts in China can’t be underplayed,
according to Nielsen Sports. FC Internazionale and AC Milan are among
the top three most popular soccer clubs in China, largely because
Italy’s Serie A was the first European league to broadcast in the
nation.
There are “significant commercial opportunities” at stake, Port said.
“For
Chinese companies that are expanding outside of mainland China into
Australia and the Pacific, the ability to relate and communicate through
AFL is obvious,” he said. “It allows relations to be developed through
Chinese companies operating in Australia and for another connection with
the Australian government and trade.”
Right now, Port Adelaide’s management is focusing on Sunday’s game and how it can build a support base in China.
“The
key financial metric is to build revenue streams not tied to on-field
performance, which can be volatile,” Koch said. “It’s about respect, a
willingness to understand cultural differences, and showing you’re here
for the long term, not just as a flash-in-the-pan money grab.”
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