Australian Football League side Gold Coast Suns are set to take on Port Adelaide in an AFL championship match in China next year "as the high-contact indigenous sport seeks a toe-hold in the world's second-largest economy," according to Ian Ransom of REUTERS. Convincing Chinese to "tune in to the fast-paced game played on a pitch the size of a cricket ground may also be a hard sell, given the Asian nation has no tradition of high-contact ball sports." But the deal "makes perfect sense for Port Adelaide" and its new sponsor Shanghai CRED Real Estate, a property developer and part of a Chinese consortium bidding for "politically-sensitive pastoral lands in Western Australia state." The Shanghai CRED sponsorship includes "beaming Port Adelaide games into China via state-run broadcasting behemoth CCTV and a documentary series." Port Adelaide's opponent was not announced last week but Suns Chair Tony Cochrane told local media that his team "had been awarded the game." The Suns "already have a Chinese corporate tie-up with Huawei." Cochrane said, "It's time to put this club in the limelight, and what better way than to be involved with China, and the fastest-growing Chinese tourist destination in Australia" (REUTERS, 4/22).
