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Port Adelaide Adds Chinese Partners Prior To Historic Game In Shanghai

Australian Football League side Port Adelaide signed a memorandum of understanding with the University of South Australia and two sports science institutions in China. The club partnered with UniSA, Shandong Sports University and the Shandong Research Centre of Sports Science. Port Adelaide also announced that China-based cultural industry company MJK will be the sponsor of the team's coaches until at least the end of the '20 season. MJK registered its company in Australia in February and established its int'l HQ in Sydney (Port Adelaide).

HISTORIC GAME: The BBC reported China hosted its first competitive AFL match as Port Adelaide beat Gold Coast Suns 110-38 in Shanghai. It was the first time an AFL regular season game had been staged outside of Australia and New Zealand. The match drew a crowd of 10,118. AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan said, "They're gasping, I think they love the hard hits and it's a pretty entertaining game of footy." The match, which was shown on one of the three local TV channels, cost an estimated A$4M ($2.95M) to host. McLachlan: "The opportunity is enormous. It's the opportunity of speaking to Chinese companies who are wanting to do business in Australia. ... We want to invest in this long-term and the aim is (for) this not to be a one-off" (BBC, 5/14). Port Adelaide President David Koch wrote in THE AUSTRALIAN, "You could feel the sense of history in Shanghai yesterday: what many of us believe is the greatest game in the world, Australia's game, being played in China as part of round eight of the AFL competition. This was the first time a Western professional sport has played a game in mainland China as part of its domestic competition for premiership points. ... In the chairman's stand, senior representatives of three levels of government were talking. In the hospitality tents, businesses from Australia and China were networking" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 5/15). In Sydney, Callick & Yufei wrote "they might not have understood what they were watching, but if the gasps from the crowd were anything to go by," the 4,000 Chinese who turned up at Shanghai Jiangan Stadium "liked what they saw." The game was broadcast live throughout China on a sports network with a "potential audience of millions." Shanghai and Guangzhou TV stations have "signed up" to broadcast live AFL games and highlights packages throughout the season (THE AUSTRALIAN, 5/15).

JUST GETTING STARTED: In Hong Kong, Sam Agars reported Port Adelaide "is not viewing Sunday's match as the culmination of its hard work, but rather the starting point." Port Adelaide GM of China & Government Relations Andrew Hunter said, "It sold out in a couple of hours. We had plans to actually market it to local universities and we have a school program in China that goes to 14 schools. We wanted to get as many of those students that are actually playing the game to be involved in the match in China, but it sold out so quickly. ... I can't see a limit on the growth of the local audience because we haven’t really fully explored it yet. The local business community has been supportive of this particular game but beyond that, it is the schools and universities which have rich potential" (SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, 5/14).

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