A Melbourne or Sydney-based team could soon be playing for premiership points in Shanghai as the AFL looks to capture the hearts and minds of Australia’s rapidly-growing Chinese population.
As Port Adelaide and Gold Coast prepare to again face off at Jiangwan Stadium on Saturday, the AFL’s international push – disparaged by Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett as “an absolute waste of time and money” – shows no signs of slowing down.
The AFL are forecasting a sellout crowd at Saturday’s game, as well a record television audience for an AFL match with free-to-air broadcasts in three major Chinese cities.
And India looms as the next frontier with the league considering staging a game of some description there as soon as 2020.
The Shanghai game has yet to generate significant revenue but the Power and Suns have managed to leverage their foray into the Chinese market into sponsorship dollars.
Whether both clubs return in 2019 is yet to be seen.
Port are committed to playing in China for the foreseeable future but the Suns are waiting until after this year’s game before making any decisions.
“We would need to see how this venture goes and make some decisions when we’re back and talking to the businesses around the Gold Coast as to whether they want to keep supporting it or not,” Gold Coast chief executive Mark Evans told AAP.
“We’ll make that decision over time but for the moment, everyone seems pretty vibrant about the opportunity that presents.”
Should the Suns pull out, the door would be open for a team based in Melbourne or Sydney to step in.
The AFL’s general manager for China and India, David Stevenson, says there has been strong interest in the Shanghai game among clubs looking to diversify their revenue.
And the prospect of a team based in one of Australia’s two biggest cities entering the Chinese market has plenty of appeal for the AFL.
“Seventy-three per cent of the million people of Chinese descent living in Australia live in NSW and Victoria,” Stevenson told AAP.
“So there are some obvious connections there, let alone the commercial businesses that are based there.
“There is some appeal with a Melbourne or a Sydney club but there’s also great appeal with Gold Coast as such a strong tourism market. They’re all the things we’ll weigh up post this game.”
Financial strugglers St Kilda would be an obvious contender, having previously played for premiership points in New Zealand.
Heavyweights Richmond and Essendon, as well as Greater Western Sydney and Adelaide, have focused their attentions on India.
The lead-up to this year’s China game has been much smoother than that of 2017 and both clubs have expressed happiness with their travel arrangements and the match venue’s surface.
But the question remains whether there is sufficient interest among the Chinese in watching a two-and-a-half hour game most are unfamiliar with.
One possible solution is to replace the full game with AFLX, although that appears unlikely to happen in the immediate future.
“Our preference is still the regular season game because there’s a lot of kudos that comes with playing for premiership points,” Stevenson says.
“AFLX is faster, more high-scoring, probably easier for people to understand who are new to our game.
“But there’s also this great history and emotion that’s connected to our regular-season game, so what we’re trying to now do is lots of research into what is important for people who are new to our game and what’s the best format for them to learn about it.”
Stevenson notes that almost half of Australia’s population has a parent who was born overseas or were born overseas themselves.
Engaging that community amid competition from rival codes remains a key challenge for the AFL.
“As the Australian population grows with more and more immigration, it’s critical for our heartland to make sure that we connect them to the game,” Stevenson says.
“That’s the first priority – how do we more deeply connect to that changing face of Australia?”
