JUST two days after its 147th birthday, the Port Adelaide Football Club will make history as the host of the historic first AFL Premiership Season game in China.
The Power will travel to Shanghai’s Jiangwan Stadium to play the Gold Coast Suns on Sunday 14 May, in a game that will be broadcast back into Australia by host telecast partner Channel 7.
The game, which has been the product of more than two years’ work by Port Adelaide in conjunction with the AFL and the Government of South Australia, follows on from Port Adelaide’s successful development of a broadcast rights deal with China’s national broadcaster CCTV to show AFL football to the world’s most populous nation during the 2016 season.
The Round 5 Anzac Round game was the most-watched minor round game in the history of the AFL, drawing almost 4 million viewers between China and Australia alone.
Supporting the game will be moves by key partners to strengthen ties to Australia’s primary trading partner.
The Ausgold Mining Group – a gold and copper-ore mining exploration and development company with interests in Western Australia, Queensland and Broken Hill – is the official game day partner for the match.
Port Adelaide chairman David Koch said the success of the foray is the result of a two-year target to play premiership season football in China, as well as a longer strategy to establish a footprint in Australia’s northern neighbour.
Playing in China is expected to open new commercial opportunities for the Power as it helps expand the global footprint of Australian football through game participation in addition to an annual match.
That financial opportunity is something that the Power has identified as key to growing into one of the southern hemisphere’s premier sports clubs.
“This is a moment many people thought would never happen, let alone as soon as 2017,” said Mr Koch.
“The AFL will become the first elite foreign competition to play a regular season game for points in China, beating the likes of the NBA, English Premier League, Major League Baseball and NFL. That is a monumental achievement in itself and speaks volumes of the strength of the relationship between our two nations.
“This is so much more significant that just playing a game for premiership points on foreign soil. This is a landmark moment in the development of Australia’s sporting, cultural, political, economic and tourism ties with China.
“The appetite for AFL football in China is even stronger than we could have imagined when Port Adelaide began forging relationships there.”
Fans will be able to see this historic first premiership season game in China with tailored travel packages. Tickets to the game will be released closer to the date, with fans able to register their interest for an advanced ticket release notification.
Travel packages to the game will be available to purchase from http://www.shanghai2017.com
Register your interest in purchasing tickets to the game at http://weareportadelaide.com.au/shanghai-tix
