As a frequent Asian traveller I am very interested in the experiment of taking a game to China.

My first thought is that it is mainly a property development/ political influence play that like a meteor will shine at best for a few moments but I could be wrong.

Would be very interested to hear the thoughts of others and particularly that of the Rev as to the coverage if any the game is getting in China.

Good to see that Port lost the Jumper War

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-05-01/suns-get-green-light-on-red-jumper-for-china

I am only interested in this game as to the amount of money AFL provide the participants. It will be good to get some reports from Deelanders in China to find the impact of that spend.

i think China represents a great market and the AFL could do well in international expansion of the code.

But Melbourne has a Chinese co as sponsor and has a history of developing the game which would appear a valuable introduction point. 

MFC should be used as the primary club for matches in China while reinforcing our origin.

Why play Etihad when we could play Beijing but our home games all at MCG..

And generous packages to China for supporters as part of the promotion of the game.

Lets get more Chinese involved in the club. I think this has been proposed on Dland before. Get to the Chinese students and provide subsidised entry. Employ some as support staff and wait for the players to emerge.

Please feel free to discuss the attempts of other sports to crack foreign markets.

One that interests me is soccer and India. One billion plus people ... a middle class of around 150 million English speaking... a marketers dream... but no sport has really cracked it. The EPL plays with Asia but no team has played for premiership points as I understand it.

Indeed few businesses have cracked the Indian market.

NFL have been pushing into Europe via the UK with two or more games there a year. From a crowd attendance viewpoint they appear to be successful. Interesting how it is done.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NFL_International_Series

 

I'd rather we worried about growing the club in Vic than getting carried away pretending that one billion Chinese or Indians will ever care

The only way to *truly* get to the Chinese is to draft a China-born player. Establishing a brand is one thing. Having one of their own is another.

1 minute ago, Uncle Fester said:

I'd rather we worried about growing the club in Vic than getting carried away pretending that one billion Chinese or Indians will ever care

Growing it in Vic does include engaging the growing number of Chinese and Indian students.

They and their families provide a great entry point to the international market.

i take DJs point about soccer and India but perhaps more  factors involved there.

You cannot look at the total population numbers as a large portion has limited economic impact. Qualified ex students will move to the upper economic strata hopefully and can become powerful advocates.

From an purely MFC 2017 perspective - the Suns have the early bye after their China game and then play us coming off a 6 day break in Alice Springs.

5 minutes ago, praha said:

The only way to *truly* get to the Chinese is to draft a China-born player. Establishing a brand is one thing. Having one of their own is another.

Agree. Which is why I said involve students, engage some staff and wait for player to emerge. If you are recognised by the community you will become preferred destination

2 minutes ago, dpositive said:

Growing it in Vic does include engaging the growing number of Chinese and Indian students.

They and their families provide a great entry point to the international market.

i take DJs point about soccer and India but perhaps more  factors involved there.

You cannot look at the total population numbers as a large portion has limited economic impact. Qualified ex students will move to the upper economic strata hopefully and can become powerful advocates.

*shrugs*

 

Play good footy and the crowds will come. Simple as that. This other stuff sounds like a Schwab era bunch of smoke and mirrors.

2 minutes ago, Fifty-5 said:

From an purely MFC 2017 perspective - the Suns have the early bye after their China game and then play us coming off a 6 day break in Alice Springs.

I guess I should have added to my original comment that interested "in amount of money AFL provides" that the amount of support could also be considered. Improved draw, improved treatment as the team becomes an AFL favourite.

3 minutes ago, Uncle Fester said:

*shrugs*

 

Play good footy and the crowds will come. Simple as that. This other stuff sounds like a Schwab era bunch of smoke and mirrors.

I wonder if someone would be good enough to run all that through for me on say....a whiteboard 

3 minutes ago, Uncle Fester said:

*shrugs*

 

Play good footy and the crowds will come. Simple as that. This other stuff sounds like a Schwab era bunch of smoke and mirrors.

True. Good footy is at the heart of it. May be able to play better with AFL admin support.

"Smoke and mirrors" more a consequence of homilies such as the "crowds will come".

Better to target and direct resources to that target.

A bit like playing better footy really. It doesn't happen by just letting some guys turn up and play.

Just now, dpositive said:

True. Good footy is at the heart of it. May be able to play better with AFL admin support.

"Smoke and mirrors" more a consequence of homilies such as the "crowds will come".

Better to target and direct resources to that target.

A bit like playing better footy really. It doesn't happen by just letting some guys turn up and play.

Exactly. Put the money and effort into the FD. Not chasing rainbows.

16 minutes ago, Fifty-5 said:

From an purely MFC 2017 perspective - the Suns have the early bye after their China game and then play us coming off a 6 day break in Alice Springs.

Looks bad on first glance.

However, last year we played Freo in Darwin coming off a 6 day break while Freo were coming off a 15 day break, and we won easily.

One would hope we'd be good enough to beat Gold Coast In Alice Springs regardless of how many days break each side has.

9 minutes ago, Uncle Fester said:

Exactly. Put the money and effort into the FD. Not chasing rainbows.

Don't disagree the club invests in the footy dept.

Let the AFL invest in the China market. That's additional money which was the point of my first comment.

I'm glad our players are not playing in China, reason because of all the pollution in the air, breathing that much c@$% can not be good.

28 minutes ago, Fifty-5 said:

From an purely MFC 2017 perspective - the Suns have the early bye after their China game and then play us coming off a 6 day break in Alice Springs.

If I played a game in China I expect I'd feel like playing another game just a few days later.

20 minutes ago, Uncle Fester said:

Exactly. Put the money and effort into the FD. Not chasing rainbows.

Chase economic rainbows after the Footy Department is purring. 

China will be a great market. Keep Southern Airlines happy MFC

Win a flag or 2 and then push into the market as the gun side. 

Just now, Sir Why You Little said:

Chase economic rainbows after the Footy Department is purring. 

China will be a great market. Keep Southern Airlines happy MFC

Win a flag or 2 and then push into the market as the gun side. 

Footy first. I forget who said it but it was after the Neeld years, and it went something like Melbourne was about everything but football. I like that we are about football and not all the other distractions, and will vote against any board that forgets that.

Strangely enough the WA teams are perhaps probably the best placed to spearhead a push into Asia.

WA is in the same timezone as Beijing and by air it is 2-3 hours closer

I have always thought it strange that WA supporters have for years been willing to accept their game start times based to suit Eastern Sates TV times

1 hour ago, Diamond_Jim said:

Please feel free to discuss the attempts of other sports to crack foreign markets.

One that interests me is soccer and India. One billion plus people ... a middle class of around 150 million English speaking... a marketers dream... but no sport has really cracked it. The EPL plays with Asia but no team has played for premiership points as I understand it.

Indeed few businesses have cracked the Indian market.

NFL have been pushing into Europe via the UK with two or more games there a year. From a crowd attendance viewpoint they appear to be successful. Interesting how it is done.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NFL_International_Series

 

India is an interesting one. As a nation they aren't very focused on sport full stop. Their Olympic teams are tiny when compared to their population, the last Olympics they sent over one hundred athletes for the first time, sine 200 it has been around 70 for the other games. In the same time period New Zealand, a country of 4 million people, have sent between 148 and 190 or so athletes. 

In saying that they are very good at Hockey and absolutely made about Cricket. I will be interesting to see if another sport can get any traction in India as they clearly haven't been able to in the past, but have any really tried?

As noted Melbourne has a large Indian population, if would could be seen as the team of choice it is a big potential fan base adding members. Being able to do that is entirely dependent on being a good footy team first!

8 minutes ago, Uncle Fester said:

Footy first. I forget who said it but it was after the Neeld years, and it went something like Melbourne was about everything but football. I like that we are about football and not all the other distractions, and will vote against any board that forgets that.

It's exactly right. Schwab focused on everything but the Football Dept. now he may have done that because of GW$ & The GC teams coming on board. But it was never going to succeed however much we hoped. 

If we go into China I want us to do it as a Powerhouse Football Team who doesn't get beaten over there. Asians love winning. They celebrate at the drop of a hat. 

Edited May 3, 20178 yr by Sir Why You Little

8 minutes ago, Chris said:

India is an interesting one. As a nation they aren't very focused on sport full stop. Their Olympic teams are tiny when compared to their population, the last Olympics they sent over one hundred athletes for the first time, sine 200 it has been around 70 for the other games. In the same time period New Zealand, a country of 4 million people, have sent between 148 and 190 or so athletes. 

In saying that they are very good at Hockey and absolutely made about Cricket. I will be interesting to see if another sport can get any traction in India as they clearly haven't been able to in the past, but have any really tried?

As noted Melbourne has a large Indian population, if would could be seen as the team of choice it is a big potential fan base adding members. Being able to do that is entirely dependent on being a good footy team first!

Unless the game's played with a stick or bat ...forget India

9 minutes ago, Chris said:

India is an interesting one. As a nation they aren't very focused on sport full stop. Their Olympic teams are tiny when compared to their population, the last Olympics they sent over one hundred athletes for the first time, sine 200 it has been around 70 for the other games. In the same time period New Zealand, a country of 4 million people, have sent between 148 and 190 or so athletes. 

In saying that they are very good at Hockey and absolutely made about Cricket. I will be interesting to see if another sport can get any traction in India as they clearly haven't been able to in the past, but have any really tried?

As noted Melbourne has a large Indian population, if would could be seen as the team of choice it is a big potential fan base adding members. Being able to do that is entirely dependent on being a good footy team first!

Good points. Hockey did try something a few years back by way of an IPL type tournament which I think they were trying to leverage into India.

Cricket is interesting... they get the crowds for the IPL but the test crowds are virtually nil. The recent Australian v India series was played in the equivalent of regional centres (think Ballarat, Bendigo etc). Was thinking of going to a test or two but there was little on the internet for the self traveller so I gave it a miss. bad decision !!

Would be interested to hear from any about why Port thought this to be a wise business opportunity.

Edited May 3, 20178 yr by Diamond_Jim

42 minutes ago, deebug said:

I'm glad our players are not playing in China, reason because of all the pollution in the air, breathing that much c@$% can not be good.

it's okay, just spit it out.