Storm & Raiders negotiating for a game in China

[MENACING*STORM]

I heard this on 3AW this morning and found this article on SMH.
If the Storm (Crown Casino in Macau) & Raiders (Huawei) can get their respective major sponsors talking, hopefully this could work. Just depends which city it will be played in.

Storm looks to Raiders on China bid

Jon Tuxworth
Published: April 17, 2013 - 3:00AM


The Melbourne Storm has confirmed its interest in playing a game against Canberra in China next year after holding discussions with the Raiders about the viability of the history-making fixture.

And Storm chief executive Ron Gauci believes NRL clubs should mirror English Premier League teams by promoting the game more internationally.

Canberra has been negotiating with Manly for some time about organising a match for competition points in the world's most populous country.

The Sea Eagles had hoped to move this year's round 11 home game against the Raiders to Shenzhen's 35,000-seat stadium. But they announced in December that time frame wasn't practicable, deciding 2014 was more realistic.

Frustrated with the slow-moving talks with Manly, Canberra boss Don Furner flew to Sydney on Friday to meet with Sea Eagles officials.

The Storm have been liaising with the Raiders about the concept ever since Canberra signed a major sponsorship deal with Chinese telecommunications company Huawei early last year.

Furner contacted Melbourne last week, and the Storm confirmed it remain interested in principle should Manly withdraw.

Gauci said only a minute percentage of the Chinese public would need to embrace the game for it to be viable. ''If we were able to tap into 0.0001 per cent of that population, we'd increase our memberships many-fold,'' he said.

''China's a fantastic marketplace, and absolutely we'd look at that.

''I think there's significant opportunity for the game over there, look at the success EPL teams have had by taking teams outside the UK and promoting their game internationally. I thought it was good the Raiders were able to secure the [Huawei] sponsorship, but when Don and I discussed it, we thought we could provide better value to the sponsor and the Chinese in general if we were able to do something there.''

Gauci revealed the Storm was first approached about playing a game in China in 2010, but the side's salary cap scandal forced it to put the concept on hold.

''We had engaged in discussions even then, before the Raiders and Manly discussions came up,'' Gauci said. ''Given we were going through our issues in 2010 we deferred those discussions, but we're in a much better position now to entertain it.''

The Storm have endured a hectic travelling schedule to start the season, with a trip to England for the World Club Challenge followed by games in Brisbane and Townsville.

Melbourne want to ensure the timing is right and commercially viable before fully committing. Both teams also want a bye immediately following the game so they have sufficient time to recover from travel.

''From our perspective we'd take opportunities to promote the brand offshore, but the schedule needs to be conducive to that and it also needs to be sound financially,'' he said. ''Our representation in rep football is quite high - this week is a prime example - and we obviously have to be reasonable.''

This story was found at: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/rugby-l ... 2hyon.html

[sallymay]

How stupid...

[blazza18]

Not a fan of it. Players already travel enough up and down the east coast. Bugger flying to China for a game.

[Ice]

What's the point?

[Go Storm]

So the sellout begins!!

I hope they pay my airfare or reduce my membership cost.
And nice to see their concern for player welfare travelling all the way to China (from our winter to their summer). As if WCC's, rep games and poor scheduling aren't bad enough on the players.

Ron Gauci, if this is true, you've just lost my respect as our CEO.

[Mattpoet]

i for one would be p***ed off if it meant one less game in melbourne

[buza_storm]

This is one of the worst ideas i have ever bloody heard of......NOT A FAN!!!

[MENACING*STORM]

Ron Gauci was just interviewed on 3AW.
This a brief summary on his interview:
- Storm were approached by Chinese based businesses (both local and expatriates) to play a competitive match in China
- If the game is played, there will need to be some compensation to play a game in China. This is regarding player welfare, so most likely extended break after returning from China
- Most likely play in Shenzhen
- Still in negotiation phase at the moment

Personally I don't mind. If they can organise the match to be played within a week of the HK 7's (Usually in March), it would be a good rugby/ league tour of China. However it sounds like a long way to go with negotiations.

[stormy]

Who wouldn`t want to see Storm play?? We are a CHAMPION SIDE but I don`t see why canberra would be the other choice??can`t understand that.

[glennb]

From my understanding it would be a Canberra home game and Canberra are looking for another team to agree. It all about the money. China is willing to pay a lot of money for sports to go there. Plus they cover the costs of everything. Dollars are to be made by the clubs that agree to play in China.

[Bourbon Rat]

Hmm ? Interesting

Thought I'd look up 'appropriate' descriptive Chinese characters - Just in case

Behold the characters for Fighter / Champion

[blazza18]

Who wouldn`t want to see Storm play?? We are a CHAMPION SIDE but I don`t see why canberra would be the other choice??can`t understand that.

No ones saying they don't but its a terrible idea for player welfare. And Canberra's major sponsors are a Chinese based company. This is all their idea.

[LESStar58]

Gauci said only a minute percentage of the Chinese public would need to embrace the game for it to be viable. ''If we were able to tap into 0.0001 per cent of that population, we'd increase our memberships many-fold,'' he said.

Gauci has been to the Kevin Sheedy school of Bullshit evidently. Don't get me wrong we are a much better product but Sheedy the senile old goat has been talking bollocks for years about taking AFL to China/South Africa/USA and talking about how "if they only get one per cent of the population interested" the AFL will blossom internationally.

I'm for it to be honest. The more people who get to watch rugby league the better. If it's a "home" game then I'd want the club to be compensated (but someone has already said it's a Raiders home game) by the NRL and ALL the gate takings. And if it's incentive to get more coin in the coffers then I'm all for it.

[Ice]

It's all well and good if they fill the stadium on the day if it goes ahead but i hardly think that'll win a whole new supporter base, especially if games are taken there only every few years. I hardly think it will become a yearly thing and while Canberra might see that as viable, they still have to get willing participants to play against them on an annual basis which i reckon will prove to be a very tough ask for obvious reasons.

IMO some things are much more important than the coin with player welfare being paramount. I couldn't care less even if it's not our home game that still doesn't change the fact we have to go all that way just for a bit of extra money. I'd much rather stay here and give the boys the best possible chance of winning the comp as opposed to anything else. I was lucky enough to be in Leeds for the WCC as i was already going to be in the UK anyway and while i had a fantastic night and loved seeing the boys win over there, i'd still much rather them not have had to travel overseas in the first place.

All i care about is premierships, we have to contend with more than enough each rep season and that pushing our boys and team to the limit without having to worry about flying a shitload of hours for a bit of extra coin. Sure, grow the game in other markets if we have to (no matter how futile it would be) but let other teams do it. Our one and only goal should be to grow the game and the Storm in the main market that counts the most and that's right here in Melbourne.

[TC]

John Ribot - Prophet?