Expansion continues for Australia's number one game. =D> =D> =D>
St Kilda set to play Anzac Day AFL fixture in Wellington next year as part of bold expansion plan
Stephen Reilly
The Australian
April 28, 201211:03AM
St Kilda stand to reap as much as $500,000 a game from their New Zealand venture, which seems certain to begin on Anzac Day next year against a team from either NSW or Queensland.
The Saints hope to be playing at least two and possibly three home matches in Wellington by 2014, a plan supported by the AFL, to whom expansion is a priority.
Having turned their back on Tasmania, a football market now shared by Hawthorn and North Melbourne, the Saints are looking to establish a profitable niche across the Tasman.
It is understood that with an AFL contribution and an underwriting by the Wellington authorities, each match played at the 34,500-seat Westpac Stadium is forecast to produce a return for the Saints of at least $500,000, or $1.5 million a season if the three-match plan is realised.
Discussions this week between the AFL, a Wellington City Council delegation, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Saints appear to have produced an in-principle agreement to proceed with a match on Anzac Day next year that is likely to involve one of the two teams in Sydney.
The NSW capital is the first stop for a majority of New Zealand tourists and Wellington officials are especially keen to promote their city in the two biggest Australian cities.
"Certainly, Anzac Day would be central but we're looking at other matches, which are being worked through at the moment," St Kilda chief executive Michael Nettlefold said.
The Collingwood and Essendon Anzac Day encounter at the MCG is a highly popular and seemingly untouchable feature.
"It hasn't been finalised but we'd expect it to be broadcast post-Collingwood and Essendon," Nettlefold said.
"One into the other, perhaps."
The Wellington delegates, who flew home on Thursday after the last of several meetings with the AFL, were guests at Wednesday's thriller between the Magpies and Dons and witness to the reverent build-up to the game.
After years of progress on and off the field, the Saints lost more than $1.5m last year and, with membership down by approximately 6000, are likely to record a further loss.
To the Saints, therefore, New Zealand is more than a goodwill opportunity to give the AFL a push along in a country dominated by rugby.
The club will involve itself in the AFL's grassroots development program in New Zealand known as Kiwikick.
"It needs to be commercial for the Saints. If it's not commercial, it's not going to work," Nettlefold said.
"Our discussions to this point have been around the costs involved; there is a cost to move a game away from Melbourne and that needs to be factored into the commercial equation."
http://www.foxsports.com.au/AFL/AFL-pre ... 6341413812
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