Reality Bites - A quick stroll through what is happening in sport locally, nationally and across the world
What’s cooking in sport, locally, nationally and around the world. Here are the Reality Bites
PORT Adelaide president DAVID KOCH has given substance to those “reports” that surfaced at the end of last year’s AFL season that not all in his board room at Alberton were in favour of making the Power the carrier of Australian football to China.
“A bit of heartburn from time to time,” Koch says of the nervousness that has existed among his fellow Power directors and even at AFL House.
But as Port Adelaide prepares to play a new AFL partner in China, St Kilda at Shanghai on June 2, there is stronger support for the long-term project that is far more than putting on one AFL premiership game a year in the northern hemisphere.
AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan is saying: “The opportunities in China are now greater than the risk.”
Koch notes China - beyond the game with St Kilda - delivers $6 million a year to the coffers at Alberton. This accounts for 10 per cent of the Power’s annual revenue.
“I’ve had to comfort people at Port Adelaide - not just the AFL - on the risk associated with going to China,” Koch told The Advertiser at the Shanghai game launch at Government House in Melbourne on Friday.
“The game is expensive, very expensive. And we know Australian football will not become a major sport in China. We’re not stupid, we understand that.
“But this is an enormous opportunity for our club - and the benefits go well beyond the money made on game day. The commercial partners we are finding away from the Shanghai match will do more than make our club sustainable.
“We don’t just want to work to 95 per cent of the salary cap or 80 per cent of the soft cap on football spending. We want to
raise money to invest more and more in our football program.”
BIG MONEY
So which professional sporting league delivers the biggest pay cheque across the globe?
According to the bean counters at a US agency, the biggest average pay cheque in sport in 2018/19 is within the National Basketball Association in the US with $10.86 million.
The list’s top five is -
NBA - $10.86 million
Indian Premier League cricket - $7.14 million
Major League Baseball - $6.36 million
English Premier League football - $5.56 million
National Football League - $4.11 million
The AFL ranks No. 15 on the world list with a $370,000 average player salary.
WILD RIDE
It is quite a record for the Perth Wildcats with 33 consecutive NBL finals series - and now nine crowns as Australian basketball champions.
“We have the best team, we have the best players and we have the best organisation,” Wildcats owner, American Jack Bendat, declared just before the play-offs ended with another parade in Perth.
Bendat took over the Wildcats in 2006, putting up $8 million of his own money - made in Western Australian after he had hit the wall with a building project in Los Angeles.
“I wanted to do something I could get a lot of enjoyment out of while putting something back into the community,” Bendat says of his answering a prayer for the Wildcats more than a decade ago.
“Now, I go to every game in Perth and look around the stadium and it’s filled and I say, ‘I did this’. We’ve changed the magic of basketball throughout Australia.”
FALL OF THE WEEK
NEW England Patriots NFL owner ROBERT KRAFT who is facing charges related to soliciting prostitution in Florida: “I know I have hurt and disappointed my family, my close friends, my co-workers, our fans and many others who rightfully hold me to a higher standard.”
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“The players are excited by the fact they just beat the team that won the premiership last year. They probably couldn’t have dreamed that two years ago.
“It’s just one week. I wish it was 15 weeks doing that, but it’s just one.”
BRISBANE coach CHRIS FAGAN - after beating AFL premier West Coast - knowing the new Lions are finding their teeth, but there is still much work to do at the Gabba.
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
To the critics of the AFLW conference system. Does the win by Conference B leader (Carlton) against Conference A runner-up (Fremantle) in the AFLW preliminary finals bring to an end the debate on the merit of the conference format?
TWEET OF THE WEEK
COLLINGWOOD captain SCOTT PENDLEBURY putting himself forward to join the Laws of the Game Committee at AFL House.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK
Is it time some questions were asked of the SA Sheffield Shield team’s performances this cricket season?
michelangelo.rucci@news.com.au