Port Adelaide secures third major sponsor as club fights back from COVID crisis
David Koch reveals how Port Adelaide landed a third major sponsor, the latest on Ken Hinkley’s future, China and more.
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Port Adelaide’s financial fightback from the COVID crisis has been given an unprecedented boost with KFC signing on as a new joint major sponsor in a long-term multimillion-dollar deal.
For the first time in the club’s history the Power will have three joint major sponsors with KFC joining GFG and MG.
Their logo will be displayed on the front of the Power players’ shorts and on the back of the guernsey above the number, which the AFL has allowed clubs to commercialise as part of their Covid-19 recovery.
The “1870” that represents the year the club was formed will move directly above to the collar and the commemorative 150th logo will be retained on the front after record retail sales and positive feedback from supporters.
President David Koch said the deal with KFC had been negotiated all year after a member of its eastern seaboard business advisory group introduced the two parties.
“We’ve had a big focus on reconnecting with what I call Port Adelaide business expats, Port Adelaide supporters who have moved interstate for some reason,” Koch said.
“We have a really active eastern business advisory group in Sydney and Melbourne and one of our members of that group owns some KFC franchises and did the introduction to head office, we pitched ourselves and have had ongoing discussions since then.
“It’s hugely significant on a number of levels, it’s a really prestigious brand and for KFC to associate themselves with us is an enormous reflection of the respect that the organisation has developed and what we stand for as a club.
“Like every club we’ve taken a financial battering over this year and it’s going to take a number of years to rebuild that balance sheet and this is going to give us a great start with that.”
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Koch said Port Adelaide expects to post a “substantial loss” when it presents its 2020 financial results in January, after revenue dropped by 80 per cent due to the impacts of COVID this year.
New chief executive Matthew Richardson said the partnership with KFC would help with its recovery.
“It’s a massive vote of confidence in our footy club and the direction we’re going and there’s great alignment between our brands, and for them to use Port Adelaide as a launch pad into the AFL market is really exciting,” Richardson said.
“Given the year that everyone has had, to now have three major partners and all committed long-term is something our people should be really proud of.
“There is great energy around our club at the moment and the reality for all of us is COVID has been a massive hit for the whole community, as good as we feel like we did it was still an $18m hit to our revenue streams and you don’t jump out of that quickly.
“So to have someone like KFC to back us in long-term is an enormous vote of confidence in the club.”
Richardson said membership for 2021 was tracking “really well” with the club riding the momentum of its preliminary final appearance into the Christmas break.
“There’s a real sense of excitement and hopefully with the fixture announcement next week it will give people more confidence in what’s coming,” he said.
“There’s no doubt our footy club is really connected inside at the moment through Ken (Hinkley) and Chris (Davies) and Tom (Jonas) and the leaders who have driven that.”
Koch said he has had informal talks with senior coach Ken Hinkley, who is out of contract next year but widely tipped to sign a long-term extension.
“I saw Kenny (last week) and he’s only just back from holidays, we’ve had some chats, we’re in a good space,” Koch said.
“We’re a club that on field and off field people want to be a part of and I think that’s fabulous, we’re chatting and it’s in a really good space at the moment.”
He also said the current trade tensions between China and Australia would not diminish the club’s determination to forge ahead with its China strategy even though there would not be a game in Shanghai for the second year in a row in 2021.
“The original strategy was to link Chinese businesses with interests in Australia to build a better connection with community,” he said.
“It developed into a game and of course that’s on pause and will be for next year as well.
“We really rely on the advice of government and health officials on this and the latest advice even from the Prime Minister is he can’t see international borders opening with Australia for a number of months or the middle of next year and we’ve got to start planning for Shanghai.
“We certainly won’t be playing in 2021 but hopefully 2022 we’ll be back on deck, those things are out of our control but we are just as committed to that strategy as we’ve always been.”
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