Travel agencies stop sales of packages for Shanghai AFL game as doubts swirl over whether the China match will go ahead
Official travel agents of the Port Adelaide versus St Kilda China match have stopped selling packages to Shanghai, casting huge doubts over the clash. It comes as the Power today unveiled a new major sponsor.
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Sales of packages to China for the Port Adelaide versus St Kilda game have been stopped by some of the official travel agents of the match because of the coronavirus.
It comes as the Power announced MG Motor – owned by the Shanghai-based, Chinese state-owned SAIC Motor – as the club’s new joint major sponsor for the next five years, starting in its 150th year this season.
The MG Motor name and logo will appear on the front of Port Adelaide’s home guernsey and on the back of its away strip.
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The AFL and Port Adelaide continue to discuss whether the May 31 China game will go ahead multiple travel agents connected to the game are no longer selling packages.
Some were still offering packages but others said they had frozen any new purchases for the game because of the worsening coronavirus situation.
One agency contacted by The Advertiser said this was because there was the chance the game could be shifted from China.
Port Adelaide chief executive Keith Thomas said he hoped a decision would be reached by around the middle of the next month.
“There are probably a couple of factors, the first is the football factor – and if it is wholly based on that we have more time,” he said after the MG sponsorship was announced.
“If we were just considering footy we could probably make a decision in May, but it’s not, it’s about giving people confidence that they can travel to China and that we can hold an event in China that is safe.
“We will have to make that decision sooner.
“My view is that March is the very latest that we can go, and I would have thought that (a decision would be made in) mid-March.”
The AFL’s own agency AFL Travel is not offering any flights and hotels for the Shanghai game online.
This is because for the match in China, flights and visas have to be booked separately.
Tickets are still available to be bought for the match.
The AFL’s official airline Virgin will also withdraw its services between Australia and Hong Kong from March 2.
But flights can still be organised via carriers such as Singapore Airlines to China around the time the match is scheduled to be played.
Thomas said fans who had already secured places for the game would have “opportunities for insurance” if they booked before the virus was announced.
“The problems start to occur if you are starting to book into the game after the virus was announced – then there is a question mark around that – but our understanding is that most of the people booked before, so we think we should be able to manage that,” he said.
“I think there has been a couple of thousand (tickets) sold, roughly a lot of them were done prior to the virus and in the corporate space.”
Thomas said the club itself would cop a financial hit if the game doesn’t go ahead, one that would increase the closer it got to May 31.
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But he said Port and the AFL – which have four contingency plans should it not go ahead – would be covered by insurance.
“There are insurances that apply, at the moment we are dealing with costs that are associated with the turf and the event management team and the work already done – they aren’t really significant,” he said.
“It is when you really start to build the infrastructure and begin to really engage in China that the costs ramp up and that’s in the last four to six weeks, so we have some time.”
Both the Power and St Kilda want the status of the match sorted out before the state of the home-and-away season.
An AFL spokesperson today said the league’s number one priority is “the health and safety of all our people”.
“We will continue to take advice from the Australian Government and World Health Organisation regarding ay health and safety precautions related to travel to China in May,” the spokesperson said.
“Our planning for the Shanghai match on May 31 continues, with the situation being closely monitored.”
The World Health Organisation has urged international medical authorities to prepare for the coronavirus outbreak to become a “pandemic potential”.
Originally published as Travel agencies stop sales of packages for Shanghai AFL game as doubts swirl over whether the China match will go ahead