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Developing a new sport in a new country is a long process, says legendary rugby player

Source: Shanghai Daily | September 6, 2016, Tuesday | Online Edition

AMERICAN football and rugby share a lot of similarities. As China gears up for the inaugural China Arena Football League (CAFL) in October, it is not surprising that a former rugby player is putting his heart and soul to ensure the success of the new league on the mainland.

American Football is played between two teams of 11 players each, while rugby has 15 players each. Both are high-energy, intense and physical game and involve a complex strategy of advancing the ball to score points.    

And David Niu, a former National Rugby League player, is hoping that kind of high intensity action will win over the mainlanders to a relatively new sport.  

Niu, who is the president of Arena Football League Global, the organizers of CAFL, shares his thoughts on the new league. He is not expecting instant success but says with education, exposure and available resources, he would be able to create a model similar to what is seen in the United States. 

Q: On the importance of CAFL’s first season’s success

Niu: To establish a successful first season is like creating a model. We run in a style that we go from city to city and make all six teams play in each stop. That gives us a chance to create brand equity and develop commercial operations around it. Then we will sell off the assets: investment into the league property or ownership of teams. The model can be transplanted into other cities. Our goal is to eventually sell off those teams and expand the league by involving more teams with private ownership.

Q: On potential investors

Niu: That’s why we selected these six cities — Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Dalian and Qingdao to host the CAFL. Over the past few years, these cities showed most interest in team ownership. They have investors who already bought Chinese basketball teams and soccer teams, and they are the same investors we are looking for. We also have American professional sports operators who are interested in investing in China.

Q: On CAFL’s revenue model

Niu: It will be pretty similar with other sports leagues. We will generate broadcast media revenue. Sponsors are already in place including Spalding, Xenith, Legend Sportswear, etc. It won’t be different from how the NFL or all the major sports in the US have been run. We just have to start from the scale we have at the moment and expend it over time.

Q: On the obstacles of growing in a foreign land

Niu: It’s a new sport in a new country with a different culture and language barrier. It’s easy to say, “Let’s go to China where they have an audience base of 1.4 billion people.” But it will be a long process and we concluded it with three “E”s – Education, Engagement and Enterprise. The first step is education. We have to show them what the game is, what the rules are to make them understand the sports. The next step is to get people play the game. There will be an investment of time and resources including providing facilities and personals, getting kids involved and coaching up coaches. We will probably be in the enterprise phase after some four years and start selling assets and attract investments.

There will be 15 games in five cities in October, and the finals of the series — the CAFL China Bowl — will be held at Shanghai’s Oriental Sports Center on November 5 and 6.

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