Melbourne Football Club will be right at home in the Territory this week ahead of the much anticipated AFL clash with Fremantle at TIO stadium on Saturday.

Community interaction and partnerships are being arranged through AFL Northern Territory as well as NORFORCE, which will run Territory-flavoured team building exercises.

The club’s Darwin Commercial Partner Conference will include three days of conferencing and activities from 7 to 9 July. It will be hosted jointly with Tourism NT, which is in its third year of a three-year sponsorship contract with the club.

Tourism NT CEO Tony Mayell said: “It’s easy to overlook the community engagement aspects of our sponsorship, given the promotional aspects of it.

“But the access it gives to the club’s corporate database is strategically important, as it provides us with the opportunity to personally engage influential decision-makers with all the Territory has to offer.

“The conference provides a platform to showcase Darwin as a visionary capital and a business events destination to a corporate audience. It will also enable MFC the opportunity to meet collectively with its sponsors, strengthen partnership plans and pursue opportunities.

“The exposure to NORFORCE in particular will help develop deeper ties between the Northern Territory and these corporate partners who will get a taste of our rich Indigenous and military history and hopefully choose Darwin for their next corporate event or conference.”

Lieutenant Colonel John Papalitsas, Commanding Officer of NORFORCE noted that the Melbourne Football Club and NORFORCE have a shared vision when it comes to community engagement,

“Each organisation is sincerely committed to doing something meaningful and positive for the communities with which we work. We recognised this common ground and are working together to increase the effect of our efforts.

“NORFORCE is proud to be partnering with the Melbourne Football Club, and we are very pleased to have this opportunity to work with the MFC’s sponsors to deliver a unique team-building activity.”

Last year’s inaugural Commercial Partners Conference in Alice Springs was attended by 25 key corporate leaders. Flow-on benefits to the Territory included greater investment by sponsors, one of whom later conducted its own corporate client visit to Darwin, and financial benefits stemming from delegates’ spend.

Media Contact: Lisa Andrews, Corporate Media and Communications Manager +61 401 115 634