A party of more than 70 Melbourne Storm players, staff and sponsors staff could fly direct to Napier for an NRL rugby league match against Sydney's St George Illawarra Dragons at Hawke's Bay sporting headquarters, McLean Park, this year.
Storm marketing manager Mike Billing confirmed the hopes for direct flights at the park yesterday, during a two-day visit to Napier to plan the Saturday night, July 25, match.
He hopes the travel plans will be confirmed in the near future, covering a party of 18-19 players and eight-10 team staff and up to 20 others from the club, including CEO Mark Evans.
In the meantime, the focus is on selling out the match, the Storm's "home" game, having originally been scheduled for AAMI Stadium in Melbourne.
Mr Billing said: "We've been told the first 6000 tickets were the quickest sold for any event at McLean Park.