NRL looking to cash in after ‘brave’ Las Vegas gamble

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NRL looking to cash in after ‘brave’ Las Vegas gamble

The NRL tried its luck in Las Vegas last year, and has come back with more chips on the table this time around.

In a matter of hours, the second iteration of rugby league’s Stateside sojourn will be under way at Allegiant Stadium, the state-of-the-art NFL ground that lies east of the Vegas Strip.

Organisers are hopeful of welcoming as many as 50,000 fans into the roofed stadium for a day of rugby league unlike any other.

Even last year’s maverick first visit to the US was only half the size, with an English Super League match and women’s Test match now joining two NRL fixtures on the playbill.

The first of four kick-offs is slated for 1.30pm local time (8.30am AEDT) as Wigan meet Warrington, before Canberra and the Warriors play the first of this NRL season’s 213 matches (11am AEDT).

The *********** and English women’s teams then clash for the first time since 2017.

Cronulla will try to knock off four-time reigning premiers Penrith as the big finish to this unique Vegas show.

It’s not just organisers who have expanded their horizons for the second Vegas visit.

Fans have come from further afield too. If you’d kept an ear out on the Vegas Strip over the past week, you’d have heard the roaring accents of Northern England mingling with Kiwi lilts.

The supporter event in downtown Vegas was ******* and better, with some estimating as many as 10,000 punters crammed on to Fremont Street to catch a glimpse of their idols on Thursday night.

The league also established a fan zone inside the luxurious Resorts World, which played host to hundreds of punters each day from Wednesday.

Absent from the program last year, the site was more popular than the league anticipated as fans spilt into the vestibules of the hotel precinct waiting for autographs.

The size of the event has grown to match the NRL’s ambition.

Chief executive Andrew Abdo said last week the NRL believed that rugby league would slowly but surely find its way into the hearts of the American people.

“We want Americans to not only think about NFL and NBA and NHL, but add NRL to that repertoire of sports that they follow and love,” he said.

Unlike most gambles in Vegas, the NRL will to need to wait to collect its winnings, particularly when it comes to sustained engagement with the sport by Americans.

One visit to Allegiant Stadium does not a rugby league die-hard make.

“Once they start seeing it on TV, they think, ‘I’ve got to be there next year’,” said Warriors coach Andrew Webster.

“That’s when we can grow the American audience.”

The NRL’s dream for America is so big it extends beyond Vegas, and beyond one Saturday in March.

“It’s about how many fans we can get interested in the sport throughout the season, watching on television, streaming, playing NRL Fantasy, being engaged with the sport,” Abdo said.

Will it all pay off? Pundits and fans are split.

But there’s one thing anyone will tell you of the NRL’s American dream, this most extravagant of Vegas bets.

“It’s a very brave move,” said Penrith coach Ivan Cleary.

“Obviously I don’t know the numbers and all that, but the feeling is incredible. It’s good to see so many people.

“I’m quite honoured to be able to showcase our amazing sport over here.”

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