The NRL wants to open next year’s competition with a double-header in Las Vegas with one of the big motivating factors being the chance to tap into the multibillion-dollar sports betting market in the US.
Manly, South Sydney and Melbourne were three clubs that quickly confirmed their interest on Monday with the historic season opener slated for Allegiant Stadium, the home of next year’s Super Bowl.
ARL Commission chief Peter V’landys was already due to fly to the United States on other business, and will now be joined NRL counterpart Andrew Abdo early next month in a bid to get the deal across the line. A call on Vegas will be made in the next four weeks.
Sources with knowledge of the situation told the Herald that the NRL is eager to cash in on the booming sports betting market in America. In New York state alone, $16 billion was turned over last year on all sports.
The NRL would offer interested agencies the chance to show live content on their websites and bet in exchange for a product fee.
That product fee is generally a percentage of turnover or gross profit. The NRL now generates around $50m annually from wagering operators in Australia.
Peter V’landys is off to America to try and rubber-stamp a US double-header to start the 2024 season
Storm chairman and part-owner Matt Tripp, who also runs betting newcomers betr, and has previously headed up Sportsbet, CrownBet and BetEasy, supported taking live games to the other side of the world.
“It would make perfect sense to showcase the best game in the world where they are really engaging in online sports betting,” Tripp said.
“I don’t know what the NRL motives are, but if it’s to go to the US to play some games to help create awareness, I think wagering dollars should flow off the back of it. It would take a while to build up, but the NRL could end up making a figure that would be in the tens of millions of dollars.”
Tripp said the Storm would be open to featuring in the historic double-header.
Tripp said one of the appeals of the Melbourne club was it had a geographical place name identifiable to Americans. The Storm also argue they are owed some scheduling favours. They played Parramatta away in round one when the AFL was yet to start instead of getting the chance at clear air space in Melbourne. Ditto the AFL’s Gather Round in Adelaide when the Storm played Manly at Brookvale.
The Storm also play a home match against the Rabbitohs during next month’s Magic Round, continuing the NRL policy of consecutively staging their home matches in Brisbane.
The choice of the four clubs to play in the US gambling capital is sure to raise issues over scheduling. The Broncos already get a significant advantage by playing three-quarters of all their matches in Queensland.
Tripp said the NRL is serious about its latest US venture, after previous attempts failed to gain traction in the world’s biggest economy.
Clubs know if the games will happen, they need to be in place within the next month, which is the deadline the NRL has given itself.
Russell Crowe and Hugh Jackman and their Rabbitohs and Sea Eagles have previously been linked to the US.Credit: Getty, Supplied
Manly’s New York-based owner Scott Penn has been vocal about hosting a game in the US for a few years, and hoped his northern beaches club are “at the front of the queue” when it came to deciding which four teams feature.
“We’d be very keen, we’ve always said we’d be keen to take a home game to the US, it’s such a phenomenal market, and we definitely want to be at the front of the queue for this opportunity,” Penn told the Herald.
“It’s the biggest sporting consumer market in the world. It’s a market we’re you’re talking about 350 million people, and their No.1 sport being NFL, which is a gladiatorial sport like rugby league. There’s a passion for sports where there is that whole nature of putting your body on the line and physicality … it’s really respected over here, and [for that reason] rugby league would do really well.”
South Sydney played a game in Jacksonville, Florida, in 2008, and with Russell Crowe’s profile – not to mention a few selfies of Snoop Dogg wearing the club’s red and green over the years – would be a popular choice.
Rabbitohs chief executive Blake Solly said: “If the game is serious about a long-term strategy to raise the profile of rugby league in the US market, we’re keen to be involved.
“There’s a huge market there, Americans have an appetite for contact sport, including NFL and ice hockey, and they’d love rugby league.”
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