The UFC has backed the NRL to crack the United States, describing rugby league as a “great product” capable of cutting through an already saturated sporting market.
The NRL has already partnered with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) as part of its bold five-year foray into Las Vegas in a bid to expand the Australian sport’s global appeal. The relationship has allowed the travelling teams to utilise the state-of-the-art UFC Performance Institute, while the UFC has also helped promote the quadruple-header at Allegiant Stadium on Sunday morning, AEDT.
The Canberra Raiders even invited UFC boss Dana White to blow the Viking horn ahead of their game, but the Las Vegas resident will be out of town this weekend.
White’s right-hand man, UFC senior executive vice president and chief operating officer Lawrence Epstein, was one of the keynote speakers at the NRL Business of Sport Conference on Friday (local time) in Vegas. He said it made sense to work with the NRL given the crossover of fans between the sports, adding rugby league was well positioned to make an impact in the US.
“I think you’ve got a great sport, you’ve got a great product, that’s the key,” Epstein told the 250 attendees at the University of Nevada.
“If you have a bad product, it’s going to be tough to penetrate, coming from any market to the United States.
UFC chief operating officer Lawrence Epstein, NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo and UFC executive vice-president of international operations David Shaw in Vegas.Credit: Getty Images
“You guys have a great product and I think you’ve got a great opportunity with the massive disruption that’s going on in the [media] markets, the way things move.
“The platform that Las Vegas is giving you, the fact you’re bringing relevant, real games to this market, not exhibition games, and a whole lot of other stuff.
“So the answer is, listen, it’s tough, there’s a lot of competition out there, but I like your chances. And you’ve already got a tremendous amount of success.”
In its early days as a fledgling sport, the UFC strategically chose Vegas as the perfect market to raise its profile. Epstein said it was a prudent move for the NRL to do likewise.
“You’ve got a great sport, you’ve got a great product, that’s the key.′
UFC COO Lawrence Epstein
“As big as we’ve become at UFC, as fast as we’ve done it, we’ve not been able to do without a platform in Las Vegas for our business,” Epstein said.
“So I think No.1, Andy [NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo], you guys are doing the right thing by coming here, using this platform because it is truly second to none if you want to penetrate not just the US level, but the global level.
“It’s just that the events here are bigger, they’re more special, they get more notoriety.
“The good news is that in this world that we live in right now, you can be an upstart and you can quickly grow because of the dynamic nature of the way it works today.
“We got into social media early, in part because we couldn’t get a lot of coverage from traditional media. It was one of those necessities, we just had to.
“We had to jump in there and do it, and it became a core competency of our company. But it’s also shown us how quickly you can use those platforms for your plans.”
At the NRL’s fan fest at Fremont Street on Thursday, UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili was presented to a crowd of about 10,000 league supporters.
“Excited, rugby is a good sport, tough sport,” Dvalishvili said on stage. “They’re really tough, tough guys. That’s right, beautiful sport to watch.”
The Herald’s travel expenses to Las Vegas have been partly funded by the NRL.
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