Rugby league’s last bold foray into the United States was a calamity.
The occasion was the Denver Test, a clash between the New Zealand and England national teams, at Mile High Stadium in 2018. Your correspondent was on duty at the event, which was intended to finally thrust the “Greatest Game of All” into the consciousness of the cashed-up American sports fan.
The promoter, who had successfully brought two Major League Baseball franchises to Sydney a decade ago, had slated the Denver Test as the precursor to North America staging the 2025 Rugby League World Cup. After the first event failed, the second was abandoned. It remains a cautionary tale, a reminder that a foreign form of football won’t move the needle in a saturated sporting market unless the execution is perfect.
In hindsight, the Denver Test was doomed from the start. The NRL and the players’ association opposed the match and refused to promote it. Little wonder that a crowd of less than 20,000, about a quarter of the stadium’s capacity, clicked through the turnstiles.
At the same time, Major League Baseball fans were streaming into the neighbouring Coors Field to cheer the local team, the Colorado Rockies.
Just after half-time, the official attendance for the Denver Test was announced over the loudspeaker. It was the moment the promoter knew he had done his dough; the figure was half he needed to finish in the black. With the financier unable to pay the bills, the players were left unpaid for months.
The mood of the clubs, already upset that their stars were placed at risk of injury, didn’t improve when a freak storm delayed their return. A plane scheduled to bring several Sydney-based players home was hit by lightning and the hold-up ruled them out of yet another premiership fixture.
Even six years later, at a recent meeting with the NRL’s top brass, the mere mention of Denver was enough to chill the temperature of the room.
So what lessons have been learnt from the Denver debacle?
Some of the posters promoting the Denver Test in 2018.Credit: Adrian Proszenko
The first has already been heeded. Wayne Bennett has been the common denominator in every league foray into the US. He was the Maroons mentor during the 1987 State of Origin exhibition match in Long Beach California, coached a Kangaroos side that trailed at half-time against the Tomahawks (as the American national team was known at the time) on astro-turf in Philadelphia in 2004 and oversaw England’s victory in Colorado.
His great lament has been that each sojourn has been a one-off event, lacking the follow-up required to properly penetrate the market.
Moments after full-time sounded in Denver, Bennett fronted up to deliver what Steve Mascord, perhaps the most travelled league scribe of them all, described as the best press conference he has delivered.
“We need people to stand up for the international game,” Bennett said, imploring the NRL not to abandon the US as a destination for quality content.
England and New Zealand take the field in Denver in 2018.Credit: Getty
The NRL has taken the tip. It has committed to Las Vegas for five years, a concerted effort to properly test the appetite of a new audience.
“It’s a long-term plan, there’s a business case behind us,” said NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo.
“You’ll only be able to measure the metrics truly at the end of the cycle.”
Much thought has also gone into the location. The time difference was a factor that made the West Coast an attractive proposition, allowing matches to be played at prime time in America while still broadcasting to Australia and New Zealand on a family-friendly Sunday afternoon.
“I saw a Fox executive and he basically said, because we were originally going to go to Los Angeles or San Jose, that we were wasting our time,” ARLC chairman Peter V’landys said.
“They said we would never penetrate Los Angeles, that it was too big a city. I took that advice and looked at where else we could get that traction.
“When Andrew Abdo commissioned alternatives, the moment he said ‘Vegas’, the lights went up in my head.”
It is a big task, one the NRL has opted to bring in-house. Previous projects, such as the Denver Test and the launch of the Nines tournament in Auckland, were entrusted to freelance promoters. With V’landys and Abdo at the helm, the middle man has been cut out.
The stage is now set and the players must now do their part. They must resist the temptations of Sin City, knowing that an off-field scandal will have disastrous consequences. The headlines must be about what happens on the field.
There is no shortage of spectacular shows in Vegas this weekend. Kylie Minogue, Madonna, U2, Christina Aguilera, Cirque du Soleil and David Copperfield are among the options for tourists. Whatever the players dish up, on a ground five metres skinnier than the norm, needs to be more memorable.
Only then will American fans, either watching at Allegiant Stadium or live on Fox Sports 1, decide if rugby league is for them before the carnival rolls on.
Adrian Proszenko’s trip to Las Vegas was funded by the NRL.
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