Coming to America: NRL in secret talks for $23m US Super League

The NRL has held secret talks to capitalise on the historic Las Vegas premiership kick-off, which would give rugby league a permanent foothold in one of the world’s biggest sporting markets.

Secret talks are under way for a $23m, 10-team US super league competition that could give the NRL a permanent foothold in one of the world’s biggest sporting markets.

This masthead can reveal a consortium has met ARL Commission boss Peter V’landys to table a proposal for ‘NRL America’ – an elite US rugby league competition to capitalise on the code’s historic premiership kick-off this week in Las Vegas.

V’landys has held talks with Rugby League America (RLA) boss Steve Scanlan. The Brisbane-based businessman, a former sponsor of Australian boxing world champions Tim Tszyu and Jeff Horn, will formally present to the ARL Commission in Vegas next Sunday.

The league, to be operational by 2025, would be owned and governed by private investors. While the ARL Commission would not be expected to run the competition, the consortium is prepared to offer an ownership stake, and official branding rights, to give the NRL a bona fide, long-term presence in North America.

Peter V’landys has been approached about NRL America.

Three franchises – New York, Dallas and Las Vegas – have already been sold for a start-up franchise fee of $US1.5m ($2.3m).

Scanlan, who helped sponsor Tszyu and the now-retired Horn to boxing stardom, confirmed meeting V’landys with a view to the NRL joining forces in rugby league’s most serious incursion into an American market of 331 million people. “This will easily be the most professional proposal that has been seen in the history of American rugby league,” said Scanlan, a two-time young Queensland entrepreneur of the year.

“I’ve held preliminary talks with Peter V’landys on behalf of our consortium.

“The discussions were positive and it’s a great launch pad into the North American rugby league market.

“The timing is uncanny. The NRL is going to Vegas and if they could generate $200m over the next four to five years, this will be a springboard to a fully fledged American Rugby League competition, allowing us to leverage the momentum on what will take place in Las Vegas.

“Our proposal has substance. We know we have a lot of hard work ahead. The first five years are crucial.

“We could certainly do this without the NRL, but if the NRL was to come on-board, the synergies and partnership opportunities would be enormous for the game in America and lend an amount of legitimacy to what we are doing, giving everyone that much more confidence.

“We are absolutely open to the competition being called NRL America if the NRL wanted to be a part of it.”

David Beckham made headlines around the world when he signed with the Los Angeles Galaxy. Picture: AP PicAlastair/Grant

Now Beckham has a statue in his honour at the Legends Plaza in Carson, California. Picture: Mark Ralston/AFP

The hope is that the NRL’s Vegas venture can help rugby league take off in the US – as occurred with soccer in the afterglow of the World Cup in 1994.

At the time, FIFA had a deliberate strategy to grow the sport in the US and the ’94 World Cup, won by Brazil, was such a success it sparked the creation of Major League Soccer.

Former Manchester United icon David Beckham famously joined the MLS in 2007, signing a five-year, $250m deal with LA Galaxy that turned the competition into a global brand.

Beckham is now a part-owner of MLS side Inter Miami, which lured Argentine superstar Lionel Messi last July for $150m.

Following the Messi coup, the Herons’ estimated value has gone from $583m to $1.02bn. While rugby league will never reach such heights in the US, a successful, robust US competition, with NRL backing, could help the sport with the gaming and broadcast benefits it hopes to derive from its five-year Vegas deal.

V’landys said the NRL’s Vegas experiment could be the financial tip of the iceberg in the US. He said talks with the American consortium are only preliminary but is open to NRL support to take rugby league to an unprecedented stratosphere in the States.

“There have been some rugby league competitions, so a major competition would certainly help grow the game in America,” said V’landys, who arrives in Vegas on Tuesday.

“I wouldn’t rule it out (NRL backing of an American league) absolutely, but we need competent people who want to drive it.

Inter Miami's Argentine forward Lionel is a massive attraction in the American MLS football competition. Picture: Chandan Khanna/AFP

“We can’t do everything. We would need people on the ground with the drive and passion to run an American NRL competition.

“That’s not our aim with Vegas, our aim is to grow our eyeballs on the NRL competition with Americans. That’s first and foremost our primary consideration.

“People don’t realise the power of us connecting with America.

“I’m not talking benefits in the tens of millions, I’m talking hundreds of millions but only if the strategy is properly implemented and I am making sure we dot every I and cross every T.

“Our success here won’t happen overnight.

“It won’t happen in one year. But if our figures are correct and our commitment is long term, there could be more revenue coming to us from America than Australia, simply because of the scale of the population.

“Even if you get one per cent of the population in America, it’s worth hundreds of millions to us.”

Under the Rugby League America proposal, five franchises would be based in the east and five in the west for a 10-team league.

Each would sign 26 full-time players for a season that runs from April to September.

The NRL is ready to take over Las Vegas’s Allegiant Stadium. Picture: Grant Trouville

The RLA consortium has been working on the NRL America plan for five years. Last month, deals were struck with a major hotel partner and US airline to cover accommodation and travel.

The consortium is in talks with US TV broadcasters. Scanlan, who played two seasons for American side New Haven Warriors in 2006-07, hopes NRL clubs would be keen to form affiliate ties.

“Ideally, we’d love to have NRL clubs buying the licences and having them operate the NARL teams as affiliate clubs,” he said.

“We already had this competition proposal under way and when the NRL said they were going to Vegas, it was the perfect alignment.

“There is still a lot of hard work to be done.

“We don’t necessarily expect the NRL to invest financially but if we could have co-branding and form a partnership with the NRL, this can be an untapped goldmine.’’

Originally published as Coming to America: NRL in secret talks for $23m US Super League