Vegas Confidential: NRL targeted Hollywood before settling on Las Vegas spectacular
The NRL has taken over Las Vegas — but it could have been Hollywood. Peter V’landys reveals how the league had originally set its sights on a Los Angeles spectacular.
NRL
Don't miss out on the headlines from NRL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The NRL could soon become America’s new UFC.
Sydney Roosters board member Mark Bouris, a high-profile businessman and boxing aficionado, claims America’s love of physical, brutal sports will ensure the country falls in love with rugby league.
Bouris said UFC’s immense popularity in the US and the way it has marched past boxing in approval, shows Americans will be startled at the sheer power and force of NRL.
“Boxing has been around forever and everyone thought the UFC wouldn’t work,” Bouris said. “When it comes to UFC, relative to rugby league, there is a sense of voyeurism.
“Everyone wants to see men and women hurt each other — I don’t want to sound brutal but people love that stuff. It’s one of the reasons the UFC has become so successful.
“If you don’t like that, fair enough, don’t watch it but a lot of Americans will like the brutality of rugby league, which is no-holds-barred. The attitude of ‘I don’t care what happens to me, I will run at you a thousand miles an hour’.
“I don’t want that to sound irresponsible because we don’t want anyone getting hurt but, at the same time, I think that is what the Americans are going to like.
“It’s like the way UFC has overtaken boxing in terms of popularity. I know people who will never watch boxing but they’ll watch UFC.
“We don’t want to do what these players do but we do wonder what it’s like to experience it and the best way is to watch real, fundamental, basic brutality.
“UFC does that. Rugby league is much more physical and brutal, in my opinion, than NFL. We don’t have protection, we don’t stop, the game keeps going. It’s all-in, do your best, survive.”
Bouris said rugby league’s brutal image in the US will further enhance Australia’s tough-guy global image.
“Americans love Australians and rugby league is a representation of everything people think about us as Australians – it epitomises Australia’s exported character,” Bouris said.
“It’s hard, tough, fast and free-flowing and Australians are flamboyant with great athletes. ‘We don’t need that helmet or shoulder pads’. We will play as we are, we don’t really care what happens to us.
“Some guy smashes you, you get up and you smile at them. That’s the Aussie attitude. Rugby league is a devil-may-care game to them.
“The same blokes doing attack and doing defence. We don’t have a special kicker, everyone does everything.
“Those characteristics epitomise what people think of us. That’s not the typical Australian but that’s what a lot of overseas people think about us. To them, we’re exotic.
“The NFL is very structured, you need time and patience whereas rugby league looks like the game is rule-less compared to the NFL. The NRL is ‘go-for-it’. They are the hallmarks of a successful brand and will be novel to Americans.
“I know a lot of Aussies are now watching the NFL. A lot of rugby league fans have adopted the NFL so I can’t see any reason why it can’t happen the other way.”
Bouris praised the NRL for showing the “courage” to take official games to the US.
And he had confidence the inaugural venture would open rugby league to America.
“The US venture is courageous – unless you exercise some courage nothing new ever happens. I like the courage of the initiative and that they have the steps to execute it. If it works, it is going to be fantastic,” he said.
“We take the game for granted because we have lived our lives around rugby league. But rugby league is appealing and I actually think Americans, more than likely, will like the game once they become aware of it and actually get exposed to it.
“You don’t market these (events) overnight – these things have a long tail. If we’ve got the firepower to continually stick with it, market it and take the content back to them and play in great grounds, like we are in Las Vegas, then the game and players have all the characteristics to make it work.
“And I think it can work. Like the financial statisticians will tell you, for this to work financially, you only need a very small percentage of a very large market. That is logic but logic doesn’t always prevail.
“But once Americans know about it, they will eat it up, they will love it.”
NRL’S BOLD HOLLYWOOD VISION REVEALED
ARL Commission boss Peter V’landys has revealed how close the NRL came to launching their American extravaganza in the movie capital of the world — Hollywood.
As the code prepares to celebrate a landmark moment in Las Vegas, V’landys says he had plans to unveil ‘NRL Hollywood’ by staging a double header in the heart of Los Angeles.
But after high-level talks with American broadcasters and political heavy-hitters, the ARLC chair was warned attempting to kick-off the 2024 NRL season in the shadows of Hollywood would be a big-money flop.
The market feedback from US authorities convinced V’landys to explore a shift in location, with NRL CEO Andrew Abdo playing a key role in rugby league’s switch from the movie capital to America’s gaming Mecca.
The Roosters-Broncos and Souths-Manly double header at Allegiant Stadium will represent a seminal moment for the sport, but V’landys admits the NRL almost bypassed Vegas for a slice of Hollywood.
“The truth is our heart was set on Los Angeles,” V’landys said ahead of the blockbuster double header on Sunday.
“The NRL has been looking to go to the US for quite some time.
“We were going to go to Los Angeles, that was the real plan.
“We also looked at San Diego or San Jose as alternative venues.
“It wasn’t just the last few years we thought about this concept, but we had to make sure that when we went to America, we had to get it right.
“If we had gone to LA or Hollywood, if I’m honest, I think we would have had no chance (of success).”
The Broncos spent a week in Los Angeles training at the LA Rams’ facility prior to their arrival in Vegas on Friday and a major attraction of LA for the NRL was the world-class facilities at SoFi Stadium.
The $5 billion monolith is one of the greatest sporting stadiums in the world and would have been the perfect playground for the NRL’s glitz-and-glamour American experiment.
But V’landys said high-powered negotiations with American media executives steered the NRL towards Sin City.
“The executive said if you don’t pick the right city, you will fail,” V’landys recalled.
“We consulted a number of people and the basic message was, ‘You are wasting your time in a place like Los Angeles because you can get lost in those big cities’.
“One Fox Sports executive said, ‘It won’t work in LA, you need to find somewhere else. Do not do this in Los Angeles’.
“We went through a list of possible locations and as soon as Andrew Abdo said to me one area suggested was Las Vegas, it went off in my mind.
“It was like bang, bang, bang, it had to be Vegas.
“I don’t know why it didn’t come to my head earlier, but when Vegas was mentioned, it was the perfect match.”
V’landys roll of the dice appears to be paying dividends. Almost 40,000 tickets have been sold to the 65,000-capacity Allegiant Stadium and more than 14,000 Australian residents are flying to Vegas for the first instalment of a five-year strategic plan to establish a foothold in America.
In another coup, the NRL double header will be shown live via Fox Sports 1 — the first time ever a rugby league premiership match has been screened prime time to American audiences.
“The Fox executives are right behind the live TV coverage,” V’landys said.
“They have been a fantastic partner and without them we are wasting our time here. Fox is critical to the success of this.
“We would be wasting our time if we weren’t on Fox 1. You can’t just play to people in Las Vegas, you want to play to all of America.
“Vegas is the Mecca. We’re also lucky the Super Bowl was played at this venue just a few weeks earlier.
“We have to stay in prime time on American television, we can’t just be there for one week, we want to be there for the whole season if we can.
“We will speak to Fox after this event and see what was successful and what wasn’t, but I am confident we will have live coverage for many years to come.
“I believe we have the greatest game of all and once Americans understand the rules, they will start to embrace it and enjoy it.”
POLICE ‘MANHUNT’ FOR JOHNATHON THURSTON
Johnathan Thurston has allayed fears over his welfare after Channel 9 reported the Queensland Origin champion had gone missing in Las Vegas.
Thurston told this masthead he is alive and well in the aftermath of a shock Channel 9 news bulletin claiming the Cowboys legend was missing in Sin City and had sparked a manhunt by Las Vegas police for his whereabouts.
Thurston is an expert NRL commentator for Channel 9 and the network’s Today Show program put up a banner on their Friday morning bulletin which read: “JOHNATHAN THURSTON MISSING”.
The news item added: “Las Vegas Police on the case of missing NRL star.”
But Thurston laughed off the report when contacted by News Corp, saying: “It’s a prank … I was late for my live cross.”
Thurston is one of more than 14,000 Australians who have travelled to Vegas for the NRL’s historic premiership season launch at Allegiant Stadium on Sunday.
Almost 40,000 tickets have been sold to the double header featuring the Broncos, Roosters, Souths and Manly.
The Cowboys premiership winner, who engineered North Queensland’s first ever title in 2015, will be part of Channel 9’s coverage on Sunday.
HOTEL BOOKING FLOORS ROOSTERS AND BRONCOS
Talk about awkward moments in the build-up to Sunday’s blockbuster double header … The NRL has placed the Brisbane Broncos and Sydney Roosters at the same hotel and on the same floor in Las Vegas.
The players’ hotel rooms are separated by only 20m of carpet along the corridor.
One Broncos official said “We were a little bit surprised to be up this close and personal. It has become a battle of the mind games.”
It is particularly uneasy for Broncos front-rower Fletcher Baker who, only six months ago, left the Roosters to join Kevin Walters’ team.
No doubt he will be spending plenty of time in the lift with his old teammates.
The two teams will go head to head in the second game of Sunday’s double header at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
Phil Rothfield and Peter Badel travelled to Las Vegas courtesy of the NRL
More Coverage
Originally published as Vegas Confidential: NRL targeted Hollywood before settling on Las Vegas spectacular
2025 crystal ball predictions: Bunnies, Broncos to bounce back
As the season ends for half the competition, the countdown begins for the also-rans with finals hopes in 2025. DAVID RICCIO looks into the crystal ball and predicts who will bounce back and who will flounder next season.
Read more
Market Watch: Raiders enforcer makes decision on future
Corey Horsburgh has made a call on his playing future amid interest from a number of clubs, with the former Maroons rep informing the Raiders of his decision for next season. MARKET WATCH.
Read more