NRL boss Peter V’landys spills truth behind Las Vegas trip

Peter V’landys has spoken about the potentially gargantuan sum of money the Las Vegas venture will inject into the NRL’s future.

Peter V'landys speaks about the growth of the game from Vegas.

NRL boss Peter V’landys knows the rewards from the Las Vegas experiment aren’t going to come quickly, but he says it’ll change the game in unthinkable ways.

Taking the game to the entertainment capital of the world was a bold decision, but it’s one that V’landys says will inject a gargantuan amount of money into the game.

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Speaking ahead of the opening game of the double-header, V’landys said the first year is laying the foundation for bigger things to come.

“If we can make it here, it’ll be worth tens, if not thousands, of millions of dollars for the game. It’s not going to happen in the first 12 months or the first two years — we’ve set ourselves a goal over five. This is the start, this is the foundation, we now have to build the house,” he said on Fox League.

V’landys has revealed just how the NRL in the US can be a success.

The season opening games were due to be broadcast on Fox Sports 1, but the opening game was pushed to the second channel after a college basketball game went into overtime.

V’landys said if all goes well, they’ll be hoping to broadcast one game a week on the network and into the homes of Americans.

Peter V'landys speaks about the growth of the game from Vegas.

“We’ve started with these two games, if they’re successful to an audience of over 100 million people, hopefully then Fox will say let’s put one on each week.

“And then we’ve got to sell our subscription to our Watch NRL, which is one of the greatest products you’ve ever seen. If you want to watch every game, all the panel show, everything’s on Watch NRL. And that’s where the money’s going to come.

“Also the opportunity is there for sports betting. The Super Bowl alone held over $23 billion so there’s a market here for sports betting as well. And this is all about raising revenue for the game so we can put it all back into juniors, participation and the clubs.

“If we succeed here, the whole game, the whole ecosystem succeeds.”

V’landys says the money from Vegas will transform the game. Picture: Supplied by North Qld Cowboys

Of course with any new venture, the detractors pile up and it was the same in the direction of the NRL with the Vegas opener.

But V’landys wasn’t giving them a second of attention as he and his team just got on with their business.

“I never listen to the knockers. If you listen to the knockers, you’d get nowhere in life. They said we’d never start of the 28th of May (during Covid) – we did.

“They said we’d never get a crowd here – we did.

“Hard work always pays off and the NRL team has worked very hard. I’m really pleased to see they’ve got the result.”