As the New Zealand national team prepared to return home from rugby league’s previous foray into the US, lightning struck the plane just before the players were due to board.
“The concept was ahead of its time,” says its promoter, Jason Moore, of the ill-fated Denver Test between England and New Zealand at Mile High Stadium in 2018. It was the third and last time the “Greatest Game of All” attempted to make inroads into America, a potentially lucrative market the NRL is again exploring.
The prospect of a freak storm is the least of the challenges ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys and NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo will encounter in their bid to bring a double-header to Las Vegas to open the 2024 season.
However, the former was bullish when contacted during a fact-finding mission in Sin City.
“Our meetings have been extremely positive,” V’landys says at the end of a long day that included 12 hours of back-to-back meetings.
“It has unlimited potential. The more we look into it, the bigger it gets. This isn’t just a sugar hit, we’re not just playing an exhibition game and coming home. This is a genuine premiership game. That is the difference.
The Kangaroos took on the US in Philadelphia in 2004.Credit: Getty Images
“This is part of a five-year plan; it’s not a one-off. In trying to do it as a five-year plan, it’s a lot of work and the more big hitters we see over here, the more the confidence grows for the game.
“This is now bigger than what we thought it was going to be.”
V’landys was tight-lipped on the specifics, but these would be his butcher’s-paper musings: four NRL teams, including South Sydney and Manly, to play two competition games at the home of the Las Vegas Raiders, the 65,000-seat Allegiant Stadium, spruiked by the likes of Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe, as part of an Australian entertainment extravaganza that may include fights featuring boxer Tim Tszyu and UFC star Alex Volkanovski. Think “G’day USA” headed up by Latrell Mitchell and Tom Trbojevic.
It is a plan of scale and ambition beyond anything the NRL has attempted before, in a bid to grow the sport and cash in on the explosion in legalised gambling in the US.
Les Davidson (left) and Royce Simmons at Disneyland after the 1987 Origin match in California.Credit: Fairfax
The common denominator in previous trips to America was a lack of follow-up, and the presence of Wayne Bennett. The master coach was the Maroons mentor when a State of Origin match was taken to Veterans Memorial Stadium in Long Beach, California, in 1987; he was the Kangaroos coach when the side overcame a half-time deficit to beat the USA Tomahawks at Philadelphia’s Franklin Field in 2004; and he was at the helm for England’s win over the Kiwis at Denver five years ago.
“I’ve been there, I know it,” Bennett says. “I say it with a lot of authority; they will go for it.
“It’s a great TV game, rugby league. It’s simple to understand, and we have a world-class competition here now. We’re not taking some hillbilly game to America, this is a big business in this country. We are ready for it. But we certainly can’t walk in and walk out.”
Bennett’s experience leaving Denver airport was very different to that of his Kiwi counterparts. Several Americans, who had just seen rugby league for the first time, approached the seven-time premiership winner to express how much they enjoyed the spectacle. They were part of a crowd of 19,320, at a time when the local Major League Baseball team, the Colorado Rockies, was playing at the neighbouring Coors Field.
England and New Zealand take the field in Denver in 2018.Credit: Getty
That bold league experiment came at a great financial cost to the promoter. Moore pulled off one of the great Australian sporting coups by successfully staging MLB games between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks at the SCG in 2014.
However, with the NRL and the Rugby League Players’ Association working against him, the Denver Test left him financially in the red. The collapse of an airline sponsorship deal, which would have brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars, was the result of head office opposing the bold venture.
However, Moore maintains there is upside for rugby league in America.
“The US market is one of great opportunity, and from an Australian sports landscape perspective, we need to look to these bigger markets to generate global recognition of our sports teams.”
A trip to Vegas, however, is always a gamble. That sporting market is becoming increasingly saturated; there is already an NHL and NFL team, while LeBron James is a leading candidate to own an expansion NBA franchise on the glitter strip.
Master coaches Wayne Bennett and Jack Gibson in California in 1987.Credit: Fairfax
Richard Fale, the chief executive of Pacific Sports International, provides a word of warning. Fale heads a consortium that includes former NFL players attempting to propagate rugby league in America. Having unsuccessfully attempted to purchase the New Zealand Warriors and other NRL clubs, PSI has turned its attention to introducing rugby league into universities in California, Nevada and Utah, with a view to pitching to host the 2029 Rugby League World Cup.
Fale fears the NRL may not have given itself enough time to pull off the logistical challenge of staging games in Vegas.
“You don’t want to bring your tiny little candle to the party and it is outshone by everything else,” Fale says.
A spear tackle was used to promote rugby league to Americans in 1987.Credit: Fairfax
“As we’re working with these cities and states to put together an opportunity to host a Rugby League World Cup, the last thing we need is for the NRL to come to the US and not do well. It hurts the game, it hurts us.”
However, V’landys remains bullish and has plenty of support from NRL clubs that want to be part of history. Manly chairman and co-owner Scott Penn, who lives most of the year in the US and has an understanding of its sporting market, feels the NRL is onto a winner.
“This is about how we genuinely look to the future about how we become a new sport in the US landscape,” Penn says.
“There is tremendous alignment among clubs and Peter [V’landys] and Andrew [Abdo] are doing their best to grow the game and bring in additional revenue. Ultimately, it’s what we need to do.
“Knowing the US market as well as I do, there is a serious appetite for NRL. It’s the opposite season to NFL, so it gives a natural flow-through for those who love gladiatorial sports.”
Indeed, in the lead-up to the Denver Test, it was impossible to walk more than a couple of hundred metres down the local 16th Street Mall without seeing posters of James Graham carting the ball into the defence with the caption: “Big Hits. No pads.”
After the game, the locals were agape at the speed and physicality of the contest.
“They couldn’t believe it,” Bennett says. “I’ve been there three times ... they were all wonderful experiences, they were highlights in your coaching career and in the time of your player. But nothing changes when you leave.”
However, Bennett believes league is ready to make a proper go of it this time and can gain a foothold if the NRL invests in game development in America.
NSW captain Peter Sterling struggles to burst through a banner at the start of the 1987 Origin game in California.Credit: Nine
“There is so much money in that country, [we can make it work] if we get the right guys behind us,” Bennett says.
“When you look at the Pacific Islands, there’s not a lot more we can do there. There is some really good stuff going on and there will be more good stuff going forward but, as a game, we talk about expansion and we need to look at other avenues in the world where rugby league can be played.
“The game has got as much money in it as I’ve ever seen in Australia.
“There’s enough ability there to say we can invest in this without hurting the game in this country.”
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