NRL 2024 Las Vegas: People from 24 countries across the globe have purchased tickets to Allegiant Stadium

Fans from across the globe will flock to the NRL’s history making double-header in the USA on Sunday. PETER BADEL reveals just how many countries fans have come from to be in Vegas.

It’s official. The NRL has conquered the world.

This masthead can reveal a staggering 24 countries from four continents will be represented in the NRL’s history-making double-header blockbuster in Las Vegas on Sunday.

ARL Commission boss Peter V’landys initially copped some brickbats when he last year announced bold plans for the NRL to launch the 2024 season overseas to capitalise on America’s broadcast-and-gaming market.

But V’landys’ vision has been emphatically vindicated by a global influx of rugby league fans who will descend on Vegas’ 65,000-capacity Allegiant Stadium from just about every corner of the globe.

Payne Haas poses with fans at the Fremont Street Experience in Las Vegas. Picture: EZRA SHAW / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

While more than 14,000 Australians have made the trek to America’s gaming capital, interest in the NRL’s inaugural premiership fixtures in Las Vegas has gone global.

Fans from rugby league’s traditional markets – Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and England – will be there, but NRL chiefs have been left stunned by ticket purchases from far-flung regions they never envisaged.

League fans from war-torn Afghanistan will be in America to watch the Roosters-Broncos, Souths-Manly double header.

NRL ticketing records show fans have bought seats for the Vegas double header from the US, Canada and Mexico in North America, as well as Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and Bermuda in the Caribbean.

Scores of British supporters have touched down in Vegas, but tickets have also been snapped up by residents living in Ireland, Germany, Netherlands, Austria, Spain and Luxembourg.

The fan fest on Friday underlined the league fever gripping Vegas, with more than 5000 fans flocking to Fremont Street for a footballing festival that has become the NRL’s closest thing to soccer’s World Cup.

Reece Walsh presents a Brisbane Broncos scarf to Peter V’landys at NRL Fan Fest in Las Vegas. Photo: Pete Badel.

V’landys said he never imagined being globally recognised as he walked down the streets of Vegas.

“We’ve had sales from around the world,” he said.

“The other day a fan from Jamaica called out and I thought they must have mistaken me for somebody else, but they were talking to me.

“They said they had come here to watch the game in Vegas.

“I’ve also been greeted by a group of 50 people from France.

“Rugby league has taken over Vegas, but not just Australians, they have come from all around the world.

“It’s extraordinary.”

The NRL’s Vegas tentacles also extend to the Asian market.

Asia’s gaming equivalent of Vegas, Macau, will be represented, while NRL devotees from Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates will be part of rugby league’s American odyssey.

“I must admit I never expected this level of interest,” V’landys said.

“I didn’t expect to get so many supporters from overseas.

“We were hoping we would get 10,000 and we have had a lot more than that.

“It’s awoken me to the fact that rugby league is a worldwide game, we have a global audience and that’s what this game is about, to tap into this worldwide audience.

“In years to come, this will be the event. This can be a world game, it’s not a game for Australia, people from around the world.”

V’landys has attracted his share of criticism for rolling the dice. Detractors believe the Vegas experiment is an overhyped gimmick and a needless waste of NRL funding, but it is understood the code’s initial foray to America will not be financially crippling.

Adam Reynolds takes a selfie with fans in Las Vegas. Picture: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

The NRL expects to lose around $1-2 million on the event, but V’landys is confident that, with global support, the Vegas venture will break even in the coming years.

More than 40,000 tickets have been sold and the final crowd figure at Allegiant could exceed 45,000 by kick off.

“We have already sold $3 million worth of tickets, so this Vegas venture has not been as expensive as some people think,” V’landys said.

“We won’t have the full financial outcome until the event is over.

“We won’t break even this year, but we will in the years to come.

“This is an investment to make revenue and we will make major revenue in the years to come, but you have some major start-up costs to build the foundations.

“This will only get bigger and better. Naturally, you learn a lot from your first one and next year we want to make it bigger and better.

“We will make it an international event.”

Peter Badel travelled to Las Vegas courtesy of the NRL

Originally published as NRL 2024 Las Vegas: People from 24 countries across the globe have purchased tickets to Allegiant Stadium