AFL to take the NRL's lead and take a game to the US?

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The Victorian

Norm Smith Medallist
Oct 23, 2018
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Following the success of the NRL season openers in Las Vegas on the weekend, surely the AFL would've been watching closely and could look to follow and take an AFL game to the US for premiership points. The Giants are pretty keen.



Although, there have been proposals in the past to take the game overseas but nothing has gone further than proposals (other than China and NZ)
 

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I believe the Giants are all over this and are at the front of the Queue to play a match there.

My understanding also is that there have been some talks with Major league cricket in the states, which is slowly gaining popularity, in regards to the potential use of a venue to hold a match. Ricky Ponting now involved with MLC, so take from that what you will.

The issue is, the AFL wouldnt get the razzle dazzle of playing in Vegas. All the venues are in the middle of no where and dont have the appeal of playing on the strip, or at Sofi Stadium which the NRL are also looking at.

Vlandys has nailed this one, and i expect more games to be in the states over the next couple of years from an NRL perspective.
 
Should have happened 20 years ago.Surely we can get better talent into the game than is currently in the AFL This is the starting point to doing that .The uncomfortable truth Of Cox's career is that he was a C grade basketballer who got nowhere near being drafted in NBA yet took apart backlines in finals which included arguably some of the this century's best defenders in Rance and McGovern.He even kicked crucial goal against Taylor etc in the prelim..If he can do it in which in Cox's own words was an unprofessional joke of a process in evaluating talent then imagine if the AFL and its talent finding process was professional and well resourced...If we value watching top class sport we should be demanding bit as the first step in widening the talent base...Yes im also aware we need to also focus on our own backyard and in Western Sydney etc bla bla bla .We can do both surely.
 
No, waste of money

And much easier to take NRL there with the field sizes
Even the field size on Sunday wasn’t exactly the right dimensions needed.

They just don’t have oval shaped grounds there. Unsure if you can play it at a baseball venue though?

Would love to see Giants v Pies at Fenway if that was feasible.
 
I believe the Giants are all over this and are at the front of the Queue to play a match there.

My understanding also is that there have been some talks with Major league cricket in the states, which is slowly gaining popularity, in regards to the potential use of a venue to hold a match. Ricky Ponting now involved with MLC, so take from that what you will.

The issue is, the AFL wouldnt get the razzle dazzle of playing in Vegas. All the venues are in the middle of no where and dont have the appeal of playing on the strip, or at Sofi Stadium which the NRL are also looking at.

Vlandys has nailed this one, and i expect more games to be in the states over the next couple of years from an NRL perspective.
Think they’ve committed to Vegas for a further 4 years haven’t they?
 
This is the epitome of the question "If all of your friends jumped off a cliff, would you jump too?"

If the NRL wants to piss away money on a market they're never going to crack, they can do so, but the AFL should be more realistic than that.
I wouldn’t say that they’re not going to crack it. I had a mate who I met on a Caribbean Cruise a few years ago messaging me on Facebook about the rules etc as he was watching it from his lounge room in Northern Michigan.

I wouldn’t discredit this move by the NRL yet. It is the closest sport they have to their biggest sport and there is a lot of downtime for those sports fans who don’t watch Baseball to have a code they can sit back and enjoy.
 
I wouldn’t say that they’re not going to crack it. I had a mate who I met on a Caribbean Cruise a few years ago messaging me on Facebook about the rules etc as he was watching it from his lounge room in Northern Michigan.
That's a curiosity that lasts for a few minutes before people move on. People in the US were fascinated with Australia for a time when Crocodile Dundee came out. It didn't last. This won't either.

I wouldn’t discredit this move by the NRL yet. It is the closest sport they have to their biggest sport and there is a lot of downtime for those sports fans who don’t watch Baseball to have a code they can sit back and enjoy.
They tried it a few years ago in Denver, shouldn't that have lit the fuse for a big US interest in rugby league already?
 
Following the success of the NRL season openers in Las Vegas on the weekend, surely the AFL would've been watching closely and could look to follow and take an AFL game to the US for premiership points. The Giants are pretty keen.



Although, there have been proposals in the past to take the game overseas but nothing has gone further than proposals (other than China and NZ)

Success based on what metric?
 

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That's a curiosity that lasts for a few minutes before people move on. People in the US were fascinated with Australia for a time when Crocodile Dundee came out. It didn't last. This won't either.


They tried it a few years ago in Denver, shouldn't that have lit the fuse for a big US interest in rugby league already?
Bluey has done more for Americans loving Australia than Crocodile Dundee had previously.

If they ever did a Rugby League episode the Seppo’s would be overnight League fans.

Remember the reaction to the Bluey Cricket episode?

This is a 5 year plan. Not a one and done like they’ve had before even going back to ‘85 in LA for an Origin game.

This is a far longer view and I honestly think it’s a good one.

But I also don’t have any underlying hatred to the code like others on here have, and as a result, can’t see the positives that can come out of this venture.
 
NRL wont take off to any significant degree in the USA, very similar to Baseball trying to take over or even compete with Cricket in Australia, never going to happen.

These sports are imbedded deep in the culture.... any significant capture of the market if ever would happen over multi generations eg. 50-60 plus years at a minimum.

Soccer/Football has tried to be the dominant code in Australia for decades, it is still a long long way off of achieving that goal and look at the resources (FIFA) it has behind it.
 
NRL wont take off to any significant degree in the USA, very similar to Baseball trying to take over or even compete with Cricket in Australia, never going to happen.

These sports are imbedded deep in the culture.... any significant capture of the market if ever would happen over multi generations eg. 50-60 plus years at a minimum.

Soccer/Football has tried to be the dominant code in Australia for decades, it is still a long long way off of achieving that goal and look at the resources (FIFA) it has behind it.
If they can get an extra $10,000,000 in TV revenue, it will be worth it.

I don’t think they’re going over there trying to be the #1 football code in the country, they’re just trying to get more eyeballs on the product.
 
I believe the Giants are all over this and are at the front of the Queue to play a match there.

My understanding also is that there have been some talks with Major league cricket in the states, which is slowly gaining popularity, in regards to the potential use of a venue to hold a match. Ricky Ponting now involved with MLC, so take from that what you will.

The issue is, the AFL wouldnt get the razzle dazzle of playing in Vegas. All the venues are in the middle of no where and dont have the appeal of playing on the strip, or at Sofi Stadium which the NRL are also looking at.

Vlandys has nailed this one, and i expect more games to be in the states over the next couple of years from an NRL perspective.
My understanding is Sheeds is behind the concept and the Giants involvement whilst he was involved there. And I also believe the Giants and Essendon prior to Covid were working together on a concept to play a game in Los Angeles. Issue was / is suitable venues. Hence renewed interest in the new stadium being constructed for the cricket word cup. IMG_0213.jpeg
 
If they can get an extra $10,000,000 in TV revenue, it will be worth it.

I don’t think they’re going over there trying to be the #1 football code in the country, they’re just trying to get more eyeballs on the product.
I don’t think they will, and I don’t think that’s what they expect. They’re hoping for more gambling revenue, and I don’t think the AFL should do that
 
I don’t think they will, and I don’t think that’s what they expect. They’re hoping for more gambling revenue, and I don’t think the AFL should do that
More gambling revenue? From international bookies?

Interesting perspective.

How would that work? Are you saying that the Dutch Handball League gets a cut from Ladbrokes Australia when I put on a multi at 2am?
 
I don’t think they will, and I don’t think that’s what they expect. They’re hoping for more gambling revenue, and I don’t think the AFL should do that
This is a big part of V'Landys' play - sports betting has only been broadly legalised in the USA within the last decade, he wants in.
 

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AFL to take the NRL's lead and take a game to the US?

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