Australia’s Rugby League Plants Down Under Flag In Las Vegas For This Week To Launch Its Season
By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — The big sports events like the Super Bowl and F1 come to Las Vegas and even the small, niche pursuits like ping-pong, pickleball, cornhole and darts also enjoy coming to Sin City for competition.
Then there’s Rugby League Las Vegas, which is kicking off the Australia-based National Rugby League’s season at Allegiant Stadium Saturday.
The Rugby League is in the third year of a five-year deal that has the rugby promoters staging matches on the grass tray that gets rolled in at Allegiant Stadium, which is home of the NFL Raiders. The Las Vegas Raiders also run the stadium and garner hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues from the venue built with $750 million in public dollars.
The league even showed reporters a rare up close look at the playing field, which sits in a tray outside the football stadium and gets rolled in.
The 17-team rugby league is using Las Vegas to create more exposure for its product, which is adding two more teams in Perth and New Guinea, said John Vellis, general manager of U.S. expansion for the league.
The league is hosting events all week in Las Vegas from a fan fest at Fremont Street and Resort World to even a sports-business session Friday.
The rugby league even has a team named the Knights.
LVSportsBiz.com chatted with former rugby player Josh Mansour, a friendly 35-year-old mate who said Las Vegas is an ideal location to create a buzz for the rugby league.
Vellis said tickets for Satuday’s two games start at $29. It’s the Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs vs. the St George Illawarra Dragons, and the Newcastle Knights vs. the North Queensland Cowboys. in the season opener.
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