NRL NRL in the United States

Will you be going the Vegas for Round 1, 2025?

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NZWarriors.com

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New Zealand Warriors open discussions with NRL for Las Vegas match in 2025​

The Warriors could be playing in Las Vegas to open the 2025 season.

The NRL will kick off its American odyssey next year, with four teams involved in a doubleheader.

On March 3, the Sea Eagles will face the Rabbitohs (3.30pm NZT) before the Roosters play the Broncos two hours later. More than 20,000 tickets have already been sold for the occasion at the Allegiant Stadium, with NRL officials confident the 65,000 capacity arena will be close to full.

With the NRL committed to a five-year deal in the Nevada city, thoughts have already turned to who might be in action during the following season.

While it is all in a blue sky phase, the Herald understands the Warriors have already had preliminary discussions with the governing body.

The club wants to gain an understanding of the process, what is involved and how the rest of the season would be structured.

There are obvious positives.

The Auckland club have a wide following - as shown by the “Up the Wahs” movement last season - which percolated beyond these shores and the prospect of marketing the New Zealand Warriors to a American audience would be a much easier sell than many suburban Sydney clubs, for example.

There are also the demographics in the United States, with a large Polynesian population, particularly Samoans and Tongans.

And the Warriors’ fanatical fanbase could fill a few planeloads to make the trip, judging by the fans’ response to their success last season.

It would also be a bonus for the players and staff, adding a dose of adventure to a demanding season.

However, there will be things to consider. One of the key factors will be the arrangements for the Magic Round from 2025 and beyond.

But that would have to change for 2025, as the Warriors are reluctant to take too many games out of Auckland and also wouldn’t countenance the thought of having two “home” matches outside New Zealand.

There would also be footballing and high performance considerations. The Warriors already travel more than any other team and adding 22,000 kilometres and around 40 hours journey time (return) would be a significant load.

There is also the impact on pre-season. The club would lose the best part of a fortnight at home (the American games are staged in “week zero” of the season) and the possible ramifications for round two and beyond once they return.

When contacted by the Herald, Warriors chief executive Cameron George said it was too early to discuss what 2025 might look like, but he confirmed that the Las Vegas scenario is “something that we are interested in talking more about with the NRL”.
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Hate it.. Far too many miles for us already, and you just know that it would be a home game for us
 
WahsaurusRex said:

New Zealand Warriors open discussions with NRL for Las Vegas match in 2025​



Hate it.. Far too many miles for us already, and you just know that it would be a home game for us
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Saw the other day the nrl want it to be between us and the storm because of the two teams history in some classic matches. I’m not a fan either but I could see the nrl thinking they could capitalise in the up the wahs movement and how Steve Kerr was an international figure mentioning the phrase.
 
WahsaurusRex said:

New Zealand Warriors open discussions with NRL for Las Vegas match in 2025​



Hate it.. Far too many miles for us already, and you just know that it would be a home game for us
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Yeah more travel was my first thought. However if super seller Cam can sell the NRL the dream of Warriors being the most marketable team, then say “oh sorry it would be great for the NRL but we already travel far more than any other team….” And the NRL in-turn gave us a favourable travel schedule for the season (only home games or Sydney) then I’d be on board.

Yes, I know the NRL doing the Warriors a favour is an oxymoron, but dreams are free.
 
Christchurch_Warrior said:
Lots more travel for us if we go. On the other side if we become more popular and the club gets richer then we get nicer things. Better pathways, better training equipment etc. Our owner is wealthy but not Politis rich.
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Yeah deffo a tricky situation for us - short term pain for long term gain. While there were many reasons for our big turn around last year, I do think the whole "Warriors get shit calls from the ref" thing really helped us I thought, as for that next month or so we got pretty decent calls.

If we continue to put our best foot forward and get a big following in the US, does that come in to the NRLs plans and then we continue to get more fair treatment or dare I say it, slight favouritism by the refs from time to time?

Could be great for us really
 
This is more about Sports betting revenue than anything else, if it were about growing the game in regards to getting more people playing the sport they would be taking these games to Rugby Union nations which don't have a big Rugby League presence.
 
I think I read a while ago that the plan is for every team to go to Vegas at least once over the 5 years.
So if this is our turn, then all good.
Hopefully we can get a little bit of goodwill in return with the rest of our season fixtures.
Wouldn't be mad if that was then our year to miss out on Magic Round
 
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It’s a no from me. We already travel more than double every other team in the competition. No need to be adding even more to that tally for no reason other than PVL and Abdo chasing sports betting money!

I’d imagine it will end up like AFL playing in Wellington did. First year did ok as people were curious. Second year numbers dried up and the concept was canned after that.
 
I think the states isn't viable to break into as a market.
they're very insular , and they play pretty weird sports.
Like isn't the baseball finals called ' the world series' and they're the only country to compete?
 
BabylonPink said:
I think the states isn't viable to break into as a market.
they're very insular , and they play pretty weird sports.
Like isn't the baseball finals called ' the world series' and they're the only country to compete?
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Pretty much, only sports that matter there is nba, nfl and baseball.

I could be wrong but I don't think soccer is that big there? I know they have a league with some pretty big names.
 
j_p said:
Pretty much, only sports that matter there is nba, nfl and baseball.

I could be wrong but I don't think soccer is that big there? I know they have a league with some pretty big names.
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Ice hockey's international , but the leagues aren't, I think they might play Canada regularly...
 
Christchurch_Warrior said:
Having worked in the USA before that is so like the them. They sometime struggle with the fact that there is a world outside of the USA.
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Yes definitely what I gathered from all the media I've seen from there. I know they only show the worst but every single video either on talkshows or others with them interviewing randoms on the street. People suck with any facts regarding anything not related to the US.
 
j_p said:
Yes definitely what I gathered from all the media I've seen from there. I know they only show the worst but every single video either on talkshows or others with them interviewing randoms on the street. People suck with any facts regarding anything not related to the US.
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I think you will find that in NZ as well lol. With the USA they are brought up on the whole idea of American exceptionalism where basically they think the USA is unique and pretty much better than everywhere else. Not all subscribe to that and just like any place there are really cool people and dickheads. With the yanks though they may learn about other countries but they just do not care about them as the USA is everything. Many just have a different mindset which took some getting use to. Mind you I was based in the eastern seaboard on the USA not in one of the main cities so it could be very different in the main cities or the west.
 
Christchurch_Warrior said:
I think you will find that in NZ as well lol. With the USA they are brought up on the whole idea of American exceptionalism where basically they think the USA is unique and pretty much better than everywhere else. Not all subscribe to that and just like any place there are really cool people and dickheads. With the yanks though they may learn about other countries but they just do not care about them as the USA is everything. Many just have a different mindset which took some getting use to. Mind you I was based in the eastern seaboard on the USA not in one of the main cities so it could be very different in the main cities or the west.
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Fair enough and it does make sense. Every other country consumes American media so it does seem odd to us they don't know about others when most of their media is obviously local with probably very little outside media/news coming in.
 

NRL: NZ Warriors frontrunners to feature in Las Vegas for season openers in 2025​


NZ Warriors may be swapping the industrial lights of Penrose for the much brighter and more iconic variety in Las Vegas to kick off their 2025 NRL season.

According to Sydney Morning Herald, the Warriors are part of a shortlist of teams in contention to be awarded one of the coveted four spots on offer for next year's showcase in Sin City.

Defending champions Penrith Panthers are reportedly the only team locked in to feature, with the Australian Rugby League Commision poised to confirm their appearance, when they meet later this week.

Among the Warriors with the rest of the front runners are Melbourne Storm, Newcastle Knights, North Queensland Cowboys, Canberra Raiders, and the Dolphins.

Last month, Brisbane Broncos, Sydney Roosters, South Sydney Rabbitohs and Manly Sea Eales featured in an historic doubleheader at Allegiant Stadium, home of the NFL's Las Vegas Raiders.

The initiative is designed to promote rugby league internationally and appears likely to become an annual fixture, involving a new set of teams each year.

The ARL is also considering sending two NRLW teams to expand the event to a triple-header.

While the Roosters' win over the Broncos drew modest viewing numbers in the US - with just 61,000 tuning in - it set a record across Australia and New Zealand, with 4.1 million fans taking in the action.

Newshub understands the Warriors expect to learn more in the next few weeks.
 
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