The Tip Sheet is also available on Spotify and iTunes!
The Tip Sheet posts its final report on the bold Las Vegas experiment of 2024 as Ron joins Sixties and Forty20 for the debrief. Ron shares his stories and experiences from his journey to the desert oasis where he attended his first ever NRL games. From the fan day to a live episode of NRL360 and finally the blockbuster double-header at Allegiant Stadium, Ron details his personal insight on how rugby league fared in Round Zero.
My father had a similar tale from earlier in the day when striking up a conversation with a young man in a Parramatta jersey in the hotel elevator. Expecting an Australian accent to answer he instead got a thick Chicago accent.
This gentleman had found the NRL during the COVID-19 pandemic, looking for something to bet on while the majority of the sports world was still shut down. He stumbled across the NRL and was hooked.
“He asked me who I supported and I told him the Dragons,” my father said. “Then to my surprise he asked me what I thought of the recent Luciano Leilua signing. He was well versed in what’s going on.”
After Saturday night we could very well have a lot more people like that mid-western man.
And that has to be music to the ears of the NRL.
Seriously, how cool is that? Now Ron can say he carved out a special part of his own in the NRL’s first ever trip to Las Vegas!
Ron was also kind enough to share some photos from his trip with TCT. While it just barely falls short of The Hangover for memorable trips to Vegas, Ron how has an amazing story to share for the ages.
Saddened to hear of the passing of John Moran. He was a big centre for his day and I’m in the camp that he should have gone for the try line himself in the 1976 GF. I’m reasonably confident that Neville Glover would share my opinion.
Cheers trapped.
Yes getting a 1% share of the American market would be huge for the NRL, that’s 3.5 million more people watching a week. The numbers we saw on the weekend account for 0.003% of the American population, 61k. Given there’s other ways to view nowadays but that is still well off what PVL was boasting about for the first event. Unless the NRL is being paid by Las Vegas tourism board to bring 30k Aussies for the next 4 years I’m not sure where money can be made now or in the future with this venture.
Love Vitas, what a voice yahahaha
Sorry, this comment was meant for the previous podcast
I’ve said this elsewhere, but the major success of the event was the media saturation in the Australian market. The games leaders are enjoying the glow of a well staged event. Without question it was. Americans like Ron thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Aussie tourists loved it. Las Vegas businesses will welcome the return of the NRL and it’s a positive for the NRL to now be highly regarded for staging a quality event. Let’s acknowledge those positives.
However, the challenge for the NRL in my opinion is around promotion and broadcasting. The situation where the broadcast was on a minor Fox channel and it was then bumped to another channel was not ideal, though the bump might not have made much difference given those numbers.
I believe that more needs to be invested in the marketing and promotion in the next 12 months. Whether the NRL will do that or has the budget for that remains to be seen. If they simply stage a season opener in Vegas every season, without pushing for a wider exposure, then that 1% of the market will remain a dream.