On March 1st, 2025, Las Vegas once again held a Rugby League (a.k.a League) event. It
was the second consecutive year that saw teams and fans descend upon the City of Sin, but what exactly can be taken away from it? Was it successful? What should be considered a “success”? What most Rugby Union (a.k.a. Rugby) people are probably asking themselves, though, would be, “Is Rugby in the US in danger?”
Before diving into this year’s event, a look back at what occurred last year would be a
good idea. There were many a skeptic when rumors of the National Rugby League (NRL) of Australia bringing meaningful matches to Las Vegas started circulating. Even those within the US League community didn’t think it was likely. As it turned out, not only were they true but the NRL signed a deal with the city of Las Vegas to bring matches there every year until 2029!
Leading up to the inaugural event there was a 9’s tournament (15 men’s teams and 10
women’s teams) and an NRL/NRLW combine. No League experience was needed for the athletes attending the combine. The event itself saw a double header of NRL matches between the Manly Sea Eagles, South Sydney Rabbitohs, Brisbane Broncos and Sydney Roosters. They were played in front of a 40,000 person crowd. Shocked was the feeling felt when the Major League Rugby (MLR) matches on FX2 were abruptly switched to the coverage of said NRL matches. Who would have guessed that this would happen on a network owned by a League loving Australian?
The second year of the five year deal had the 9’s tournament (23 men’s teams and 11
women’s team) and the combine back as a lead up to the main event. In addition, though, a double header saw USA men’s and women’s national teams play Greece’s men and women’s national teams. The centerpiece of the weekend was not two, not three but four League matches being played in Allegiant stadium one after another, after another, after another. Wigan vs Warrington of the British Super League kicked off the event followed by the NRL match between Canberra Raiders vs New Zealand Warriors. This was then followed by a Women’s international test match between the Australian Jilaroos and England. Going back to the NRL, the night ended with Penrith Panthers vs Cronulla Sharks. This year’s edition saw over 45,000 people walk through the turnstiles.
Now that the details have been explored, can the second year be called a success?
Maybe? There was definitely growth. More teams entered the 9’s tournament, they added the USA vs Greece double header, plus they added a Super League and a Women’s international match to the main event. Growth is good, right? The addition of more 9’s teams is good. Incorporating the USA Rugby League (USARL) Men’s and Women’s teams is also good, though having them play in what looks to be a random public park that doesn’t even have benches for people to sit at is not a good look.
Adding two additional marquee matches is definitely good. Especially when they’re
exposing people to new products such as northern hemisphere league teams and the Women’s game. Playing all four in one day probably was not the best though. That led to nine hours of League. That’s a long time to be at a stadium. It would have been better to split the matches. Say Saturday would have a NRL and Super League match, while Sunday had the other NRL match and the Women’s international.
The crowd grew too. By adding the two extra matches they got, 5,000 more people… Ok,
going from 40,000 to 45,000 doesn’t really seem that impressive. Especially when 11,000 new fans came from England to support their Super League teams. That means they lost 6,000 fans that were there the year prior. Still a net positive, and even small growth is growth. The real sign of growth, though, was that of the broadcast numbers.
Canberra Raiders vs New Zealand Warriors was shown on Fox proper, with the others
shown on FX2. That match had 371,000 US viewers watch it. Last year only 61,000 US viewers watched. This growth would be really impressive if it wasn’t undermined by the fact that only 59 minutes of the match was broadcast before it was abruptly switched over to Women’s college basketball.
With all this talk of “growth” for League, should Rugby fans be worried? There are more than enough people in this country for both codes to succeed, but that doesn’t mean they will. The 2024 MLR final only had 200,000 viewers on Fox proper. That’s down from the 269,000 viewers that watched the 2023 final. In fact, there has been a consistent decline in viewership since the 2019 final, when 510,000 people tuned in to the CBS broadcast. That doesn’t look great, but it’s not all doom and gloom as it appears. That paltry 200,000 and the 600% increase may have resulted from the same phenomenon. The Olympics. If it seems perplexing that the Olympics would cause one to raise and the other to fall, just hold on. All will be explained. The 2024 MLR final was played during the Olympics, and just like everything else that was on during this time, it saw a decrease in viewership. Is the question, “Okay fine, but why would the Olympics play a part in increasing the viewing numbers for League matches in Vegas?” Circling around? Again, all will be explained!… Geez, people are so impatient…
To answer that question take a look at two other blogs: A Shift In Focus? and
Decoding Rugby from the Rugby Rant Podcast’s website (seriously, go read them now!). A Shift In Focus? described the surreal experience of normal, everyday people all of the sudden showing interest in “rugby”, and
Decoding Rugby goes into detail how all these new fans don’t realize how many different codes of rugby there are. This has actually led to a surge in participation in all forms of rugby throughout this country. With that logic in mind, it’s not far-fetched to say the large increase of Americans tuning in to watch the Vegas League matches was probably caused by the Olympics as well. It wouldn’t be surprising if this year's MLR final saw a big uptick because of this very reason as well.
Is there still a thought in the back of the mind that keeps mentioning how Americans
would probably gravitate to League rather than Rugby if given the choice because it has simpler laws, it’s easier to follow and is more similar to American football? Nope, no not at all, thanks for inquiring though… Okay, yeah there’s a chance of that being true, but the likelihood of that happening due to the NRL playing matches in Vegas is the same as the NFL taking over England because they play a game or two over there every year. Plus MLR did just sign a big multiyear deal with ESPN, Women’s Elite Rugby just had its inaugural weekend, Premier Rugby 7’s (PR7’s) is coming back this summer (and adding academies and youth camps), Olympic 7’s will be in LA in 2028 and the Men’s and Women’s Rugby World Cups will be held here in 2031 and 2033. It’s probably safe to say Rugby is sticking around for a while.
Just to recap everything: was the second outing of League in Vegas a success? Maybe it wasn’t a huge success, but yeah it’s safe to say it was successful. Is League going to take over the US and kick Rugby to the curb? No, having one weekend of League in one city per year is not going to give Rugby the death kiss.
On March 1st, 2025, Las Vegas once again held a Rugby League (a.k.a League) event. It<br />was the second consecutive year that saw teams and fans descend upon the City of Sin, but what exactly can be taken away from it? Was it successful? What should be considered a “success”? What most Rugby Union (a.k.a. Rugby) people are probably asking themselves, though, would be, “Is Rugby in the US in danger?”<br /><br />Before diving into this year’s event, a look back at what occurred last year would be a<br />good idea. There were many a skeptic when rumors of the National Rugby League (NRL) of Australia bringing meaningful matches to Las Vegas started circulating. Even those within the US League community didn’t think it was likely. As it turned out, not only were they true but the NRL signed a deal with the city of Las Vegas to bring matches there every year until 2029!<br />Leading up to the inaugural event there was a 9’s tournament (15 men’s teams and 10<br />women’s teams) and an NRL/NRLW combine. No League experience was needed for the athletes attending the combine. The event itself saw a double header of NRL matches between the Manly Sea Eagles, South Sydney Rabbitohs, Brisbane Broncos and Sydney Roosters. They were played in front of a 40,000 person crowd. Shocked was the feeling felt when the Major League Rugby (MLR) matches on FX2 were abruptly switched to the coverage of said NRL matches. Who would have guessed that this would happen on a network owned by a League loving Australian?<br /><br />The second year of the five year deal had the 9’s tournament (23 men’s teams and 11<br />women’s team) and the combine back as a lead up to the main event. In addition, though, a double header saw USA men’s and women’s national teams play Greece’s men and women’s national teams. The centerpiece of the weekend was not two, not three but four League matches being played in Allegiant stadium one after another, after another, after another. Wigan vs Warrington of the British Super League kicked off the event followed by the NRL match between Canberra Raiders vs New Zealand Warriors. This was then followed by a Women’s international test match between the Australian Jilaroos and England. Going back to the NRL, the night ended with Penrith Panthers vs Cronulla Sharks. This year’s edition saw over 45,000 people walk through the turnstiles.<br />Now that the details have been explored, can the second year be called a success?<br />Maybe? There was definitely growth. More teams entered the 9’s tournament, they added the USA vs Greece double header, plus they added a Super League and a Women’s international match to the main event. Growth is good, right? The addition of more 9’s teams is good. Incorporating the USA Rugby League (USARL) Men’s and Women’s teams is also good, though having them play in what looks to be a random public park that doesn’t even have benches for people to sit at is not a good look.<br /><br />Adding two additional marquee matches is definitely good. Especially when they’re<br />exposing people to new products such as northern hemisphere league teams and the Women’s game. Playing all four in one day probably was not the best though. That led to nine hours of League. That’s a long time to be at a stadium. It would have been better to split the matches. Say Saturday would have a NRL and Super League match, while Sunday had the other NRL match and the Women’s international.<br /><br />The crowd grew too. By adding the two extra matches they got, 5,000 more people… Ok,<br />going from 40,000 to 45,000 doesn’t really seem that impressive. Especially when 11,000 new fans came from England to support their Super League teams. That means they lost 6,000 fans that were there the year prior. Still a net positive, and even small growth is growth. The real sign of growth, though, was that of the broadcast numbers.<br /><br />Canberra Raiders vs New Zealand Warriors was shown on Fox proper, with the others<br />shown on FX2. That match had 371,000 US viewers watch it. Last year only 61,000 US viewers watched. This growth would be really impressive if it wasn’t undermined by the fact that only 59 minutes of the match was broadcast before it was abruptly switched over to Women’s college basketball.<br /><br />With all this talk of “growth” for League, should Rugby fans be worried? There are more than enough people in this country for both codes to succeed, but that doesn’t mean they will. The 2024 MLR final only had 200,000 viewers on Fox proper. That’s down from the 269,000 viewers that watched the 2023 final. In fact, there has been a consistent decline in viewership since the 2019 final, when 510,000 people tuned in to the CBS broadcast. That doesn’t look great, but it’s not all doom and gloom as it appears. That paltry 200,000 and the 600% increase may have resulted from the same phenomenon. The Olympics. If it seems perplexing that the Olympics would cause one to raise and the other to fall, just hold on. All will be explained. The 2024 MLR final was played during the Olympics, and just like everything else that was on during this time, it saw a decrease in viewership. Is the question, “Okay fine, but why would the Olympics play a part in increasing the viewing numbers for League matches in Vegas?” Circling around? Again, all will be explained!… Geez, people are so impatient…<br /><br />To answer that question take a look at two other blogs: A Shift In Focus? and<br />Decoding Rugby from the Rugby Rant Podcast’s website (seriously, go read them now!). A Shift In Focus? described the surreal experience of normal, everyday people all of the sudden showing interest in “rugby”, and<br />Decoding Rugby goes into detail how all these new fans don’t realize how many different codes of rugby there are. This has actually led to a surge in participation in all forms of rugby throughout this country. With that logic in mind, it’s not far-fetched to say the large increase of Americans tuning in to watch the Vegas League matches was probably caused by the Olympics as well. It wouldn’t be surprising if this year's MLR final saw a big uptick because of this very reason as well.<br /><br />Is there still a thought in the back of the mind that keeps mentioning how Americans<br />would probably gravitate to League rather than Rugby if given the choice because it has simpler laws, it’s easier to follow and is more similar to American football? Nope, no not at all, thanks for inquiring though… Okay, yeah there’s a chance of that being true, but the likelihood of that happening due to the NRL playing matches in Vegas is the same as the NFL taking over England because they play a game or two over there every year. Plus MLR did just sign a big multiyear deal with ESPN, Women’s Elite Rugby just had its inaugural weekend, Premier Rugby 7’s (PR7’s) is coming back this summer (and adding academies and youth camps), Olympic 7’s will be in LA in 2028 and the Men’s and Women’s Rugby World Cups will be held here in 2031 and 2033. It’s probably safe to say Rugby is sticking around for a while.<br /><br />Just to recap everything: was the second outing of League in Vegas a success? Maybe it wasn’t a huge success, but yeah it’s safe to say it was successful. Is League going to take over the US and kick Rugby to the curb? No, having one weekend of League in one city per year is not going to give Rugby the death kiss.
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