2026 Crowd Watch

[James Rick]

Why aren't we holding these trials in regional NSW ?
Mudgee, Bathurst, Tamworth?
Such a waste to hold it where people don't even appreciate a full NRL fixture.

Should be holding them in regional Queensland areas too. People in cities like Rockhampton and Mackay would chomp at the bit to attend an NRL game in their city even if it's just a trial match.

 

[Ian Douglas]

Trial games are made for regional cities/towns in NSW&queensland as well as New Zealand and Fiji etc.

all about spreading the game and looking after the loyal fans from faraway regions.

 

[Gobsmacked]

Other than New Zealand I think the central coast should have been used yesterday.

Sunshine Coast for Queensland teams and possibly Melbourne?

Central coast is a no brainer. Sunshine coast, Mackay, Rockhampton, Cairns.. some obvious QLD options too.
I'd like to see Melbourne and Canberra push hard into places like Wagga and Albury. We could be using these trials to win over AFL territory too.

 

[Ian Douglas]

Central coast is a no brainer. Sunshine coast, Mackay, Rockhampton, Cairns.. some obvious QLD options too.
I'd like to see Melbourne and Canberra push hard into places like Wagga and Albury. We could be using these trials to win over AFL territory too.

Get into the schools at the same time.

its a win-win.

 

[steeden.]

Should be holding them in regional Queensland areas too. People in cities like Rockhampton and Mackay would chomp at the bit to attend an NRL game in their city even if it's just a trial match.

Mackay is hosting Cowboys vs. Panthers in the main game this Friday

Browne Park's $62m upgrade finishes in a few months - Capras are playing the first couple of months away from home - surely it gets a trial at least. Capacity is being upped from 5,000 to 10,000 (the grandstand is increasing from 550 to 3,200)

 

[yakstorm]

Costs for trials can be controlled if the NRL & clubs are sensible with their selections. Generally the biggest cost for a trial are associated with broadcasting (transportation, lighting and any scaffolding needed for camera angles)

Most broadcast equipment is located in the major capital cities, and generally rule of thumb is if the venue is within a 3hr radius the broadcasters can avoid having to house crew overnight/etc which can blow out costs further.

Generally the broadcasters will absorb a handful of further away games each year, with this year being Mudgee, Mackay and Napier and last being Mudgee & Cairns, but there's plenty of places closer to the capital cities clubs could look at.

IMO even going to places like Bowral, Wyong, Ipswich, Nelson Bay (all places not too far away from an NRL team) is still better than just keeping the games at regular NRL grounds. Does more for the community and looks better on TV.

 

[Gobsmacked]

Costs for trials can be controlled if the NRL & clubs are sensible with their selections. Generally the biggest cost for a trial are associated with broadcasting (transportation, lighting and any scaffolding needed for camera angles)

Most broadcast equipment is located in the major capital cities, and generally rule of thumb is if the venue is within a 3hr radius the broadcasters can avoid having to house crew overnight/etc which can blow out costs further.

Generally the broadcasters will absorb a handful of further away games each year, with this year being Mudgee, Mackay and Napier and last being Mudgee & Cairns, but there's plenty of places closer to the capital cities clubs could look at.

IMO even going to places like Bowral, Wyong, Ipswich, Nelson Bay (all places not too far away from an NRL team) is still better than just keeping the games at regular NRL grounds. Does more for the community and looks better on TV.

Thanks mate, great post, very informative.

 

[steeden.]

Costs for trials can be controlled if the NRL & clubs are sensible with their selections. Generally the biggest cost for a trial are associated with broadcasting (transportation, lighting and any scaffolding needed for camera angles)

Most broadcast equipment is located in the major capital cities, and generally rule of thumb is if the venue is within a 3hr radius the broadcasters can avoid having to house crew overnight/etc which can blow out costs further.

Generally the broadcasters will absorb a handful of further away games each year, with this year being Mudgee, Mackay and Napier and last being Mudgee & Cairns, but there's plenty of places closer to the capital cities clubs could look at.

IMO even going to places like Bowral, Wyong, Ipswich, Nelson Bay (all places not too far away from an NRL team) is still better than just keeping the games at regular NRL grounds. Does more for the community and looks better on TV.

Toowoomba feels really under serviced based on how close it is to Brisbane and how good the ground is

 

[Wb1234]

Seems to be way less advertising for Vegas over previous years

At least still have eels tigers and storm who should bring a few for future years

Perth and png should be delayed for the next cycle so around six years down the track which gives them a chance to build a fanbase who will travel

 

[Valheru]

Seems to be way less advertising for Vegas over previous years

At least still have eels tigers and storm who should bring a few for future years

Perth and png should be delayed for the next cycle so around six years down the track which gives them a chance to build a fanbase who will travel

I would be stunned if Vegas is still a thing in 6 years, I'm not 100% confident it will be there next year TBH although they will probably want to get those 3 teams you mentioned over there.

The novelty has well and truly worn off.

 

[Gobsmacked]

Seems to be way less advertising for Vegas over previous years

At least still have eels tigers and storm who should bring a few for future years

Perth and png should be delayed for the next cycle so around six years down the track which gives them a chance to build a fanbase who will travel

I would think that they've fine turned advertising to what works best and scrapped the rest because it was a waste of money.
From a logical point of view, most people travel abroad for the event would be planning and paying well in advance, so advertising here in the UK should have rightly dried up .
Local advertising should be picking up those and peaking just hours before kickoff.

At least that's how I'd do it

 

[PARRA_FAN]

I would be stunned if Vegas is still a thing in 6 years, I'm not 100% confident it will be there next year TBH although they will probably want to get those 3 teams you mentioned over there.

The novelty has well and truly worn off.

It will be there once all the teams get their turn but wouldnt surprise me if a team thats been there gets another shot before a team hasnt. I think once the contact is up, they'll probably look at other US cities or perhaps other countries.

 

[Mother Nature's Son]

From a logical point of view, most people travel abroad for the event would be planning and paying well in advance, so advertising here in the UK should have rightly dried up

With the Aussie dollar at a multi-year high against the American dollar I thought they might have tried to leverage that as well over these last few weeks.

 

[yakstorm]

Updated Vegas sales map:

 

[Lidcombe Bull]

Updated Vegas sales map:
View attachment 109507

A little underwhelming, it maybe tracking about the same as last year. TBH it's not too bad if they can get a similar crowd to last year given hype is waning etc.

 

[i0Nic]

Will be lucky to get to 40k at this stage.

 

[newc18]

I'm not too worried about what the crowd will be as anything over 30k is fine. What I want to know is are more Americans going than last year?

Australian and UK fans won't keep travelling over there in the same numbers the longer this goes. Most people who do the trip will only go once, so the trick is to slowly replace them with American fans.

 

[Wb1234]

I'm not too worried about what the crowd will be as anything over 30k is fine. What I want to know is are more Americans going than last year?

Australian and UK fans won't keep travelling over there in the same numbers the longer this goes. Most people who do the trip will only go once, so the trick is to slowly replace them with American fans.

30k with 10k poms is poor

20k for two nrl games or maybe less with Americans

Dogs dragons would’ve beat that here on it’d s own

The games played back in Australia could’ve gotten 50k plus depending on whose home game it was

Shouldn’t take good games to Vegas like that in the future

 

[newc18]

30k with 10k poms is poor

20k for two nrl games or maybe less with Americans

Dogs dragons would’ve beat that here on it’d s own

The games played back in Australia could’ve gotten 50k plus depending on whose home game it was

Shouldn’t take good games to Vegas like that in the future

Not if they played it at Kogarah which would likely happen judging by previous years lol.

Knights vs Cowboys is a meh game. Both teams would get a good crowd because our supporter bases are amazing but its more exciting for it to happen over there, and I'm sure the players prefer being over there.

Anything over 30k is fine and creates a decent atmosphere. This event will push 40k so even better. My main thing is for the games to create awareness so more and more Americans are aware the sport exists and want to give it a chance. As long as they are consistently building on that (which it looks like they are since they are now doing clinics in schools) then keep doing it.

I think moving it around America is probably better long term but it's fine in Vegas for the moment. I've seen comments from Americans asking for games to be played in their cities.

As for taking good games, I agree that we shouldn't take rivary games that fill big stadiums but anything else is fair game.

 

[yakstorm]

With hindsight it's easy to say that maybe Bulldogs v Dragons wasn't the best choice to take over, though things have changed a lot since the event was first announced and when tickets went on sale.

When the event went on sale last year, sales were strong from both Australia and the UK residents and the event was trending ahead of the previous two years. Unfortunately things have changed both globally and over in the US which aren't exactly helping with pre-sales since.

Maybe we'll still be okay, even with the declines in tourism, there are still plenty of people going to Vegas each day and the NRL might be able to move 10-20K worth of tickets in the days leading in and we end up around the 40-45K mark.