Rabbitohs lead charge.

[southsport]

Rabbitohs lead charge for US season opener
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A west coast venue featuring two clubs which traditionally draw bumper television ratings is considered the perfect recipe for an American NRL season opener as a number of Sydney clubs privately explore the possibility of starting next year's campaign abroad.

A day after NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg outlined plans to launch either the 2019 or 2020 season in one of the most competitive sporting markets in the world, several Sydney clubs Fairfax Media spoke to on Friday registered interest in spearheading the push into America.

American dreamers: South Sydney.

Photo: AAP
While South Sydney would be considered the frontrunner to kick off a new season in an embryonic rugby league market, there is likely to be no shortage of suitors to travel across the Pacific launch a new season in a foreign land.

Many club bosses warned they wanted to see a more detailed long-term strategy about how to penetrate the North American space before the 2025 World Cup, rather than a hit-and-run mission at the beginning of the year.

The NRL's official broadcast rights holders Nine and Fox Sports have given their backing for the concept, but would need the right ingredients for the American incursion to be a success.


The Rabbitohs' obvious pulling power with one of the largest membership bases in the NRL and vast television reach makes them a suitable drawcard, not to mention their previous willingness to travel abroad for World Club Challenge matches and playing Super League visitors Wigan in an international doubleheader in Sydney last month.

 

[Souths Till I Die]

I do like how Souths consistently volunteer to play in areas other than Sydney, but a week before round 1 is surely going to have some consequences on preparation.

 

[Travitoh]

Souths v Parra seems a pretty obvious choice imo. Crowe vs Hayne. They're probably the two most well known RL faces in the US along with GI who i believe has a bit of a following on youtube

 

[Rabbits20]

I do like how Souths consistently volunteer to play in areas other than Sydney, but a week before round 1 is surely going to have some consequences on preparation.

Would be great for exposure but how fatigued will the squad be the following weeks!??

As long as we don't take another home game away.

You'd have to swap out the Cairns one!

 

[Souths Till I Die]

Would be great for exposure but how fatigued will the squad be the following weeks!??

As long as we don't take another home game away.

You'd have to swap out the Cairns one!

100%. It would make much more sense to do it at the same time as we did the WCC this year. 3 weeks before the season starts.

We already do the most travelling out of any other Sydney team so hopefully this isn’t going to make things worse.

 

[Travitoh]

If given the next week off to make the fixture a possibility, fatigue shouldn't be a factor come round 2. 10+ days should be plenty to recover from a flight.

 

[Pommy]

I notice nobody is crying about the warriors playing their opener in Perth and worried about their fatigue.
Well except their own fans.

It’s a great idea the sport has to grow or die and so far Australia isn’t doing enough to help grow the game.

 

[southsport]

I notice nobody is crying about the warriors playing their opener in Perth and worried about their fatigue.
Well except their own fans.

It’s a great idea the sport has to grow or die and so far Australia isn’t doing enough to help grow the game.

Why would we cry about that? It's not our problem.

 

[Pommy]

Why would we cry about that? It's not our problem.

No but we’re happy to reap the rewards.

 

[southsport]

No but we’re happy to reap the rewards.

Yeah of course, dog eat dog.

 

[Pommy]

Yeah of course, dog eat dog.

I guess I’m just more of a rugby league fan than I am a fan of any particular club. If we had to take a hit for a week to try and grow this great game it’s a scarfice I’m more than willing to take.

 

[southsport]

I guess I’m just more of a rugby league fan than I am a fan of any particular club. If we had to take a hit for a week to try and grow this test game it’s a scarfice I’m more than willing to take.

Not me, I'm not a RL supporter, I'm a Souths supporter...........fullstop.

 

[Pommy]

Not me, I'm not a RL supporter, I'm a Souths supporter...........fullstop.

Well let’s just hope the game survives enough for Souths to survive with it.
Globalisation is here and people have more choice than ever as to what sports and teams they can follow.

I can wait for the complaints when Sam, Tom and hopefully George (big question mark there) head off to Denver mid season for a friendly.

 

[southsport]

Well let’s just hope the game survives enough for Souths to survive with it.
Globalisation is here and people have more choice than ever as to what sports and teams they can follow.

I can wait for the complaints when Sam, Tom and hopefully George (big question mark there) head off to Denver mid season for a friendly.

So true, just look at callmack, a kiwi born and bred yet he follows Souths.

 

[Pommy]

So true, just look at callmack, a kiwi born and bred yet he follows Souths.

Yeah but NZ is just the 8th state isn’t it?

 

[southsport]

Yeah but NZ is just the 8th state isn’t it?

Don't tell Jacinda that..........lol.

 

[Souths Till I Die]

lol what about all the other Sydney teams who don’t even try to expand the game into other areas? At least Souths are trying...

 

[Pommy]

lol what about all the other Sydney teams who don’t even try to expand the game into other areas? At least Souths are trying...

Most sides pay games away now don’t they? Easts in Adelaide, eels in Darwin, Manly in Perth and Panthers in South Island. That’s just off the top of my head, dragons and tigers have the problem in that they are already splitting their games between two or three areas.

 

[Souths Till I Die]

Most sides pay games away now don’t they? Easts in Adelaide, eels in Darwin, Manly in Perth and Panthers in South Island. That’s just off the top of my head, dragons and tigers have the problem in that they are already splitting their games between two or three areas.

https://www.nrl.com/news/2018/02/09/how-far-each-nrl-club-will-travel-in-2018/

The fact that we’re a Sydney club and travel more than both the Broncos and the Titans demonstrates how much harder we try.

I don’t really understand how splitting the home games into areas around Sydney is expanding the game? The goal is to actually expand the game outside of sydney.

 

[Pommy]

https://www.nrl.com/news/2018/02/09/how-far-each-nrl-club-will-travel-in-2018/

The fact that we’re a Sydney club and travel more than both the Broncos and the Titans demonstrates how much harder we try.

I don’t really understand how splitting the home games into areas around Sydney is expanding the game? The goal is to actually expand the game outside of sydney.

I’m not saying it is expanding the game, but it makes it harder to take games away if your trying to appeal to different markets. I’m not saying I agree with what happens just that I understand why it’s harder for those teams to take games away.
If it was up to me dragons would move to Wollongong and Tigers to Campbelltown full time.