RLIF in talks to start US Pro League

[The Daddy3]

As announced in the League Express interview with David Collier.
Interesting developments and looks to be more serious than initially thought.
It said the RLIF was in discussion with a number of parties to make this happen.
If we can get a foothold in the most lucrative sporting market in the world it will give the sport a huge lift.
Let's hope it happens, RL is perfect for the typical American sports viewer with the structured play being similar to US football and skill levels on a par with basketball.

 

[Benny]

As announced in the League Express interview with David Collier.
Interesting developments and looks to be more serious than initially thought.
It said the RLIF was in discussion with a number of parties to make this happen.
If we can get a foothold in the most lucrative sporting market in the world it will give the sport a huge lift.
Let's hope it happens, RL is perfect for the typical American sports viewer with the structured play being similar to US football and skill levels on a par with basketball.

Links to article?

 

[The Daddy3]

Links to article?

The article is on another RL website/forum, can I link to this?

 

[The Daddy3]

http://www.totalrl.com/rlif-talks-launch-major-domestic-league-north-america/

 

[VictoryFC]

RU's pro league that kicked off this year has been anything but a success, unless we consider crowds of 1-2k a success. Takes a lot more than having a similarity to NFL to make things happen over there.

 

[Last Week]

It's great ambition, and it should be capitalised on while the iron is hot. I just hope the ground work is done.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

I just looked up the pro union comp and it's pretty pathetic. They have five teams, all but one from the west of the country, and the average attendances range from 900-odd up to 2100.

If we're going to set up a comp it's going to need a lot of investment and probably a big tv deal to make something like that viable. The top players earn about the same as NRL rookies and the average wage is below the national average personal income so a lot of players would only be semi-pro. Even so you're looking at close to AU$1m a year in player wages.

 

[Perth Red]

Are the USA RL bodies still at each others throats? In typical RL style even though the game is hardly established they still manage to get factional fighting going on!

 

[East Coast Tiger]

There's only one governing body now.

 

[Whatwhere]

RU's pro league that kicked off this year has been anything but a success, unless we consider crowds of 1-2k a success. Takes a lot more than having a similarity to NFL to make things happen over there.

The first season was considered a beta year. They were rushed into getting a product to market as part of their sanctioning agreement with USARugby which means their promotion was a little lacking. The important thing was many of their live broadcasts actually drew encouraging numbers (200k+).

 

[Whatwhere]

I just looked up the pro union comp and it's pretty pathetic. They have five teams, all but one from the west of the country, and the average attendances range from 900-odd up to 2100.

If we're going to set up a comp it's going to need a lot of investment and probably a big tv deal to make something like that viable. The top players earn about the same as NRL rookies and the average wage is below the national average personal income so a lot of players would only be semi-pro. Even so you're looking at close to AU$1m a year in player wages.

Bagging out a competition that actually has managed to achieve what no one has been able to in its own sports despite several previous attempts and is light years ahead of RL seems a bit rich.

As for number of teams. They are set to add three more from the East for season two.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

That's three more teams spending a million a year on players on crowds of 1000.

 

[Perth Red]

Doesn't worry French union teams! End of day if revenue or rich owners are paying for it then it will be sustained. As said bit rich bagging it considering it is light years ahead of RL in America.

 

[VictoryFC]

The first season was considered a beta year. They were rushed into getting a product to market as part of their sanctioning agreement with USARugby which means their promotion was a little lacking. The important thing was many of their live broadcasts actually drew encouraging numbers (200k+).

200k haha. sure thing pal. Please dont direct me to a press release; im not gonna believe it

 

[East Coast Tiger]

In the context of this discussion it's pretty f**king relevant that the only current pro rugby comp in America has only five teams and averages about 1500 crowds. It has nothing to do with the relative strength of the sports. It's about what a pro league might look like based on the evidence.

 

[alien]

http://www.totalrl.com/rlif-talks-launch-major-domestic-league-north-america/

So this new competition might not just be teams from the United States, but Canadian teams too. That would be good, and I think there should be a team from Jamaica too.

 

[ParraEelsNRL]

Bagging out a competition that actually has managed to achieve what no one has been able to in its own sports despite several previous attempts and is light years ahead of RL seems a bit rich.

As for number of teams. They are set to add three more from the East for season two.

Fair go, rugby league has only been played for 15 odd years with weekly games semi regularly in the USA. Union a century longer more or less nationwide.

 

[adamkungl]

$1 million-odd per team seems about right to scrape the bare minimum of what you could call professional.

You'd want to structure it pretty smartly to avoid unnecessary travel costs in the early stages, but plan for a bigger future if/when the opportunity arises.

Looking at the Union example is valid for ideas, both good and bad. They have 5 teams spread across the country playing 12 rounds. Which is a bit of an ugly format.

I'd start with 6 teams in the east, playing a 10 round home-away:
Ottawa
New York
Philadelphia
Chicago
Atlanta
Jacksonville

The current USARL would continue as an amateur feeder/reserve league.

Gradually introduce western teams as the league can afford to, with the aim of setting up a conference league.

 

[IntRLEnthusiast]

This could be huge!! It's Just what Rugby League needs!! Finally some vision!! But Obviously it's also going to be hard to achieve!! Getting things right is going to matter..
- Picking the right markets
- Dealing with the travel costs
- Getting sponsers on board
- Tv Coverage

But if they are willing to spend money to get it going it could be the breakthrough. Rugby League has always needed a 3rd major league and the US is a good place for this because if successful it won't just be swallowed up by NRL or ESL.. Lets hope it can be done and done well!

 

[adamkungl]

Imagine if the US and France have pro leagues within 10 years... probably never gonna happen lol