Seasons 2019 and 2020 to start in America

[Diesel]

The proposal is to play a Round 1 game there, so how can you instead play the Round before? There is no Round 0.

FFS, you obviously can read English, just not understand it.
I wasn’t talking about round 0

 

[Canard]

DC fan doesn't rate the NHL.

That's good enough for me

 

[kdalymc]

Yay and stuff, but honestly all it will do is promote rugby union

 

[ed-grimley]

Can they play the game on USS enterprise and have Cher signing the national anthem pre game?

xoxo

It was the USS Missouri in Cher's clip.

 

[_Johnsy]

I'd like to see half of Round 1 next year in the USA with the other half in Canada.

They should just bite the bullet & play the entire Rnd 1 in USA, then a weeks break to allow for travel recovery etc.

Mass marketing etc (Keep Lodge at home), if done correctly could be brilliant, however this is the NRL so it will be a 1/2 baked attempt.

Play 8 games over the one weekend, each game in a different city.

Easiest way to ensure as much of a level playing field for all 16 teams if this USA idea goes ahead.

 

[Timbo]

I really don't see the point of this. The NRL will do it completely half baked - like they always do - and it'll be played in front of 5,000 people at the StubHub Centre and the 'national' TV deal they secure will be to stream it via Fox Soccer or one of the other channels no one watches.

They'll then pat themselves on the back and talk about how they've exposed the game to 300 million people.

The American sports market is the most competitive in the world and the NRL thinks they can get a foothold? They can't even get people to watch league in f**king Adelaide for Christ's sake.

 

[THE CHAMP]

Play the Broncos vs dragons game there. Dragons home game of course

 

[emesssea]

I really don't see the point of this. The NRL will do it completely half baked - like they always do - and it'll be played in front of 5,000 people at the StubHub Centre and the 'national' TV deal they secure will be to stream it via Fox Soccer or one of the other channels no one watches.

They'll then pat themselves on the back and talk about how they've exposed the game to 300 million people.

The American sports market is the most competitive in the world and the NRL thinks they can get a foothold? They can't even get people to watch league in f**king Adelaide for Christ's sake.

It already is.

If done right, and this would require Fox Sports giving a crap, is could be a success. The Fox Soccer 2 go stream subscription is about to take a hit with Fox losing the rights to the Champions League after this season; its marquee event will be the Bundesliga, and frankly most American soccer fans watch the EPL so they wont be rushing to pay 140 dollars year to be able to watch Freiburg-Mainz.

So if Fox would show the occasional NRL match during this season plus a live airing and a more US time friendly reair of the Grand Final on FS1, all the while promoting next seasons US based match and the ability to see all the NRL matches plus Super League matches via FoxSoccer2go, it may get people interested.

Remember when a fledgling sports channel, which didnt have many tv rights to major sports in the US, filled air time by showing AFL matches, it gained a cult following here that still remain, and even today Fox Sports will air a live AFL match (whichever one kicks off around 9-10 pm Pacific time) on Saturdays on FS1 or FS2.

 

[hrundi99]

I don’t rate the NHL highly. It would rank #6 in American team sports, just in front of Soccer. Yes MLB spring training does draw some attention.

Get f**ked...

League Revenues (bn) TV Revenue
National Football League $13.0 $7.2 bn
Major League Baseball $9.5 $1.5 bn
National Basketball Association $5.2 $2.6 bn
National Hockey League $3.7 $600 m
Major League Soccer $0.6 $90 m

"Just in front of soccer"

 

[emesssea]

Get f**ked...

League Revenues (bn) TV Revenue
National Football League $13.0 $7.2 bn
Major League Baseball $9.5 $1.5 bn
National Basketball Association $5.2 $2.6 bn
National Hockey League $3.7 $600 m
Major League Soccer $0.6 $90 m

"Just in front of soccer"

He said soccer not MLS. No one would argue MLS lags behind any other national league in the US, but soccer overall is probably a bigger sports. I live in SoCal which has two NHL teams with 3 stanley cup wins between the two of them in the past 12 years, and I'd probably be able to strike a up a conversation about Barcelona with a random stranger than about the Ducks, and thats without factoring in all the Liga MX fans. The EPL probably has just as many if not more games aired on NBC as the NHL does.

 

[Captain Apollo]

FFS, you obviously can read English, just not understand it.
I wasn’t talking about round 0

Ok, so I misread and mis-interpreted it. Hence why I did question it because as I did not understand when I read it, yet I did not ridicule you did I? No. Shame you could not reply in kind instead of in the sarcastic and rude manner you have. Berk.

 

[DC80]

He said soccer not MLS. No one would argue MLS lags behind any other national league in the US, but soccer overall is probably a bigger sports. I live in SoCal which has two NHL teams with 3 stanley cup wins between the two of them in the past 12 years, and I'd probably be able to strike a up a conversation about Barcelona with a random stranger than about the Ducks, and thats without factoring in all the Liga MX fans. The EPL probably has just as many if not more games aired on NBC as the NHL does.

My brother lives in Austin, Texas and tells a similar story. Multi screen bars show EPL games and big games involving Barcelona/Real Madrid, rarely has he seen an NHL game and said kids would struggle to name a player. He also mentioned baseball’s lack of current big name players and states it doesn’t have the profile/interest it once had.

It’s silly to compare domestic league figures as some sort of gauge of profile. The MLS is a fledgling league (and a retirement home for top players). The domestic league in Ireland aint great either in terms of money generated, but when it comes to money spent on the EPL/internationals it dwarfs every other sport. The highest number of ticket applications (and travelling fans) for the 2014 World Cup came from the US.

This is a similar type scenario my brother refers to, LA sports bar, Barcelona vs Madrid.

 

[hrundi99]

Yes your anecdotal evidence clearly disproves the facts I presented above.

Fair dinkum.

 

[RazorRam0n]

Play the Broncos vs dragons game there. Dragons home game of course

yes mandatory all squad players must fly no excemptions....then lodge incarcerated until he pays up.

 

[emesssea]

Yes your anecdotal evidence clearly disproves the facts I presented above.

Fair dinkum.

Neither of us has argued that MLS was bigger than the NHL, in fact I think we both agree that its not. The evidence you provided doesnt prove Hockey is bigger than soccer in the US. Where DC80 and I feel soccer is the bigger of the two.

The only evidence I have on that is NBC in its contract with the EPL will air 20 matches on its broadcast network, where as if Im reading the details correctly theyll show 17 NHL games on their broadcast network.

Not to mention NBC is the only network that shows the NHL nationally on its channels, where as the EPL is shown nationally on NBC, Bundesliga nationally on Fox, and MLS on both ESPN and Fox. I'm currently watching my 2nd of 3 soccer games today (1 Bundesliga and 2 MLS), on top of the two Bundesliga games I watched yesterday. Hockey fans can only dream of having those kind of options.

No offense, but I think we have a better feel for what sports are bigger in our country than you, much like you will always have better viewpoint on Australian sports than us. Hockey is gradually becoming more and more of a niche sport,and ESPN barely acknowledges it, but they have no problem showing highlights from the EPL, La Liga, and Champions League and has a daily show dedicated to talking soccer.

 

[LESStar58]

It was the USS Missouri in Cher's clip.

Isn't that the same ship from "Under Seige"?

 

[ed-grimley]

Isn't that the same ship from "Under Seige"?

Wiki says yes. It was evidently in another movie - Battleship. It is currently moored at Pearl Harbour.

 

[PANTHERMIKE]

Dont half the NRL players have criminal records? Might make it hard to get into the country

 

[The Vaulting Violinist]

What state?

I’d be tempted for Vegas...the rugby sevens seem to work ok there

New York is the other obvious one but so hard to get attention in the city

They could also do a decent sized city that is starved of an NFL team?

 

[Albert Rosenfeld]

Still with cable/satellite Fox USA showing the game it would have less exposure on US TV than the All Blacks vs USA rugby union game held in Chicago a couple of years ago. That match was on network free to air NBC on a Sunday afternoon.

Moreover, the problem with playing a game in the USA is that you cannot get a time that is good for attracting US fans and TV viewers, and also Australian TV viewers. It is just not possible.

March in USA, 8pm US East coast is 12 noon the next day in Australia. The only way that is remotely attractive is if the Saturday 8pm is San Francisco west coast time which is 3 pm Sunday in Australia.