US Professional Rugby League Coming Soon!!

[nadera78]

There's a lad involved at Jacksonville called Matt Thornton who played for the Tomahawks against Leeds a few years back, and at the time he was playing Arena Football, for about $25,000 a year. He reckoned he would swap codes for similar money because of the travel opportunities in tgg - who ever heard that before?!?!

So something like 20-30k would probaby be sufficient for full time US players, going up to 100k for quality imports. Mind you, you would only need to spend that on one or two from Aus or NZ. You could pick up internationals from Fiji, PNG, etc for half that amount.

 

[Random Yank]

Apart from a small handfull of games a year, soccer doesn't get on network TV here. Without the breaks, how do you propose they can accomodate the standard 12 minutes of advertising per hour the networks have in ever other sport they show?

I watch a lot of soccer on TV in the USA, allow me to comment. If you're talking about free-to-air, broadcast national networks that some people still receive with an antenna, you've got one or two MLS matches a year on ABC, without any advertising interruptions, plus World Cup matches every four years without advertising interruptions, plus no advertising interruptions on Spanish language networks for Mexican League matches and MLS matches. That's already a lot more than "a small handful of games a year". Including the Spanish networks we're talking thirty or forty matches a year. A lot more in World Cup years.

The fact is, talking about free, antenna broadcasting channels as "network TV" as though that were the only thing that really matters, is dinosaur, 20th century thinking. The vast majority of TV watchers in the USA are not limited to "network TV" anymore, and haven't been for a long time.

If you start including the cable channels that most people get with their basic cable/satellite TV package, like ESPN and ESPN2, you've got an MLS match once a week without advertising interruptions on ESPN2; you've got EUFA Champions League matches on the various ESPN channels without advertising interruptions; you've got replays of EPL matches on the local Fox Sports affiliate without advertising interruptions.

If you include channels you have to pay extra for, like Fox Soccer Channel, GolTV, and Setanta Sports, you've got live MLS, USL, EPL, FA Cup, La Liga, Serie A, etc., all live without advertising interruptions.

ABC/ESPN (or whoever has the contract) always shows World Cup and Euro Cup matches live without advertising interruptions, and has done so for years. Whoever covers Olympic soccer does the same. US men's and women's national team games have been shown live for years without commercial interruption.

Would they do this for rugby league? I've no idea. It took us soccer fans a long time, but we finally got American TV broadcasters to see reason when it came to soccer. They advertise plenty before and after the match and at half time.

 

[Random Yank]

What we really need to do is get them before they reach college, like when they are in high school. The problem is what when they have finished playing american football at a college level then they totally have to learn how to play a new game.

Rugby union has been trying to do this for years but it's very difficult for a new sport to break into high school (and younger) athletics. These youth sports organizations are dominated by gridiron (and to a lesser extent, baseball and basketball) coaches and administrators who don't look kindly on upstart, new, "foreign" sports. They practically invented the art of soccer-bashing precisely to keep new sports out.

Also I see some people talking about "NFL rejects" but what you have to remember is that not getting a spot on an NFL team need not be the end of a playing career. There's CFL, and AFL (on hiatus but it will probably be back in 2010), and some new leagues on the drawing boards (UFL, etc) and these will easily pay as much as, or more likely, more than this new rugby league competition will pay. Also there are a bunch of much smaller regional semi-pro gridiron leagues that no one ever hears about. You can't assume that every college player who fails to get drafted by the NFL is automatically going to be interested in continuing his career in a different sport he's never heard of.

 

[Random Yank]

do you think anyone in america knows who darren lockyer is??

Russell Crowe is the only person connected to rugby league that anyone living in America is likely to have ever heard of.

hell if david beckham can't kick start football in american...lockyer has f**ks chance :lol:

The is a common misconception promoted by the media. Football - soccer - did not need a "kick start"; it was doing just fine before Beckham showed up, and will continue improving long after he is gone. MLS had turned a financial corner a few years before Beckham, and had decided it could afford to allow owners to risk their own money on big name stars if they wanted to. Beckham was never expected to "kick start" or "save" American soccer; it's doing just fine, thanks. We've got SSS (soccer specific stadia) going up all over the place, we've got lots of new owners coming into the USL and MLS. USL and MLS are expanding in spite of the current economic crisis. Beckham? Who he?

 

[miguel de cervantes]

So Random Yank, just out of curiosity, what attracted you here?

 

[Random Yank]

Texas and Arizona are not 'towns', are not on the East Coast and there is no RL played in either of those states

Someone mentioned that there might be an LA team though I think, so can't see them going with two California teams. Provided the whole thing is real, of course.

Do people outside the USA understand how big California is, both in terms of geography, and in population? It's huge. It could easily support three or four rugby league teams if there were owners willing to buy in; you could easily put a team in San Diego, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay area, and Sacramento, and have four large markets that are each several hours drive away from the next closest market.

California used to be a big rugby union state, in the early 20th century. UC Berkeley and Stanford University used to play "the big game" against each other in rugby union, not gridiron. IIRC the California RU even expressed an interest in rugby league back in the 1920's or 1930's.

 

[Random Yank]

So Random Yank, just out of curiosity, what attracted you here?

A link from Something Awful forum.

Plus I've been interested in both rugby codes for years, but it's incredibly difficult to find any kind of rugby on American TV. Or any other non-American sport, for that matter. My first exposure to rugby was in the late 1970's when ABC's Wide World of Sports televised a RFL cup final match between Hull FC and Hull Kingston Rovers. I was a kid at the time and did not know the distinction between union and league.

Also, I was a huge NASL fan back then; contra what some have been lead to believe, NASL was very successful in places like New York, Tampa Bay, Ft. Lauderdale, San Jose, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Minnesota, Chicago, Toronto, Tulsa, etc. It was wild overspending on player salaries, rapid over expansion in the late 1970's with too many fly-by-night owners, combined with an economic downturn that killed off the NASL, not lack of fans or lack of native American players. NASL laid the foundation for the success MLS and USL are having now; and people who don't think soccer is successful in the USA right now, are either grossly uninformed on the matter (likely only paying attention to old media coverage of soccer, not new media) or they have a wildly overinflated definition of 'success'. If rugby league can stay realistic in its goals I don't see why it could not also be a success in the USA - just not an 'overnight success'. It's going to take a lot of effort over many decades to become an accepted part of the sports scene over here.

Edit to add: I see reading this thread that there is a strong Philadelphia connection with this proposed new league, both in the people putting this together and the fact they plan to play their first grand final in Philadelphia on July 4th (nice touch).

So, coincidentally, it just so happens that Philadelphia's new MLS franchise starts play in 2010, and they have just started construction on their new stadium (in Chester, just outside Philly) which will be ready for start of the MLS 2010 season in March 2010.

I don't know where the Philly rugby league team plans to play, but MLS will have a nice shiny new stadium ready to rent out if they are interested and if the MLS Philly team isn't playing a home match on July 4th 2010.

Others have mentioned Utah. There's a shiny new MLS stadium there; Rio Tinto Stadium. Los Angeles has the Home Depot Center, home of LA Galaxy and Chivas USA. Also the LA Sol; schedule might be a bit too busy there for a rugby league team. Denver Colorado has a new MLS stadium, Dick's Sporting Goods Park. If they end up putting a team in Chicago, Chicago Fire has a nice MLS SSS, Toyota Park, which has hosted a number of rugby union matches over the past few years.

This wiki on soccer specific stadia is a good resource to look for smaller stadia that might be useful for rugby league:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soccer-specific_stadium

 

[nadera78]

Interesting stuff Random.
Cheers.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

Anyone else get the newsletter? Nothing terribly new to report but nice to get something after signing up. It seems a TV deal is definitely done though and franchise owners and cities are probably sorted too.

For anyone who didn't get it here it is.

[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]NRL US - NEWSLETTER - MARCH 2009[/FONT]

[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]BRINGING PROFESSIONAL
RUGBY LEAGUE TO AMERICA[/FONT]

www.nrlus.com​

THE ROAD TO NRL 2010​

​

• 2009 NATIONAL TRYOUTS

A series of tryouts open to all athletes, local and foreign, will be held in selected locations around the country. Registration information and locations will be announced soon. Players will be selected from each tryout to attend the NRL Pre-Draft Camp for final evaluation to enter the inaugural NRL Draft. 176 players will be selected for 8 professional teams with 22 man fulltime playing rosters.​

• 2009 AMNRL DOMESTIC COMPETITION

The American National Rugby League (www.amnrl.com) competition will provide an ideal platform for new and existing players to hone their skills and prepare for selection to the NRL professional league. ​

• 2009 NRL PRE-DRAFT CAMP

Day 1 – Friday, October 9​

Day 2 – Saturday, October 10​

Day 3 – Sunday, October 11​

• 2009 INAUGURAL NRL DRAFT

Friday, November 7
​

• 2010 NRL SEASON KICKOFF

Friday, March 12​

• 2010 NRL REGULAR SEASON

March 12 through June 11​

• 2010 NRL PLAYOFFS

June 18 and June 25
​

• 2010 NRL CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

Sunday, July 4 – Philadelphia​

NRL 2010 COMING ANNOUNCEMENTS:

• TELEVISION PARTNERSHIP

Stay tuned for exciting news regarding the television broadcast of NRL games.​

• NRL TEAM OPERATOR/OWNERS

Who will be the brains behind each team off the field?
​

• NRL TEAM HEAD COACHES

Who will shape the teams on field performance and present a world class rugby league competition?
​

• NRL TEAM LOCATIONS

Where will the NRL teams be located? What cities? And what venues will they play in?​

• NRL REALITY TV SERIES

What better way to introduce the great game of Rugby League and its rules to a vast national audience then via a unique reality/documentary series that will chronicle the development of the league, the assembly of the teams, and the recruitment of the players. Follow the journey of the characters and personalities trying to earn a professional contract, and the minds behind the task of building a new sports league in the USA.​

 

[East Coast Tiger]

There's also some more info on the try-outs on the website. Interesting that they will have try-outs in a number of regions, incuding the mid-west which doesn't seem to have a team yet!

__________________________________________________________________

The open tryouts for the NRL USA 2010 professional league will be an exciting process in the identification and recruitment of elite talent throughout America, and beyond these shores. Athletes from all sporting fields will be encouraged to showcase their talents in a series of evaluations to measure; power, speed, agility, stamina, game specific skills, and game knowledge.
All interested athletes and players will be obligated to participate in at least one of the series of tryouts. Tryouts will be located in various cities around America which will allow candidates to participate in a tryout that is closest to them. For example, tryout locations will be setup in cities in the Northeast, West, Midwest, and Southeast that are easily accessible.

Whilst the interest from foreign based professional rugby players is tremendous, the NRL USA want to emphasize that ALL players must be registered in the tryout process to be eligible to be selected to the Final Pre Draft Camp to enter the Inaugural NRL USA Draft.
Information will be announced soon regarding tryout locations, to give all interested players the opportunity to make plans to attend the tryout best suited to them.
Athletes will also be encouraged to prepare by joining AMNRL teams in the 2009 season, and not only develop their skills but also be noticed by league scouts in weekly competition.
Player applications and expressions of interest can be registered through a system that will be available on the NRL USA website soon.

 

[Big Picture]

Also I see some people talking about "NFL rejects" but what you have to remember is that not getting a spot on an NFL team need not be the end of a playing career. There's CFL, and AFL (on hiatus but it will probably be back in 2010), and some new leagues on the drawing boards (UFL, etc) and these will easily pay as much as, or more likely, more than this new rugby league competition will pay. Also there are a bunch of much smaller regional semi-pro gridiron leagues that no one ever hears about. You can't assume that every college player who fails to get drafted by the NFL is automatically going to be interested in continuing his career in a different sport he's never heard of.

The CFL and Arena League combined have no more than half as many teams as the NFL, each with smaller rosters and paying far less. I for one don't expect most of the guys who don't get to the pro ranks to be interested, but that's perfectly OK. With about 19,000 players leaving college football every year, if even 1% decide to try out for it that's a lot of potential players.

As for RL being "foreign," the parallels between it and American football are strong enough the game to be marketed as a brand of football in the American sense of the word. That jumped out at me the first time I saw the game and it will to others too.

 

[joshreading]

I think one of the interesting things in looking at the possibilities is the stadium issues. Good suitable size stadiums are crucial. For Pro NRL you can imagine we would not need huge stadiums but still suitable size with corporate facilities. Thus the proliferation of Soccer Specific Stadiums in the USA should help


Eg.

New York - Rochester Stadium - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAETEC_Park
Denver - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick's_Sporting_Goods_Park
Los Angeles - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Depot_Center (AEG who owns this and nearly any team in it might be interested in being an owner)

Anyway, love to dream. Lets hope this all comes off.

 

[The Tank]

Is the New York franchise going to be in NYC, New Jersey, or up north?

 

[Sam_the_man]

I think one of the interesting things in looking at the possibilities is the stadium issues. Good suitable size stadiums are crucial. For Pro NRL you can imagine we would not need huge stadiums but still suitable size with corporate facilities. Thus the proliferation of Soccer Specific Stadiums in the USA should help


Eg.

New York - Rochester Stadium - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAETEC_Park
Denver - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick's_Sporting_Goods_Park
Los Angeles - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Depot_Center (AEG who owns this and nearly any team in it might be interested in being an owner)

Anyway, love to dream. Lets hope this all comes off.

Those stadiums are a good size for rugby league, will the American soccer rent them to the AMNRL?

Two thoughts strike me: 1, They need to beg Russell Crowe to help them launch with some sort of media blizt. 2, For the 8 teams....they should pair up with either an NRL or ESL club, get that club to come to the opening day match along with another team from the ESL or NRL for either a curtain raiser game or to be the main game.

 

[krudmonk]

New York - Rochester Stadium - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAETEC_Park

Rochester is a city in New York state. It's 5.5 hours from NYC.

 

[RedVee]

What other Aussies would be useful?
Greg Norman? Hugh Jackman? some of the golfers? Any one else have a presence in the US?

 

[druzik]

What other Aussies would be useful?
Greg Norman? Hugh Jackman? some of the golfers? Any one else have a presence in the US?

But they need to have an interest in RL... there is no point just getting any body willy nilly if they cant show true passion for the Game.

Rusty lives and breathes the sport.

 

[kiwileaguefan]

The Rock likes rugby league, Batista loves Ruben Wiki and Americans love Wrestling!!

 

[babyg]

This comp is looking better each day. I'd love to see the tomahawkes tour Australia one day.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

This comp is looking better each day. I'd love to see the tomahawkes tour Australia one day.

It wouldn't be the first time. They used to come every year around February.

As for RL fans in the US there was a rumour that Vin Diesel was a fan. I can't remember why or how but it could be true. Most of the golfers are from NSW and Qld so they might have an interest. Elle McPherson was number one ticket holder at the Sharks a few years ago when her dad was club preisdent or something. Tom Cruise went to a game back in '99 and Crowe also got Souths some publicity with people like Snoop Dogg and Jay Leno in more recent times. He really needs to be involved. He could buy one of the clubs - the Rhode Island Rabbitohs, or maybe the South Carolina Rabbitohs so they could still be called Souths. He'd have a better chance of winning a comp over there too.