But the real watch is how many eyeballs rugby leagueโs latest US foray attracts after an average audience of just 61,000 tuned in to watch last yearโs Sea Eagles-Rabbitohs season opener on cable networkโs Fox Sports 1.
That broadcast missed the first 17 minutes too when the preceding college basketball match went into overtime, while the NRLโs Roosters-Broncos audience dropped to 44,000.
Penrith-Cronulla, the womenโs Test and Super League match will occupy the same FS1 and FOX Soccer Plus airwaves this year.
But that doesnโt diminish the significance of rugby league cracking the US free-to-air market for the first time, when come 4pm local time the Warriors and Raiders will be broadcast live on FOX – which can reach 125 million American households.
โItโs huge, itโs effectively opening rugby league up to a bigger audience than it has ever had and weโve brought on new sponsors because of that, and the Las Vegas event in general,โ Abdo said.
โThe reach of introducing fans who watch FOX free-to-air, to introduce them to the sport and get that exposure on a network channel, weโll see a much bigger US audience engaged and watching the NRL.โ
Penrithโs Nathan Cleary and Cronullaโs Sione Katoa are Las Vegas-bound.Credit: NRL Photos
Abdo and Vโlandys have always argued a true reflection of rugby leagueโs Vegas venture wonโt be clear until years four and five of its deal with the Nevada government.
NRL club figures believe the gameโs outlay on its maiden voyage cost as much as $15 million, though head office has always kept its Vegas spending under wraps.
The much-touted push into US betting markets remains a work in progress too.
โWeโve still got a month to go in terms of ticket sales, but weโve sold out corporate inventory, brought on new sponsors, increased subscribers in America and made gains in global streaming rights,โ Abdo said.
โThe fact that weโve expanded and have even more fans attending now is a good thing for a long-term strategy to take rugby league to the rest of the world.โ
The biggest question ahead of Las Vegas: who blows the Raiders viking horn?Credit: Getty Images
Abdo declined to speculate on the most pressing question of all – who will blow the Raiders pre-game viking horn, but vowed to help however possible in Canberra CEO Don Furnerโs pursuit of a Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski or newly minted president Donald Trump to do the honours.
All in on the All Stars
While the NRL chases the stars, stripes and bright lights of Vegas, the traditional Indigenous All Stars fixture is struggling to find its place on rugby leagueโs stage.
This yearโs Indigenous side is already going to be without a slew of its best players for the February 15 clash with Adam Blairโs Maori side.
Indigenous stars Cody Walker, Nicho Hynes, Josh Addo-Carr and Latrell Mitchell will all miss the All Stars clash.Credit: Monique Westermann
Latrell Mitchell, Josh Addo-Carr (both suspension), Cody Walker, Nicho Hynes, Braydon Trindall, Will Kennedy, Jesse Ramien, Bradman Best and Adam Elliott have all pulled out, and the NRL is exploring shifting the game to another point in the season.
โThe All Stars will always be part of the calendar as far as Iโm concerned, it is such an important match and week for the game,โ Abdo said.
โWeโll continue to look at when the best time to play it is, because in the last couple of years, [a mid-February schedule] has been difficult.
โWe want to make sure that everyone who wants to play is able to and that there isnโt too much pressure on the players.โ
Critics have lined up the NRL allowing Mitchell and Addo-Carr to serve a match of their respective off-field suspensions in the All Stars too, as the likes of Reece Walsh and Brandon Smith have done previously.
โThatโs just an application of the rules, weโve always consistently treated the All Stars as a representative fixture and always will,โ Abdo said.
โPlayers and clubs are able to make that application like they would with Test matches and Origin, and those playersโ selection [for the All Stars] was virtually automatic given theyโve played for the Indigenous side so consistently over the years.โ
The broadcaster bucks
Discussions will begin in earnest this year around the NRLโs next broadcasting deal beyond 2027, with an expanded competition including Papua New Guinea and most likely Perth opening up potential new season structures and TV time slots.
NRL bosses Andrew Abdo and Peter Vโlandys.Credit: Nick Moir
Nothing is on or off the table given the three years still to run on the current deals with Foxtel and Nine (publishers of this masthead), and the rapidly changing times for traditional broadcasters, where Foxtel has just been acquired by UK sports streaming platform DAZN.
A clamourย for streaming live sport is predicted from domestic operators (such as Nineโs Stan Sport) and international giants like Netflix and Amazon. New anti-siphoning laws passed in mid-2024 also contain a loophole that could allow such streaming services to outbid local free-to-air providers for digital rights to sport broadcasts.
Adding a distinctly rugby league flavour to the mix is the codeโs record-breaking ratings in recent years, up against the long-held angst of the AFLโs last broadcasting deal outstripping the NRLโs.
The NFLโs model of individual assets like Monday and Thursday night football being sold to different broadcasters offers one means of capitalising on a shifting market.
โBut you need to think about making sure that the game is accessible and easy to watch too,โ Abdo says of engaging multiple broadcasters and platforms. โIt could be that you have a party that owns exclusive or non-exclusive rights to a particular day of football or a particular type of football.
โSo how we monetise the womenโs game, how we monetise the State of Origin or the internationals, all of that is an opportunity for us to think about how we allocate the rights to try and get the best possible deal for the game.โ
Time for a trade time
Player contracts and movements will always dominate both rugby leagueโs news cycle and discontent among supporters.
Dylan Brownโs contract saga is the latest to dominate the headlines.Credit: Getty Images
A tightening up of contract negotiation periods has been mooted forever, and pushed back on by the RLPA for just as long.
The NRL backed away from its most recent transfer window model when the last Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations came to a standstill.
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Mid-season transfer periods and limiting playersโ ability to sign with rival clubs more than a year in advance remain in the NRLโs thinking. However Abdo is wary of speaking out of school ahead of the next CBA talks, which align with the 2027 broadcast negotiations.
โThereโs a working group that was identified as part of the CBA, which will include the clubs and players association to try and look at a [contract] model that is stronger and better for everyone than the current model,โ he said.
โI donโt want to foreshadow what that working group will come up with. I fully respect the right of the athlete to maximise their earnings. Itโs just about making sure that we do it in a way that is not disruptive or a distraction for teams and fans in the season.
โIt was identified as something that needs to be focused on now to get it right ahead of any new broadcast deal.โ