Play Nice 2024 Non AFL Crowds/Ratings and other Industry thread

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Undoubtedly a well-run, hard working story that did all it could realistically set out to achieve in year one.

Perhaps it should have been left at that and claims of millions of gambling sponsorship, US-based interest, NRL streaming app signups and it being a guaranteed fixture for years on end with major TV broadcasting shouldn't have been the discussion points before the start of the match, because a stadium that was mainly filled by travelling and expat Australians doesn't allow for that in the long-term.
 
It will be very interesting to see how the NRL handle the on field racial accusation that has been made. They will want the focus to be on the perceived success of the venture.
 

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15k Aussies went over to Vegas with extra 5-7k from UK NZ Canada. That's 20k visitors nrl brought to Vegas surely the Nevada Government will start paying nrl to go there once the initial agreement is over as its such a great boost to their economy and use of their new stadium when NFL is on off-season.
Bear in mind there were 60km winds during the day which probably stopped extra fans walking up buying tickets.
 
Vlandys does good things

Las Vegas what a masterstroke. With 4 big clubs.

What do they AFL do. Send port and suns to China. LOL

Imagine if the AFL sent Collingwood and Carlton or Brisbane or West Coast to Las Vegas.
Loads of Aussies would of travelled.

Lads trip to Vegas or China to watch a s**t boring game. LOL

Its like have gather round in BoringLaide.
 
Vlandys does good things

Las Vegas what a masterstroke. With 4 big clubs.

What do they AFL do. Send port and suns to China. LOL

Imagine if the AFL sent Collingwood and Carlton or Brisbane or West Coast to Las Vegas.
Loads of Aussies would of travelled.


Lads trip to Vegas or China to watch a s**t boring game. LOL

Its like have gather round in BoringLaide.
Not sure how that helps the sport though.
 
15k Aussies went over to Vegas with extra 5-7k from UK NZ Canada. That's 20k visitors nrl brought to Vegas surely the Nevada Government will start paying nrl to go there once the initial agreement is over as its such a great boost to their economy and use of their new stadium when NFL is on off-season.
Bear in mind there were 60km winds during the day which probably stopped extra fans walking up buying tickets.
Las Vegas gets over forty million tourists per year. Not sure why their Govt would pay for the 15k bogan Aussie fans and their low value Aussie dollars.
 
Vlandys does good things

Las Vegas what a masterstroke. With 4 big clubs.

What do they AFL do. Send port and suns to China. LOL

Imagine if the AFL sent Collingwood and Carlton or Brisbane or West Coast to Las Vegas.
Loads of Aussies would of travelled.

Lads trip to Vegas or China to watch a s**t boring game. LOL

Its like have gather round in BoringLaide.
I’m a fan of V’landys and Las Vegas was a strong success (pending tv ratings). But let’s not deride the AFL by comparison in the debate on this. Las Vegas a great venture but the AFL know the real war is won on home soil and that’s why it’s spending $1B on grassroots expansion, largely in growth markets. That investment will endure the AFL keep creeping into NRL heartland, impacting market share for the NRL. NRL, is still not investing enough in these areas comparatively and irrespective of what happens in the US, thus remains the big concern moving forward.

It might win battles but the AFL is still positioned well to win the long and protracted war.
 

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I’m a fan of V’landys and Las Vegas was a strong success (pending tv ratings). But let’s not deride the AFL by comparison in the debate on this. Las Vegas a great venture but the AFL know the real war is won on home soil and that’s why it’s spending $1B on grassroots expansion, largely in growth markets. That investment will endure the AFL keep creeping into NRL heartland, impacting market share for the NRL. NRL, is still not investing enough in these areas comparatively and irrespective of what happens in the US, thus remains the big concern moving forward.

It might win battles but the AFL is still positioned well to win the long and protracted war.
V'Landys has said himself though that the main thrust behind the Vegas venture is to sign a lucrative US tv and betting deal and plow money from the deals into grassroots RL, to counter the AFL strategy.
 
V'Landys has said himself though that the main thrust behind the Vegas venture is to sign a lucrative US tv and betting deal and plow money from the deals into grassroots RL, to counter the AFL strategy.
And that’s a wait and see. It could take another 3-5 years before they generate the extra hundreds of millions it wants / needs. In all honesty, it needs to invest its money now. It can’t wait another 2-5 years. By then the Lions might’ve won a flag, the Suns could be winning finals and the AFLs surge accelerating.

I’m in SEQ, the AFL is growing very quickly up here. The work the AFL have done in grassroots the last decade has cemented itself with higher share already and right now there’s no reason to believe this won’t continue for at least the foreseeable future.

As I said, Las Vegas was great. A success. But it can’t get distracted by the glitz and glamour of it all and keep taking their eye off the bank robber who’s currently rummaging through its ‘house’ while they’re not home.,
 
V'Landys has said himself though that the main thrust behind the Vegas venture is to sign a lucrative US tv and betting deal and plow money from the deals into grassroots RL, to counter the AFL strategy.
Which should immediately disqualify him from holding the role, because that simply will not happen. Making these claims are just so far beyond any reasonable leadership that I'm surprised they haven't been criticised more in the media.

Where is millions of US-based dollars - if any from betting companies, end consumers, media companies, whatever - going to come from when a bog-standard Thursday Night game is being broadcast at 4am on a Friday Morning in the US?

I think people saying the event being a "success" are missing the point. What the NRL set out to achieve, correctly was a success and probably overachieved given that the crowd was probably bigger than they expected when announcing it last year (unabashed media promotion notwithstanding, which clearly would have convinced a few more Australians to make the trip).

But what was the point? The venture was still loss-making, the very facts about nobody in the US caring about the NRL will continue into the future, and the realities of how gambling revenue generated and the time zones will also continue into the future.
 
Vlandys does good things

Las Vegas what a masterstroke. With 4 big clubs.

What do they AFL do. Send port and suns to China. LOL

Imagine if the AFL sent Collingwood and Carlton or Brisbane or West Coast to Las Vegas.
Loads of Aussies would of travelled.

Lads trip to Vegas or China to watch a s**t boring game. LOL

Its like have gather round in BoringLaide.
Difference is that the AFL's China venture was a Port-driven strategy which was in turn driven by Chinese and Chinese attempts to gather soft power by impressing themselves onto Australian cultural phenomenon. Port were actually being sponsored by Chinese companies. There was an active desire by China. Port will insist to this day that the net overall result of the Chinese venture was profitable for the club. You know, like Gather Round was for the AFL.
 
And that’s a wait and see. It could take another 3-5 years before they generate the extra hundreds of millions it wants / needs. In all honesty, it needs to invest its money now. It can’t wait another 2-5 years. By then the Lions might’ve won a flag, the Suns could be winning finals and the AFLs surge accelerating.

I’m in SEQ, the AFL is growing very quickly up here. The work the AFL have done in grassroots the last decade has cemented itself with higher share already and right now there’s no reason to believe this won’t continue for at least the foreseeable future.

As I said, Las Vegas was great. A success. But it can’t get distracted by the glitz and glamour of it all and keep taking their eye off the bank robber who’s currently rummaging through its ‘house’ while they’re not home.,
All good points that you make. I do wonder though if the AFL need to think about increasing its revenue beyond just relying on local media deals. If the NRL gets the overseas deals it wants, it has the potential to have significantly more cash than the AFL and therefore a bigger warchest the combat the AFL plans in non footy areas.

Doe the AFL need to look for sources of revenue overseas?
 
Which should immediately disqualify him from holding the role, because that simply will not happen. Making these claims are just so far beyond any reasonable leadership that I'm surprised they haven't been criticised more in the media.

Where is millions of US-based dollars - if any from betting companies, end consumers, media companies, whatever - going to come from when a bog-standard Thursday Night game is being broadcast at 4am on a Friday Morning in the US?

I think people saying the event being a "success" are missing the point. What the NRL set out to achieve, correctly was a success and probably overachieved given that the crowd was probably bigger than they expected when announcing it last year (unabashed media promotion notwithstanding, which clearly would have convinced a few more Australians to make the trip).

But what was the point? The venture was still loss-making, the very facts about nobody in the US caring about the NRL will continue into the future, and the realities of how gambling revenue generated and the time zones will also continue into the future.
what source do you have to say it was loss making?

In regards to your point about the lack of media scrutiny, you have to realise how rose tinted, even evangelistic RL fans are generally about their game. If you go onto a RL forum like LU you realise there are all kinds of fanciful ideas about 'expansion'.
 
what source do you have to say it was loss making?

In regards to your point about the lack of media scrutiny, you have to realise how rose tinted, even evangelistic RL fans are generally about their game. If you go onto a RL forum like LU you realise there are all kinds of fanciful ideas about 'expansion'.

"Critics of the Vegas venture claim it’s a waste of money, that the funds should instead be invested in grassroots sport. However, given the total cost of heading to America is likely to be less than $2 million, NRL officials feel it’s a free throw at the stumps."


"V’landys arrived in Vegas on Tuesday (AEDT). There is a view the NRL is wasting time and money by going to the US, but it is understood the Vegas promotion is costing the code less than $2 million."

So it's a tad less than $2 million loss on the event.
 

"Critics of the Vegas venture claim it’s a waste of money, that the funds should instead be invested in grassroots sport. However, given the total cost of heading to America is likely to be less than $2 million, NRL officials feel it’s a free throw at the stumps."


"V’landys arrived in Vegas on Tuesday (AEDT). There is a view the NRL is wasting time and money by going to the US, but it is understood the Vegas promotion is costing the code less than $2 million."

So it's a tad less than $2 million loss on the event.
I'm quite surprised its only cost less than 2 million. When you consider business class return flights for four clubs players and officials, plus NRL officials and accomodation, stadium hire, field transformation, ads around Vegas, the ads they put up in New York's Times Square. To get out of that for under two million is quite something.
 
I'm quite surprised its only cost less than 2 million. When you consider business class return flights for four clubs players and officials, plus NRL officials and accomodation, stadium hire, field transformation, ads around Vegas, the ads they put up in New York's Times Square. To get out of that for under two million is quite something.
Fiji Airways sponsorship was quite valuable, which they made some of their money back acting as the travel package/agent seller to those wanting to travel from Australia/NZ. Believe it was locked up pretty early in the planning stage and naturally a the venture may not have gone ahead without this sort of sponsorship deal.

Which is why the claims of guaranteed success or long-term planning is also even more ridiculous, given the margins of success/failure are in part literally one airline's marketing strategies.
 
Sunday VOZ
#NRLVegas AU Ratings
Vegas Opener
Reach 1.686m
Total TV 796,000
BVOD 80,000

Postmatch
Reach 896,000
Total TV 506,000
BVOD 44,000

Panthers "Indisputed"
Reach 785,000
Total TV 151,000
BVOD 11,000

NRL Kickoff
Reach 655,000
Total TV 384,000
BVOD 32,000

Note: Fox and Kayo data is unavailable.

Data: VOZ
 
The NRL’s venture into Las Vegas turned into a television ratings bonanza for Fox League with the season-opening Sea Eagles-Rabbitohs and Roosters-Broncos matches at Allegiant Stadium the most-watched games on Fox League to date.

South Sydney’s 36-24 win over Manly pulled in a remarkable 838,000 viewers on TV screens and on Fox Sports’ streaming service Kayo.

Fox League had 786,000 people tune into the Roosters and Broncos clash compared to Channel 9’s 784,000 viewers on Sunday night.

 
All good points that you make. I do wonder though if the AFL need to think about increasing its revenue beyond just relying on local media deals. If the NRL gets the overseas deals it wants, it has the potential to have significantly more cash than the AFL and therefore a bigger warchest the combat the AFL plans in non footy areas.

Doe the AFL need to look for sources of revenue overseas?
I think the AFL just needs to keep growing in the growth markets. That will unlock more growth than spending 10 years rummaging around the globe trying to fluke some overseas success into cash. That’s my view anyway. That’s not to say they can try overseas, Sheeds wants to take Essendon (and the Giants) there. But it would be a long term strategy that would be required to generate hundreds of millions.
 

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