LAS VEGAS — The National Rugby League’s venture here has the distinct feel of exactly what the NFL has been doing for the past several years, taking games to England, Mexico, Germany, Spain and this year for the first time, Australia.
The Vegas venture for the NRL has turned into a profitable experiment, just three years into its five-year commitment to Sin City.
According to high-ranking league officials, the NRL sending four teams to Las Vegas cost the league money in the first year.
Then it returned a slight profit last year and this year it’s reportedly bringing in some $2 million.
Witnessing the flood of Aussie fans, not to mention the always vocal Brits who traveled to see the first game between world champion Hull KR and Leeds, two Super League rivals from England, it’s not hard to imagine the profits increasing.
Peter V’landys, the chairman of the Australian Rugby League Commission, called the growth from Las Vegas the past two years “amazing.”
“We have turned it around in two years,’’ he said. “Vegas has given us the momentum to be the No. 1 sport in Australia.”
Wayne Pearce, a former NRL star and current Australian Rugby League commissioner, told The Post, “The exposure to the game the last two years and leading into this year has been fantastic. The awareness and the number of people that are now subscribing to the [NRL] app has increased massively.”
The league’s “Watch NRL’’ app subscription rate has doubled since the first Vegas matches in 2024 and is up 67 percent in the last year, according to officials.
“The potential for more growth, even if we just get a small percentage of the market in America, is great,’’ Pearce said. “Las Vegas has given us exposure that we haven’t had before. The first year was sort of trial and error, really, but now we’re to the point where the buildup has been really professional. “We’re confident that if people just watch the game and experience the game, they’ll pretty quickly pick it up.’’
Marcus D’Acre is a member of the Newcastle Knights, but he didn’t play against the North Queensland Cowboys Saturday night at Allegiant Stadium. But his story is a good one.
D’Acre was discovered by the Aussie club on the outskirts of Las Vegas when he participated in the Las Vegas Combine, which has been a part of the NRL since it began opening its season in Vegas in 2024.
The combine, which is an exercise to unearth rugby league talent in the U.S., has had four male winners since 2024 but only one is contracted to an NRL club — D’Acre.
The 21-year-old was discovered at the combine by Knights talent guru Peter O’Sullivan.
“He’s physical, he’s fast and there’s no doubt he could play NRL,’’ O’Sullivan told The Daily Telegraph. “And if he does make it one day, especially with the NRL’s ambitions in Vegas and growing the game internationally, it would be a massive endorsement of what the sport is trying to achieve. There’s a genuine pathway there.”
D’Acre has been with the Knights in Las Vegas this week, but only as a squad member. He hopes to one day make his NRL debut.
“It would mean the world to me if I ever had the chance to debut,” D’Acre said.