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Had a friend work in Australia for 6 months, absolutely loved in, the one negative he had was he did say there was a certain subtle arrogance there and he described it as: "You know how you have that one friend who talked about how successful they are, and yah they are successful but they're not that successful. Thats Australia" Which is ironic, because he is that friend to me.

Just to put things in perspective, Gonzaga at St Marys, which tipped off at 10 pm EST, drew little over a million on ESPN. It was a rivalry game with big implications for both teams, but at the same time for your average American, regular season college basketball isn't must see TV. But I think the bigger point is the power of ESPN over FS1. 10 years since its launch, FS1 is still struggling to compete outside of college football season, even then Im sure ESPN still wins. Nobody thinks to put FS1 on, while ESPN on in the background at home or at the bar is a given. In my area, ESPN is on channel 12 while FS1 is 63 or 64.

Got the articles being referenced mixed up. Yah, just reading that article sounds like hes attempting to be the dead pan humor sports writer and is completely whiffin on it.

Thats because the NRL game got temporarily bumped to FS2 which was suppose to be showing the MLR game, which then got bumped to the app. Its common to let viewers know where they can watch the regularly scheduled programming when this happens. Once the basketball game ended, NRL went to FS1, and MLR went to FS2 (without any warning thank you Fox Sports)

Thats back when ESPN was new and had few rights, so they showed AFL and it developed a cult following then disappeared for years

Just to clarify, there is no Fox Sports US, theres only FS1 and FS2 (which very few people get I believe). Ill have to pay attention more this year, butt I dont recall saying AFL on FS1 on a regular basis, and its usually late at night as after hour filler program

Starting a double header at 930 pm, was never going to be a rating hit when most of the country lives in east or central time. I fell asleep sometime during the first half of the second game. Also I dont recall seeing any advertising for it. I watch a decent amount of college basketball on FS1 and Fox, never saw any. Not saying there wasnt any just not when I was watching. If it wasnt for you fine folk here, I wouldn't have realized it was happening this past weekend. If the NRL really cared about spreading the game in the US, then they would have gone with a 730 and 930 kickoff. I honestly dont get this current fascination with Vegas either (despite the obvious reason). Play it in New York or LA.

Like how you threw the Union is chess, league is checkers out the window with that analogy

Prior to SuperLeague+, I saw no point in trying to be a fan of a club because I couldn't watch all their games, though I had a fondness for Warrington and Castleford. Since theyre playing each other tonight, Ill let the winner get my fandom, Im sure both sets of supporters will be watching with bated breath as a result...

Watched one of those sports science shows, and they said a rugby tackle is equivalent to being T-boned in a car crash and an NFL tackle is equivalent to taking two sledgehammers to the ribs. I'm not sure which is worse, and I hope I never find out.

No one is quite sure, they certainly not showing anything this week. As far as Super League plus goes, I winced at the price and wished they offered a free trial because I was worried with it being a new service it would be buggy with the streams, but at least as of the first game it was amazing. I'm excited to be able to watch live Super League for the first time since 2016, and any of the six games to boot. The only con is I wish they would offer the pre/post match studio show. Back when Fox has a streaming service they would usually stream that for both Super League and NRL, hopefully it gets added. Really looking forward to my Fridays this summer being watching Super League at 3 pm, have dinner, then watch the Orioles at 7 pm.

Just to ask the dumb question with the obvious answer before I drop the money on it: this is without VPN and includes all 6 games a week?

Whats odd is they also own the rights to the NRL, but signing up for watchNRL is no problem in the US. Guess its somethings in their respective contracts.

Yes but as I said, old broken down stadiums always have that nostalgic factor, so their flaws are overlooked. Every single stadium built in the last few years is far better than any stadium before them, but they lack the history and feel, so when someone says the current wembley is the most famous in the world, Im skeptical because I dont even consider it the most famous stadium in England. Think of all the people who played or attended those iconic finals that gave old Wembley the mystique that made it famous world wide. Do you you think if they were alive today they would consider the current stadium the same place? Yah placed like Old Trafford and Anfield dont look like they did a 100 years ago, but they still retain the original core of the stadium.

Fair enough, I typed all that as someone who has never set foot in your country, yet alone visited any of your stadiums. But for what its worth, just from what I've seen on tv, think I'd rather take in the atmosphere at Castleford over Wembley. Sometimes, the old beat up stadiums just provide a feel that modern stadiums with their amenities can never reach. Still, I don't think the current stadium is even in the top 25 of iconic stadiums in the world. I'm even concerned the Bernabeau is going to lose some of its luster now that its wrapped in aluminum foil

Is a stadium that is less than 20 years old and is regularly criticized for its sight lines and distance from seats to pitch really the most famous stadium in the world? The romance and glamour of Wembley seems to be for the original stadium and that went away when the two towers were knocked down. It reminds me of Yankee stadium, possibly the most famous stadium in the US. They did major renovations in the 70s, which changed the dynamics of the stadium so much people no longer considered it the same stadium Babe Ruth played in, so there wasnt much up roar when it was demolished a few years ago. Meanwhile there were Detroit Tiger fans openly weeping as their iconic stadium was closed for the final time. I imagine if the FA decided to demolish the current stadium and start again, no one would really care, certainly not to the degree like with the original stadium.

You're right, its not the same thing. I'm going to go out on a limb once again and say the reason we had negro leagues in the US is because we have a significantly large black population that could sustain the leagues spread out across the eastern half of the US pre-war. Don't think the UK or Australia had anywhere near that kind of population. I beleive Australians Indigenous population numbers mirror that of the US' indigenous population, and theres a reason we didn't have the "native american leagues" And nobody forced baseball to do anything, its attitude on black players shifted alongside the US as whole's view on race and overlaps with the civil rights movements.

I won't claim to be an RL historian, but I highly doubt RL welcomed black and aboriginal players with open arms as the rest of society shunned them, I imagine RL's attitude shifted alongside society as whole's attitude (due to previously mentioned civil rights movements). Baseball to has produced genuinely revered superstars like Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron, and Ken Griffey Jr. Doesnt change the fact it barred black americans from playing, and Robinson was called the N word by fans and his own teammates considered not playing alongside him. But society evolved and baseball was forced to go along with it. As we evolve and progress as a society, its quite possible in 50 years we'll be able to rattle of names of famous and revered gay RL players, but we'll will also probably have found a new marginally group to hate by that point as well

I'm going to go out on a limb and say there was a time when people were opposed to aboriginals playing RL and it was a topic of division, and people did sit out rather than play alongside or against them. It was only over time and through various civil rights movements that that stigma went away and those whole held onto it were considered backwards and ostracized.

All came down to good old all-american marketing

Every other team except the US is playing like the losing is not an option. The tournament being spring training doesnt help the profile of the tournament but make no mistake these teams care and their fans care.

Think thats what England said about the WC in the 30s as well. Anyways, Im geared up for it. Unfortunately its at an awkward time, players arent at peak game readiness and March is a month owned by college basketball. I'd much prefer it be moved to the middle of the summer. Take a two week break form the season and make it the true all-star break (though that comes with its own logistical headaches)

In my baseball-sphere of twitter, I saw people making that same point, sarcastically screen shotting NFTs and saying they now own them. Someone responded by saying thats no different that people who own a Mickey Mantle replica rookie cards saying they own the real thing. For those who don't know, Mickey Mantles rookie card is considered one of the most valuable baseball cards out there, I can only think of one that is more valuable. I remember having his replica rookie card as kid, the thing is worthless and mine and everyone else's replica rookie card did nothing to bring down the value of his rookie card, just like screen shots of NFTs don't bring down their value, only the "market" does. And it appears the bubble has bursted on NFTs as many assumed it would and many are worthless, but at some point, like with everything else, Mickey Mantle's rookie card with be worthless as well, and in most of the world it's considered worthless by people who don't understand what theyre looking at.

If I recall correctly, I don't believe it was available in the US, got a "not available in your location" message. I think in the US, its still on Fox Socccer Plus which is 20-25 dollars a month add to whatever livetv streaming service its available on, so not the most consumer friendly price for 2-3 matches a week especially compared to watch NRL and its possible the matches get bumped for random summer youth soccer tournaments. I wish they'd give the package to a more mainstream service like ESPN+ for a short period (1-3 years) and just ask them to advertise the matches, build up a niche fanbase, and try to monetize it from there. Thats probably easier said that done though...

I don't think either code can ever claim to be the definite most popular one, so as long as fandom is broken down by geography. If one has X more fans than the other, its most likely because the states they reside in have X more residents. When one code can say they control their heartland and say 40% of non-heartland residents prefer their code over the other, then I'll start believing one code is more popular than the other. I don't think that will ever happen. I think its a bit silly this constant AFL v NRL zero sum game where fan of one code feel the need to denigrate the other code in order to feel good about their own. I always wondered if your everyday Australian, regardless of their preferred code shrugs their shoulder at this debate, and its relegated to typical message board back and forth arguing. If anything, I think Australians should be proud that their nation of ~26 million can support 34 high level football clubs (plus union and soccer clubs, plus all the other professional teams in other sports)