Vegas baby!!

[Gomersall]

 

[fighting irish]

4 hours ago, Gomersall said:

 

That was just great! 

[Damien]

Obviously 50 of the best athletes is probably an exaggeration but I'm really interested to see how this develops and how these guys get on. I would love for the NRL to show footage of this too, it and the subsequent journey of the ones selected would be a great series in its own right:

 

[Damien]

On 17/02/2024 at 07:14, Gomersall said:

 

Enjoyed that, cheers.

[Gomersall]

 

[Pulga]

 

 

[Worzel]

2 minutes ago, Pulga said:

 

 

Great idea, I'm bang up for that. Need to be the biggest name in rugby league though, Hull Kingston Rovers*

*Well, technically St-George Illawarra Dragons and New Zealand Warriors have more letters, but one's a JV so you need to divide the total in half and the other is a whole country so that's just cheating

 

 

[Pulga]

I actually think SL makes a little more sense to push on the Americans because of the timezones.

[Whippet13]

43 minutes ago, Pulga said:

I actually think SL makes a little more sense to push on the Americans because of the timezones.

If SL games are potentially to be played there, then maybe sensible to have SL in East USA to complement the current NRL West USA approach.

[Gav Wilson]

5 minutes ago, Whippet13 said:

If SL games are potentially to be played there, then maybe sensible to have SL in East USA to complement the current NRL West USA approach.

Somewhere like Toronto would be a good start... 

[gingerjon]

23 minutes ago, Gav Wilson said:

Somewhere like Toronto would be a good start... 

I was just thinking that what's missing from the whole NRL approach is some bespoke men's grooming products.

[fighting irish]

1 hour ago, Whippet13 said:

If SL games are potentially to be played there, then maybe sensible to have SL in East USA to complement the current NRL West USA approach.

I've been advocating investing in the development of RL in the USA for a number of years. V'landys sees financial opportunities over there, that hadn't even occurred to me, so good for him, for NRL and hopefully, for RL in general. If we join forces with the NRL (in whatever capacity) for the development of the sport over there, I believe we (both) have the greatest chance of success, than we would if we attempted any similar effort in any other country in the world.

There's more money there. There are more high quality athletes (per head) there than any other country in the world. The development of semi-pro, then full blown professional clubs holds the potential of creating (relatively quickly) a credible competitive International team to add to the paucity of International competition in the Northern Hemisphere.

If this can be done, at hardly any real cost (due to selling the events we organise at a profit) then there is no reason not to do it. Over and over again. 

The willingness to accept (as V'landys is doing) a modest risk, (based on our conviction that we have a great product, with potentially broad appeal) combined with truly professional marketing of the events makes perfect sense.

I'm just grateful that the NRL is moving in that direction. It would be churlish and miserly not to get involved on the same basis.  

[Whippet13]

 

 

[Copa]

A great article about some of the athletes involved in the talent combine in Las Vegas.

Link: https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/make-it-out-of-poverty-the-us-combine-candidates-trialling-for-nrl-contracts-20240223-p5f78k.html

no paywall: https://www.printfriendly.com/p/g/Cu5SYk

[philipw]

10 hours ago, Whippet13 said:

 

 

It’s fake

[Coggo]

8 minutes ago, philipw said:

It’s fake

You mean it's not a real ball?

[philipw]

8 minutes ago, Coggo said:

You mean it's not a real ball?

I mean it’s not even a real image. It’s AI. 

[Fly-By-TheWire]

For a Super League game you'd be better holding it at the nearest stadium to International Drive in Orlando.   That way you'd generate more interest in the wider UK public who would be holidaying there.   Kill two birds with one stone.   The weather would be far more suited to RL too, than a state further North.

I used to live near Miami, but I'm not really familiar with Orlando stadia.   Is there a decent one near Disney and Universal etc?

UPDATE: Just found this

Edited February 23 by Fly-By-TheWire

[JM2010]

Any idea how many tickets have been sold so far?

[Gav Wilson]

3 hours ago, philipw said:

I mean it’s not even a real image. It’s AI. 

No it wasn't. It was a real advert taken out in Times Square. Those 3D LED boards are incredible these days. 

[philipw]

2 hours ago, Gav Wilson said:

No it wasn't. It was a real advert taken out in Times Square. Those 3D LED boards are incredible these days. 

According to Steve Mascord, it was an AI generated image 

Edited February 23 by philipw
Spelling

[philipw]

1 hour ago, JM2010 said:

Any idea how many tickets have been sold so far?

Saw a tweet yesterday that suggested 30k, with the hope of hitting 40k by match day

[Gav Wilson]

8 hours ago, philipw said:

According to Steve Mascord, it was an AI generated image 

CLICKY

[Anita Bath]

Being reported that Albo had to get personally involved as well as the US ambassador to Aus ( the kennedy woman) to ensure those convicted criminals were allowed to enter the US in time to play.

You would think the PM would have more important things on his play…but he is your typical aussie bloke I suppose.

[gingerjon]

9 hours ago, Gav Wilson said:

CLICKY

I can't quite see why you'd go to the bother of faking an image when you've got $10m to spend so pleased to see it's apparently real.

If the answer to, "Why do it?" is anything other than, "Because we can" though then I'll eat my AI generated hat.