The Rugby Football League have revealed they have received ‘letters of intent’ from other potential franchises in North America and Europe off the back of the initial success of Toronto Wolfpack.
The sport’s newest side remain unbeaten in League 1 following another comprehensive victory over the weekend, this time against fellow high-fliers Barrow.
However, a crowd of 7,144 for the game – up almost a thousand on their first home game against Oxford, is perhaps the more notable milestone for the Wolfpack thus far, and Super League executive director Roger Draper says they have been approached about interest from elsewhere in the continent.
“What the Wolfpack has done is create interest in other areas,” he said at a press event in Newcastle on Sunday.
“We’ve got to protect the heartlands and other traditional areas but it’s made us think about North American and European markets.
“That’s exciting; it’s created a lot of interest and we’ve got letters of intent from other franchises in North America and Europe – but we’ve got to get the balance. We’ve still got a lot of work to do in our own backyard.”
The Wolfpack debuted their documentary series, Last Tackle, over the weekend – a show which reached 50 million homes in the United States. It is available to watch online at LastTackle.tv.
It documented the club’s formation and start to life as a professional club, and Wolfpack director Adam Fogerty revealed the club’s next market of exploration is even further afield.
“We have more tours in mind,” he said.
“David (Argyle, chairman) is keen to go to China and hold trials there. There’s a lot of money being put into China for rugby so we want to go over there and carry the TV series on and hold five or six trials around there.”
On the field, Wolfpack director has revealed one of the club’s North American products could make their debut for the club in their next fixture.
One of the criticisms of Toronto from some fans has been how few homegrown talent have taken to the field but one, Tampa’s Joe Eichner, could play in their next game at home to Coventry.
“We’ve signed some players from the trials and he will make his debut in our next game, which is a great achievement,” Fogerty said.
“We are going to continue to promote the game and get more Canadians in the team. It’s a slow process but we’re going to build on it.”
