There are already enough rugby union and cricket fans in the USA for it to be worthwhile for the satellite and cable companies to provide pay per view for important international test matches in both sports.

Have VFL/AFL matches ever been offered on pay per view? To the best of my knowledge it has only been offered as “filler” on networks already offering other sports, ie, ESPN in the 1980’s, Fox Sports World (predecessor of Fox Soccer Channel) and now Setanta.

If so, there’s apparently not yet enough of an AFL audience in the USA to support pay per view, and AFL has only been piggy-backing on other networks devoted to other sports. In other words, if cheap enough, AFL has been picked up by obscure networks looking for material to fill up their empty schedule, and not because there were enough existing fans in the USA who actually would pick up that network just to get the AFL.

Rugby union and cricket have relatively small, but significant, American audiences (thanks in part to recent immigration), which have helped them establish a small foothold in the USA that IMO AFL doesn’t have yet. And this small foothold is tiny compared to soccer’s foothold here, and we all know how far soccer still has to go in the USA.

So putting it all in perspective, if soccer is a first tier “not yet mainstream sport” in the USA, rugby union and cricket are second tier behind soccer, and AFL is third tier behind that.

Rugby league would also be third tier in the “not yet mainstream sport in the USA” category; like AFL it has a small fanbase in the USA and given its similarities to rugby union and gridiron, it has an even easier time attracting crossover fans and players. But it’s still pretty obscure, like AFL.

People are playing footy here. It’s just a matter of spreading the word about it.

No doubt it would be a hard market o break into and the AFL haven’t really tried to hard in the US, but do you think there would be enough interest? I just reckon there would be amazing athletes there that clubs here could take a punt on that may have an impact in the AFL?

I am not saying that a pro league will happen and that someone will throw money at it, just that it could happen and would be the best chance for the game to take off there (albeit in a limited way).

Then again, maybe they don’t need TV. Maybe if they had a better deal for show live and replay matches over the web, like SerieA.TV does, they could gauge how big their audience really is over here.

Maybe I’m just being the eternal optimist here because I think people would really enjoy the Australian game if they gave it a try. I sure did.

You are forgetting that there was already a massive group of soccer fans in the USA that was totally unserved by the marketplace, waiting for when soccer became available on TV. Thus we now have FSC, GolTV, Setanta, and Champions League on ESPN. That’s easy money for the networks.

AFL is another matter entirely. There is no large, untapped fanbase out there for AFL football in the USA. You have to build that fanbase up first before AFL could actually make serious money in the USA. There’s a reason why AFL is on Setanta (which is only available in the USA on DirecTV satellite) and not on ESPN or Fox.

I wish that were not the case, because I, like you, like variety in my sports. Unfortunately, we are not typical.

My point is this: The Premier League has a large TV following. Why couldn’t the AFL do the same?

MLS tried this a while. Now they are realizing you have to respect the history and traditions of the game if you want to attract American soccer fans. Turning the sport into a freakshow isn’t going to attract enough fans who will stick around for the long term.

You don’t really want to see your sport turned into a WWF or XFL freakshow. The long and slow process of building local clubs is the only process that really works, long term.

Rugby union in the USA has finally reached the level soccer achieved about 40 or 50 years ago. I don’t see how any other sport is going to leapfrog that long foundation-laying process.

As the AFL are doing in South Africa where they have over 8000 kids enrolled in Auskick they should probably look at something similar in the US maybe. AFL clubs have what is called a scholarship list where they are able to have players from 15 to 23 years of age on the list for as little as $20 000 a year which will be used for schooling. I am sure there is some incentive there for the American kids.

The more American people that come over to play and spread the word on how great our game is then we might just see an increase in American players, just like we have seen with the Irish.

In any case it will take major $$s and television to make Aussie rules have any decent profile in America.

This sort of thing is happening in all sorts of sports, not just Aussie punters in the NFL, but even Aussie baseball players in MLB, and of course Americans playing soccer everywhere, Aussies in the USA spreading knowledge of Aussie rules and rugby league, Indians and others playing cricket in the USA, it’s bound to happen that these sports pick up some kind of American following.

Looking at how much resistance soccer gets to getting any media coverage in the USA, it’s hard to see how more obscure sports are going to get any coverage, though.