If you’re going to introduce another football code in America, where the gridiron game is king and the Association game is still that filthy pinko commie game those greasy-haired Europeans play, you have two options. You can fire up the satellites and show people the top levels of the game overseas — like what Fox Soccer Channel and ESPN and others are doing with the UEFA Champions League, Premier League, La Liga, etc. — or you can build a brand new league from scratch with American teams in American cities and try to convince fans to come out and enjoy a cheap evening of sporting entertainment.
I think we all know which one of these methods will end up working better in the long run.
Spike TV, being a TV network and all, is counting on the former. In the wake of Setanta UK’s collapse and the American network’s big sell-off of non essential properties, Spike bought the rights to Australia’s National Rugby League and is airing matches from the NRL finals series on Friday nights. While there won’t be any Russell Crowe sightings this year — his South Sydney Rabbitohs missed the Finals by 2 points — the NRL fits right in with Spike’s “manly men doing manly things” programming. Plus, it gives them an opportunity to expose their core audience to top level rugby league without spending a whole lot of money.
That’s probably not the case for the founders of NRL USA, a new rugby league competition in America that is slated to launch in 2010 with 8 teams in 8 cities. Ignoring the fact that this country’s econopocalypse has encouraged everyone to stop spending money, these guys have to convince sports fans to come out and watch “the USA’s premier rugby talent.”
Do we even have premier rugby talent here? It seems like this will be a bunch of dudes who played football (or rugby union at a high level) in college and are looking for another athletic outlet. We all know the premier rugby league talent is primarily in England and Australia. It’s the reason some soccer fans mock MLS and USL — the top players just don’t play here. Sports fans want to see the top players play at the top level. That’s why the Premier League and the NBA are so popular worldwide.
I do wish the NRL USA boys success with their venture, just because having three popular football codes in America would get us one step closer to the footballing awesomeness of Australia, but man, they’ve got a steep mountain to climb to find their audience. They’ll need help from both Spike TV and Russell Crowe even more than they realize.
