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.
8 responses so far ↓
1 J // Sep 19, 2009 at 1:27 am
Dave how come there’s a Canadian football section and an American football section – but not Rugby league football and Rugby union football sections? Rugby league and rugby union are two different sports and have much much less in common than Canadian and American footballs.
2 a different Dave // Sep 19, 2009 at 7:01 am
Yeah, I’ve asked Dave about that before. IIR the gist was that he set this website up this way before learning much about the rugby code split and he wasn’t in the mood to update the site; possibly I’m misremembering or misinterpeting.
Technically we already play 6 football codes in the USA (association football, American gridiron football, rugby union football, rugby league football, gaelic football, and australian rules football), at least at the amateur level. As far as I know no one plays Canadian gridiron in the USA (at least since the CFL failed in its attempt to expand into the USA) but I might be wrong about that.
3 a different Dave // Sep 19, 2009 at 7:13 am
Reposting this without links to the American National Rugby League to avoid moderation-bot:
In addition to Spike TV showing NRL, ESPN 360 is showing European Super League (the mostly Northern English rugby league equivalent of Australia’s NRL).
“Fans want to watch the best players/teams in the world” is not entirely true. College football is certainly not the best gridiron available, yet has a loyal following. Same for college basketball and lower level soccer leagues in Europe, Latin America, and elsewhere. Of course, the key here is that these are teams that have been around a century or more who represent their city/college/region, etc., and thus have an identity beyond being “the best” at their particular sport.
So, yeah, this USA rugby league venture has a very steep hill to climb. I don’t expect them to make it. In fact they have been silent since the initial announcement earlier this year; who knows if they even launch an actual competition next year.
Amateur rugby league has been around in the USA for a bit more than a decade, though:
….removed links, just google AMNRL or American National Rugby League….
4 cooldude5 // Sep 19, 2009 at 8:32 am
While I respect Rugby, i think that if anything, the third football code that might have a chance of establishing itself here is Aussie Rules. AFL games are fast and furious. The marks are exciting, the tackles are plentiful, there is no offsides, and the ball is constantly moving. Most importantly for a sport looking to make it in america is the fact that the scoring opportunities come often. The only reason this game has not been more followed over here is that it has zero visibility. Setanta Sports (a subscription channel) at 3 am is not going to pick up many viewers. If american businessmen ever had the idea of starting AFL-USA and secured a good tv package for it, it might take off. A spring league would be best i think…
Anyway that’s all a pipe dream for now….
5 Sean // Sep 21, 2009 at 8:27 pm
Whats with the rhetorical Dave ? Which method do you think will work in the long run ?
I say good for rugby league for getting this exposure and money from television rights in the US – at least they won’t die wondering. Besides American have never said no to a bit of hype. In any case it really highlights how slack the Australian Football League (AFL) are at getting decent international exposure. After the boom in Australia, AFL crowds and TV audiences are on the decline and NRL is increasing. Personally I think the AFL is taking a much bigger risk in Australia trying to turn its game into soccer and tackling the NRL head on with their white elephant Gold Coast and Western Sydney franchises. If the NRL finds a bigger slice of the overseas market and some popularity, it may not only withstand the AFL onslaught but grow in Australia.
Interesting to see Hulk Hogan promote both NRL and AFL on his recent tour of Australia.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=su_TZCXm1O8
Personally Australia doesn’t think we can conquer the US, but I think a combination of both is the way for local sports to get into that market, just like American Football is making yards here. In any case in comparison to rugby league, Australian football is far behind and doing neither very well … more exhibition matches and better television coverage is needed to make any headway.
6 Dave // Sep 21, 2009 at 10:31 pm
J: What different Dave said, although I have written about the split extensively in the past:
http://www.davesfootballblog.com/post/2007/04/05/like-nfl-vs-cfl-except-more-british/
cooldude: I like Aussie Rules more than Rugby League, too, but it has one major problem here — the stadium fields aren’t big enough. They’re designed for American football and/or soccer or baseball, and they couldn’t fit even the smallest cricket ovals in there. Metro footy probably won’t cut it here, either, nor will International Rules, which has practically become Gaelic Football with marks at this stage.
Sean: The NRL USA guys should wait until Rugby League can build that cult following on Spike TV first. If sports fans go for the Australian NRL, they might jump on a league here, though it’ll probably be lucky to get USL-2 level attendance to start.
7 Jeff // Sep 22, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Well, AFL in America would certainly help South Florida figure out what the hell to do with the giant useless cricket oval it just built…
8 Dave Jones // Sep 28, 2009 at 9:16 am
Wow, I watched my first ever game of rugby league on Spike and I am sold. Where has this sport been all my life? I have tried to watch rugby before but it has always been the other code, it has its moments but they are few and far between. The rugby played in rugby league though is just amazing. I have never seen a faster, more skillful, more involved sport. Awesome, let’s have more.