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Rugby League Las Vegas
Annual event From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Rugby League Las Vegas is an annual event held primarily at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas showcasing the sport of rugby league. The inaugural event was established in 2023 by Australia's National Rugby League (NRL) to host two matches of the 2024 NRL season opening round, and was done so with the aim of expanding the audience of the competition and develop rugby league in the United States.
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The event, initially contracted until 2028,[1][2] was expanded to include clubs from the United Kingdom's Super League in 2025. The initial joining of Super League clubs was arranged on a club level with the NRL[3] before a formal agreement was arranged for Super League's regular inclusion for future events.[4]
Alongside the professional games, the event also sees United States men's and women's national team games, an open registration nines tournament, as well as various pop up fanzones, media launches, and player meets.[5]
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History
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2024 event
In August 2023, the National Rugby League (NRL) announced that two games in the opening round of the 2024 NRL season would be held in Las Vegas. The Brisbane Broncos, Manly Warringah Sea Eagles, South Sydney Rabbitohs, and Sydney Roosters were selected to play in the event,[6][7] with the remainder of round one being confirmed at a later date.[8] The two matches took place on March 2, 2024, and marked the first NRL regular season games held outside Australia and New Zealand.[9] The 2024 event saw Manly Warringah beat South Sydney[10] and Sydney beat Brisbane.[11] The NRL initially declared that over 40,000 fans attended but the Las Vegas Stadium Authority revealed a figure of 31,927 (exclusive of private boxes). Both games were aired on Fox Sports in the United States.[10] While stadium attendance was deemed a success, TV viewing fixtures were low in the United States at only 61,000, though it was 16,000 higher than the last NRL programme to be aired in the states. Viewing figures in Australia surpassed 1.6 million across both games.[12] The day prior to the event, a friendly between the national men's teams of the United States and Canada was held.[13] The game ended 16–16.[14]
2025 event
In July 2024, the NRL announced that the 2025 event would feature the Canberra Raiders, Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, Auckland Warriors, and Penrith Panthers.[15][16][17] In addition, the 2025 event will also feature an matchweek three game of the United Kingdom's Super League with Wigan Warriors facing local rivals Warrington Wolves. Like the NRL in 2024, this game marks the first regular season Super League game to be held in the United States.[18][19] Further, the event would also showcase a match between the Australia and England women's national sides.[20][21] Super League's involvement in the event came after a speculative email was sent to the organizers by Wigan's CEO Kris Radlinski after he watched the 2024 event on TV.[22][23] In November 2024, Matty Ashton and Kruise Leeming ran promotions for the event at the Las Vegas Raiders vs Denver Broncos NFL game and during the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix, with both occurring on the same weekend.[24]
Both United States men's and women's national teams faced Greece the day before the 2025 event,[25] with the men's team losing 10–46[26] and women's team winning 46–0.[27] The men's game was intended to be a two test series, with the first game scheduled for two days prior on 26 February. The game was cancelled after copper cables were stolen from the floodlights leaving them inoperable.[28]
In the weeks ahead of the 2025 event, the Super League fixture was described as "the biggest game in British rugby league history" due to the potential investments, brand recognition, and fan markets it could make available to the British game across the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia.[29][30] Over 45,000 were in attendance for the 2025 event, up from the previous year, whom saw Wigan defeat Warrington, Canberra defeat Auckland, Penrith defeat Cronulla-Sutherland, and a record defeat of the England Lionesses by Australia Jillaroos.[31] Analysis following the 2025 event showed that Rugby League Las Vegas is being a short term success with the event being profitable and providing a good showcase of the sport, however it was unclear if the event was having any impact on the long term goal of establishing rugby league in the United States as the vast majority of attendees were travelling Australians, New Zealanders, and Britons.[32] The four-game event proved to be too ambitious, especially with the Allegiant Stadium not allowing re-admittion. Crowed numbers had reduced by game four nor had everyone entered the stadium for game one, with Peter V'landys saying the nine-hour event was too long for most attending.[33] The involvement of Super League was deemed as success and a boost to the event by the NRL.[34]
US TV ratings for 2025 were up over 600% on 2024. 371,000 Americans watched the Canberra vs Auckland game in 2025, compared to 61,000 for the top game in the 2024 schedule.[35] In the UK, the Wigan vs Warrington game peaked at 340,000 making it the most watched Super League game outside of the COVID-19 season. It was also the most watched Super League game in Australia.[36]
2026 event
On the eve of the 2025 event, it was reported that RL Commercial had secured Super League's place for the 2026 event, marking Super League's formal inclusion in Rugby League Las Vegas after the 2025 game was organised by the participating clubs and not the league itself. The 2026 World Club Challenge was also under consideration for inclusion, with the 2025 match being cancelled due to both team's participation in Las Vegas.[37] Following Australia's 90–4 victory, criticism occurred as a result of the gulf in performance which highlighted the superior set up that women's rugby league had in Australia compared to England.[38] In addition, the disparity in performance, along with the view that a quadruple-header was too long an event, lead to the Women's international being axed for the 2026 Las Vegas programme.[39][40] In May 2025, the NRL announced the six participating teams, with Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, St George Illawarra Dragons, Newcastle Knights, North Queensland Cowboys, Hull Kingston Rovers, and Leeds Rhinos making the trip.[41][42] In the United States development match, both men's women's, and men's youth teams will face Scotland ahead of the main event.[43]
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Results
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Main event
The following is a list of results of teams who have played at the main event, held the Allegiant Stadium in Paradise.
Development matches
A number of development games are held during the weekend to aid the growth of the United States national rugby league teams.
Vegas Nines
Vegas Nines is an open registration nines tournament held prior to the United States national team games and the main event at the Allegiant Stadium.
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Broadcasting
For 2024[58] and 2025[59] main event
Statistics
Attendances
Games by competition
Team appearances
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Notes
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References
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