Australian rugby league's NRL is reportely planning to take one round of its season worldwide in the 2027 season.
The 17-team competition, according to The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH), is looking to host games globally to launch its 2027 campaign. Locations which have mentioned by various media sources include London in the UK, as well as the south of France.
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The SMH has now reported that Andrew Abdo (chief executive at the NRL), alongside Peter V'landys (chair of the Australian Rugby League Commission) will be holding a series of meetings to work out a potential calendar and locations.
Other potential host cities include Dubai, Hong Kong, and Las Vegas.
One option could be for the worldwide round of games to essentially ensure 24 hours of back-to-back coverage for the NRL's broadcast partners, if suitable locations could be organized in each necessary timezone.
By the start of the 2027 season, an 18th team will have been added to the NRL, in the shape of the Perth Bears, who will join that same year (as was confirmed in May).
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By GlobalDataPrevious NRL seasons have started in Las Vegas, US (indeed, the 2026 season will begin in the same way) – but the 2027 campaign would instead get underway in a range of different countries on the same weekend.
A 'Global Round' such as this could prove attractive to broadcasters, potential commercial partners, and overseas fans.
The 2025 NRL season took place between early March and early October, with the final on October 5 won by the Brisbane Broncos.
That game, in which the Broncos defeated the Melbourne Storm 26-22 following a dramatic encounter, delivered record-breaking viewership for commercial broadcaster Channel Nine to become Australia’s most-watched program of 2025 so far.
