The National Rugby League’s (NRL) opening season showcase in Las Vegas, known as ‘Rugby League Las Vegas,’ recently concluded the third year of its five-year commitment. Launched with bold ambitions to grow the sport internationally and generate more money for the game, has Las Vegas been a success for rugby league thus far?
In 2023, the NRL announced ambitious plans to kick the 2024 season off with a double-header in Sin City. The motivation to showcase rugby league to the US market was part of a strategic plan to widen the sport’s international audience, increase its revenue via broadcast rights, sponsorships, and sports betting, sell subscriptions to its Watch NRL streaming platform, and enable clubs to attract new fans and members.
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Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V’landys told the Australian Financial Review (AFR): “It’s on who watches it on TV tonight in America. If we are really going to capture any new audience, it’s going to be through that way.”
He also told media: “It’s the mass audience we want – it’s the television.”
NRL chief executive, Andrew Abdo, made an optimistic prediction, quoted by the AFR as saying that the league could be making $60 million over five years broadcasting into living rooms across the US.
Essentially, both members of the hierarchy believe the venture will make the NRL more appealing to a streaming service by the time the next rights are up for negotiation. Additionally, V’landys believes expanding into the US could generate as much as $200 million of gaming revenue alone for the NRL.
Attendance
The inaugural NRL Las Vegas event to open the 2024 rugby league season attracted a crowd of 40,746 to the 65,000-seat Allegiant Stadium for the historic double-header. The crowd was the largest ever for rugby league on American soil.
Confusingly, the Las Vegas Stadium Authority (LVSA) reported a lower attendance of 31,927. The difference in crowd figures was explained by the LVSA tracking tickets scanned at the gate for actual attendees, while the NRL’s announced attendance includes tickets sold, staff, media, and VIP guests.
The 2025 showcase expanded from two games to four, with two NRL Premiership matches joined by one game from the English Super League and an international women’s test match between Australia’s Jillaroos and England.
The four-game schedule attracted a record crowd of 45,209, an increase of 11% on the previous year. The attendance was boosted by a huge take-up from English fans, with over 10,000 believed to have made the journey.
For 2026, the NRL cut its Las Vegas program from four games to three, dropping the women’s international test while maintaining the Super League presence. The crowd of 45,719, an increase of 1% on 2025, set a new attendance record for the NRL’s Vegas games, with estimates between 10-12,000 English fans having made the trip.
Australia TV Ratings
In Australia, all NRL matches from Las Vegas are covered by pay-TV Fox Sports, via its linear channels and streaming platform Kayo Sports, while one selected NRL game is broadcast free-to-air on Channel Nine.
In 2024, the two NRL matches were the most-watched league games ever on Fox Sports. The first match, exclusively on Fox Sports, attracted a record 838,000 viewers. The second match pulled in 786,000 viewers on Fox Sports, while the simultaneous broadcast on Channel Nine saw 796,000 tune in.
In 2025, the two NRL matches were watched by more than 2 million viewers in Australia. The sole NRL match on Channel Nine attracted 715,000 viewers, down 10.2% on the previous year. The two matches broke a host of records, including the most-watched regular season Fox exclusive game between the Raiders v Warriors, and the most-watched regular season game between the Panthers v Sharks.
The women’s international between the Jillaroos v England on Channel Nine drew an average audience of 353,000 viewers, making it the most-watched women’s international match of all time on record.
In 2026, the two NRL matches were watched by 2.1 million viewers in Australia, an increase of 7% on last year’s event. The single NRL match on Channel Nine drew 647,000 viewers, down 9.5% the previous year. Once again, the two NRL matches broke a host of records, such as the Knights v Cowboys game being the second-most-watched exclusive Fox Sports match of all time, behind only the 2024 Vegas opener, while the Bulldogs v Dragons was the most-viewed of all time (including finals) between the two sides. Additionally, the Super League fixture between Leeds Rhinos and Hull KR was the most-watched Super League fixture on Fox Sports.
US TV Ratings
In 2024, TV ratings for the season launch showed an average audience of 61,000 viewers tuned into the first match in prime time on Saturday night on pay-TV channel Fox Sports 1. The later game, also on Fox Sports 1, pulled an average audience of 44,000.
In 2025, the opening NRL match, screened on free-to-air broadcast network Fox, attracted an average audience of 371,000, representing a 508% increase on the 2024 season opener. The other two NRL matches, aired on Fox Sports 1, pulled in average audiences of 54,000 and 33,000, respectively. The Super League game appeared on the less-popular, niche soccer cable channel Fox Soccer Plus.
In 2026, the opening Super League game and first NRL match, relegated to Fox’s secondary pay-TV channel Fox Sports 2, attracted average audiences of 12,000 and 6,000, respectively. The final NRL match, screened on Fox Sport 1, pulled in an average audience of 19,000.
While there was much fanfare and hyperbole over the US viewership increase for the opening NRL match in 2025, the size of the US television audiences, or disparity amongst them, is primarily a reflection of the popularity of the channel that the matches are broadcast on.
Moreover, NRL officials have been quoted as saying that subscriptions to the league’s Watch NRL streaming service have doubled since the first Las Vegas matches in 2024.
Sports Betting
As of 2026, the NRL had not secured a partnership with a wagering operator in the US, meaning it had yet to make money from the host market’s gambling and betting industry.
In contrast to Australia, US bookmakers generally aren’t required to pay sports a product fee or a percentage of betting turnover. In Australia, the NRL generates millions by charging bookmakers a “product fee” based on wagering activity.
However, this model doesn’t readily translate to the mature US market, where major sportsbooks are typically reluctant to pay direct fees for data or betting rights—particularly for a relatively minor international sport.
Conclusion
While the financial windfall from sports betting or massive US television audiences might not have been realised thus far, the Rugby League Las Vegas venture has quickly established itself as one of the most high-profile NRL tentpole events in the rugby league calendar, behind only the State of Origin and Premiership Grand Final.
The NRL season opener in the US entertainment capital has become a destination event for rugby league supporters worldwide, attracting tens of thousands of travelling fans who create an electric atmosphere, generating a tremendous amount of media exposure across all platforms, driving subscriptions to the Watch NRL platform, and delivering record-breaking television ratings in its domestic market.
After initial losses, the venture has reportedly delivered a $2 million profit just three years into its five-year commitment.
