SO, how seriously can we take the USA’s bid to stage the 2021 RL World Cup, which was announced last week?
On the face of things, not very, but having a “token” bid from the USA and South Africa is just the kind of marketing fluff that the RLIF welcomes, if only to propagate the illusion of League as a truly international sport.
Still, there are significant signs of life in north America, not in relation to – although augmented by – the advent of the Toronto Wolfpack.
The USARL only plays a truncated eight-round season – they were going into their play-offs on Saturday- but there’s a healthier look to the structure all round than there has been for a while.
More interesting to me was the name of the Aussie making the USA bid – Jason Moore. I heard his name while at the Union 73 in Vegas back in
March and spoke to him shortly afterwards. He has some very serious ambitions for kicking RL off as a fully professional sport there and has quite a pedigree too.
Two years ago the biggest American sport – baseball – started its Major League season with the LA Dodgers facing the Arizona Diamondbacks at a packed Sydney Cricket Ground.
Jason Moore orchestrated that, I’ve seen his business plan for a pro League in the USA and it’s breathtaking in both scale and ambition.
I’m puzzled by how much input the USARL had into Moore’s bid – you’d assume plenty, but knowing the background of petty RL disputes there, maybe not.
Still, five years is no time at all to build something so significant from virtual zero, so don’t expect any surprises. But 2025, if Moore and friends can make concrete progress, might be an outside bet.
One thing is for sure – conquering that market would really make our sport one of the international big boys.
