Rugby League, an international brand looking for a toehold in the U.S.

On Saturday, Jacksonville, Florida, hosted a remarkable event. The Australia Day Challenge, part of the G’DAY USA celebration in the U.S., pitted two world super league teams against each other in a rugby league match. The Leeds Rhinos beat the South Sydney Rabbitohs 26-24. Just prior to this first-ever-on-American soil event, announcements came forth, overlooked by mainstream media. The executive chairman of the Rugby Football League, Richard Lewis, planned to attend the match along with about 12,000 other people. Lewis was scoping out Jax as a possibility for the World Cup Challenge, an annual event pitting the Australian National Rugby League champions against the European Rugby Football League champions. It’s sort of the equivalent of the Super Bowl, and Lewis’s position is similar to the commissioner of the NFL. What does all this mean? A bonanza for anyone creative enough to see it as an opportunity.

We already have the American National Rugby League in the U.S. Ten teams along the east coast have already established thousands of fans. The coach of Jacksonville’s team, the Jacksonville Axemen, Daryl Spinner Howland, got the ball rolling on the Australia Day Challenge. He inspired the cooperation of Russell Crowe (part owner of the South Sydney Rabbitohs), drew support from various Jacksonville agencies, and relied on the stadium at the University of North Florida as a venue. It’s obvious there’s an international push to bring what is arguably the world’s toughest sport to the United States. Many opportunities like sponsorships, affiliations and even stadium vending will grow as a result.

Rugby league will not only be good for sports fans. The different brands that are part of the overall rugby league concept will be beneficial to the marketing and advertising industries as well, creating jobs and contract possibilities. Just talk to all those businesses, many of them major brands, who served those 12,000 fans.  Visitors came from Florida and more than 40 states and 9 other countries. Major brand sponsors included Yellow Tail Wine, Budweiser, Southwest Airlines, Outback Steakhouse, Verizon Wireless and many others.  Regional and local brands also figured prominently. Saturday’s event was star-studded, with actors and athletes like Russell Crowe, the American Chopper stars, Chris Evert, Greg Norman and Dennis Rodman among the fans. It’s a foreshadowing of things to come, and the prospects are bright as a sunny day in Florida.

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