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Las Vegas: The trickiest part about playing a double-header to open the NRL season in Las Vegas? Sourcing goalposts.
But the NRL has found a solution less than two months out from the event, using an Australian company to manufacture the posts for the Roosters-Brisbane and Manly-South Sydney matches at Allegiant Stadium.
And to build a connection with local fans, it also intends to paint the posts the same striking sulphur yellow used for NFL goalposts.
“It’s rugby league but we also want to connect with the market,” NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo said. “Yellow is what local fans recognise.”
Choosing the colour was less a concern than finding the posts in the first place. When the NRL learned it would cost more than $50,000 to ship a set of posts from Australia, it started scrambling for a cheaper solution.
“There aren’t many rugby league goalposts laying around Las Vegas or at Allegiant Stadium,” Abdo said. “We’ve had to box clever with everything we do here. We’re trying to be fiscally responsible. We’ve tried to offset costs by having partnerships or revenue-raising opportunities. The goalposts are an example of that.”
Roosters recruit Spencer Leniu (left) and Broncos hooker Billy Walters (right).Credit: NRL Photos
They found a solution in PILA, an Australian company that’s a world leader in making goalposts for every code.
“The manufacturing will happen here in Las Vegas, seven miles from the stadium,” Abdo said. “The owner, as part of the deal, is going to help us install them. Allegiant Stadium will store them for us. That completely drove our costs down because there is no freight or shipping.”
Having sourced the posts, the next headache was fixing them to the playing surface.
Allegiant Stadium has three different surfaces that are wheeled in and out of the facility, depending on the event being held.
The natural grass field tray (bottom right) at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.Credit: Getty
Concerts are held on a concrete base, training and college football is held on an artificial surface while NFL matches are played on the all-grass surface which will also host the NRL fixtures.
The problem is that the tray is only a foot deep, which presents a problem when you are trying to secure heavy 16-metre goalposts into the ground.
“So, putting heavy steel posts need a stable base,” Abdo said. “We have to have it expertly installed so it goes into the ground and stabilised within the field tray. That’s been part of the fun. We’ve learnt a huge amount in the last year.”
ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys told this masthead he would’ve been happy to use NFL posts.
But that also wasn’t an option.
Since 1974, NFL goalposts have been secured behind the end line, not on the goal line, for safety reasons and to also reduce the number of field goal attempts.
Under those playing conditions, the posts would have been more than five metres behind where they normally are.
As revealed by this masthead earlier this year, the matches will be held on a field that is four metres narrower than usual.
Holding the game is one thing. Getting locals to the game is another tricky component of taking the games to Las Vegas.
On Monday, the Big Sell continued.
Having attended the Raiders-Vikings NFL match at Allegiant on Sunday afternoon, Roosters recruit Spencer Leniu, the Broncos’ Billy Walters, Manly’s Aaron Woods and Souths centre Campbell Graham walked the famous Vegas strip to pose for photos.
As was the case at Allegiant, local fans for whatever reason identified them as “rugby players”.
For his part, Woods wasn’t having a bar of it.
“No, we’re rugby league guys,” Woods informed them. “We tackle harder.”
The author travelled to Las Vegas courtesy of the NRL.
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