England star Tom Burgess heads to Sin City wanting Americans to win big on rugby league.
The South Sydney prop takes part in a wild adventure when the new NRL season kicks off in Las Vegas. It’s all part of the Aussie competition’s bold plans to bag a lucrative piece of the saturated US sports market. But Super League bosses are also in town to see if they could latch onto the NRL’s five-year plan with talk of the World Club Challenge heading there or even Magic Weekend.
Burgess, 31, hopes it all takes off - and he might get recognised after a huge advert of himself in one of the busiest places in the world. He said: “There’s been some great publicity around it all and not just in Vegas. They’ve even had my face up on the Times Square billboard in New York so I’ll be able to tell that to the grandchildren one day.
“There was a big rugby ball projected onto a building spinning with footage of all last year’s best action and that has Russell Crowe explaining what rugby league is. But we’ve been training in San Diego before going to Vegas and people here are talking about it. The Vegas crowd will be great for rugby league as they’re up for anything.”
Hollywood star Crowe, who part-owns Souths, hopes to entice the multi-billion dollar NFL crowd as his voiceover says ‘rugby league is football.. but maybe not as you know it….’ emphasising how the all-action sport is ‘no helmets, no pads.’ Burgess, who returns to Super League with Huddersfield in 2025 after 12 years down under, knows all about the American sports market. He almost switched to NFL himself in 2015 after trialling with New York Giants, Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers.
But the Yorkshireman, who won an NRL Grand Final with Souths after leaving Bradford, stuck with his first love - and later played for England against New Zealand in Denver in 2018. Burgess added: “It’s a big weekend for the NRL. They have big ambitions to keep growing the game and they want to help out in the Super League as well which I think is great.
“The powers-that-be in the NRL have realised it’s an opportunity over here. And I was fortunate enough to play in that Test game in Colorado. We got a great crowd of around 20,000 and it was unreal. I’m sure we can beat that this weekend and I can’t wait to be a part of that. It’s going to be cool to try and grow the game in America. I’ve not been to Vegas since travelling around the US in 2015 - but this time it’s for business.”
Just recently, the Allegiant Stadium was hosting the NFL’s biggest game of all - Super Bowl - but on Sunday it welcomes rugby league as the sport hits Vegas for the first time. Souths face Manly and Sydney Roosters take on Brisbane Broncos in a double-header which broadcasts live on Fox Sports 1, potentially reaching more than 90 million US homes. In contrast, in 12 months’ time, Burgess will be somewhere entirely different as he starts a three-year deal at Huddersfield - the birthplace of rugby league.
His decision to join Giants, rather than one of Super League’s serial winners, surprised many. But, much like when fellow Great Britain forward Gareth Ellis returned from Sydney’s Wests Tigers to Hull in 2013, he wants a challenge. Burgess said: “I see it as exciting. Anyone could have gone to Saints or Wigan or one of these clubs that’s won everything. But I looked at Huddersfield - the players, the coach - and they were in the Challenge Cup final only two years ago. We just have to tweak little things and get that mindset of winning and not just turning up. I’m looking forward to it.”