Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V’landys was given the presidential treatment with a police escort for him and other VIPs to Allegiant Stadium before the NRL double header on Sunday (Australian time).
NRL bosses, staff and media executives boarded two buses decked out with executive seats for the drive to the venue known here as the “Death Star” and were joined by 10 police motorcycles stopping traffic along the way.
“I asked them if they can come home with me to help me out getting along Victoria Road,” V’landys said.
The NRL posted a record crowd in Las Vegas on its third year playing round-one matches in Sin City, announcing an attendance figure of 45,719.
That was just above last year’s crowd of 45,209 and up on 40,746 from the game’s first expedition to Nevada in 2024, although many of the healthy contingent of fans of world champions Hull KR had left the venue by the time Canterbury and St George Illawarra took the field in the main act of the night.
You could hardly blame them. They were blown away 58-6 by Leeds.
Champions Club chockers with movers and shakers
There was a who’s who of the rugby league world in the Champions Club at Allegiant, the ground-level corporate zone where players walk directly past attendees as they make their way to and from the dressing-rooms, much as they do in the cricket at Lord’s.
In addition to officials from the competing teams those present included Manly chairman Scott Penn and chief executive Jason King, Gold Coast Titans owner Rebecca Frizelle, Sydney Roosters supremo Nick Politis, board members Mark Bouris and Andrew Jolliffe and CEO Joe Kelly, and Perth Bears directors Joe Hockey and John Dumesny and PNG Chiefs CEO Lorna McPherson and general manager Michael Chammas.
