After multiple plans over the years have fallen to the wayside it seems the NRL may be about to finally lock in a game to be played in the United States of America next season.

Last year it was rumoured that the South Sydney Rabbitohs and Manly Warringah Sea Eagles would face each other in Los Angeles in round one of the 2023 NRL season but that never came to fruition.

The NRL has not given up on a game in America though as the league is planning to kick-off 2024 with a double header in Las Vegas.

Speaking at the NRL’s official Indigenous Round launch the league’s CEO Andrew Abdo gave an update on the potential double header’s situation.

“We’re going to put everything into making it happen; we should know within the next couple of weeks if we can pull it off,” said Abdo.

“We’re really excited to showcase what we think is the greatest game on Earth to a big market. There’s a lot of work that has to happen to make that a reality, but that’s what our job is.

 
“We think that there’s an opportunity for us to win fans in the west coast of America, which would be a huge opportunity for us because we think we have the best athletes, we think we have a great sport, and we want to showcase it to a larger audience.”

If this event was to happen then it would be great for Rugby League fans across North America as the news surrounding our game in that region has largely been negative in recent years.

For a while it seemed that the USA were going to get the green light to host the 2025 Rugby League World Cup before that opportunity was taken away and in 2020 professional Rugby League’s only North American team the Toronto Wolfpack were expelled from Super League and the RFL due to complications at the club brought on by COVID-19.

Not since 2018 have Americans had the opportunity to watch a big-time professional Rugby League game when New Zealand took on England in Denver.