Mike Friday on how to ‘unlock’ rugby as a ‘super sport’ in USA after ‘smart’ rugby league hits jackpot in Las Vegas
Ex-USA Sevens head coach Mike Friday speaks after rugby league's weekend in Las Vegas.
Mike Friday has spelt out the challenge facing union in growing its fanbase in the United States after a rugby weekend dominated by talk of Super League’s excursion to Las Vegas.
Friday knows what to look for when casting his eye across the US sporting landscape, having spent 10 years as USA technical head of Sevens and head coach of the US men’s sevens team.
He noted with interest that 45,000 league fans – 17,000 from Australia, 10,000 from England and 8,000 from New Zealand – poured into Sin City for four matches played at the Allegiant Stadium on Saturday.
League’s cause might not have been helped by three of the matches being blowouts, with Wigan, Canberra and Australia’s Jillaroos trouncing Warrington (48-24), NZ Warriors (30-8) and England women (90-4) respectively.
Possibly annual event
But Peter V’Landys, chairman of the Australian Rugby League Commission, said he had been told RL’s visit created a $100 million economic stimulus for the city – and that Vegas are keen the code return annually beyond the current deal that ends in 2028.
Unlike league, union has a Rugby World Cup bound for the States, in 2031. That is a big deal. The problem is the US team ranks only 15th globally, has never reached the knockout stages of a World Cup and failed to qualify at all for the last one in 2023.
Friday said: “For rugby union in North America to be successful the US has to be competitive at international level. That’s the challenge for the 15s game as that’s how you unlock the proper eyeballs that become tribal, that follow you rain or shine.”
He reckons rugby league actually has a better chance of cashing in on the US sporting dollar because its objective is not to become a major participation sport in North America, it just wants the eyeballs and merchandise sales.
“I think they’re being smart,” he said. “They’re not trying to spread the game, rather create new entertainment and fan bases. Is the US entertainment and sporting landscape interested in learning the technical and tactical nuances of union? That’s the bottom line.
“They’re passionate about that stuff in American football but are they passionate about it in rugby union? No. Whereas league is simple and it’s easy. It’s power runners, big boshes etc.
“Taking it to Vegas is also very smart. Aside from the obvious appeal, what you have, especially on the west coast, is a huge Polynesian population. I think there are more Tongans in North America than there are on Tonga island.”
Rugby league looks to have been as savvy as cricket was last summer when splitting the T20 World Cup between the West Indies and USA.
“The USA has the second biggest viewership in the world for cricket because of all the Indians,” said Friday. “They said, ‘Is this a fan base we can tap into and then build?'”
They concluded it was and scheduled India to play Pakistan in Long Island, New York. More than 34,000 fans packed a temporary stadium. Tickets on resale sites went for up to £137,500, an estimated half a billion tuned in on TV.
“These people [in RL] are trying to access the money in the commercial sector,” Friday added. “They’re not really interested in whether or not the game takes a grab at grass roots level, they want the fan base.
“There are parallels with NFL in the UK. Not too many play American football in the UK but there’s thousand upon thousand who will pay to go and watch it.”
Friday, who played for London Wasps and Harlequins and captained the England national sevens team, desperately wants union to become a major presence in the US, where he has devoted a large portion of his life.
But he goes back to the need for the nation to be successful internationally.
“I see it from the US landscape perspective having been there,” he said. “World Rugby’s strategy is to put on a World Cup there, which might be a hugely successful event but that in itself won’t create legacy.
“For me, the only way union will be successful in North America is if it piles in behind the Sevens, which has the all-important Olympic-link.
“People outside of the US don’t really understand the college landscape. It’s unique in terms of how sports are intertwined with academic studies and how they intertwine across the super sports which then sets precedents for all the other sports.
“We talk about super sports being football, baseball and basketball but track and field is pretty big too and that is because of the Olympics. As I say the Olympic piece is all-important.
“If you can’t make the NFL, MLB or NBA but you can be an Olympian that’s huge. Therefore rugby has to embrace the Olympics.”
Progression in women’s team
By way of illustration Friday points to the Olympic sevens bronze medal won by the US women’s team in Paris.
He says it has “ignited” interest in the women’s game, further helped by the $1 million-a-year donation from businesswoman Michele Kang through to the LA Games in 2028.
“There’s real potential for progression there,” Friday continued. “It’s whether that will help the men’s game in the US or cause issues for it because if you look at soccer and what happened there, in terms of the women’s US team being seen as insanely successful, where is men’s soccer?”
Plenty for rugby to ponder as league departs Sin City, vacating the spotlight, in Europe at least, to union and its penultimate Six Nations weekend.
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