{"id":346846,"date":"2023-11-15T23:58:52","date_gmt":"2023-11-16T00:58:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=346846"},"modified":"2023-11-16T02:00:52","modified_gmt":"2023-11-16T02:00:52","slug":"showground-for-livestock-cox-rips-afl-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=346846","title":{"rendered":"'Showground for livestock': Cox rips AFL opener"},"content":{"rendered":"

Collingwood<\/a>'s American ruck Mason Cox<\/a> has called on the AFL<\/a> to explore a move into the multibillion-dollar sports industry in the US.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday the AFL unveiled the fixture for its all-new 'opening round'<\/a> with four matches across Queensland and New South Wales to kick off next season from Thursday, March 7.\ufeff<\/p>\n

The fixture will see the reigning premiers play \ufeffGWS at Giants Stadium in a rematch of their preliminary final meeting.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Exiled Wallabies captain confirms 'exciting' switch<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Incredible reality in Kohli's nod to Indian hero<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'All eggs in one basket' after Souths' 'unmitigated disaster'<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Mason<\/p>\n

With \ufeffAFL chief executive Andrew Dillon claiming the radical new format resulted from a unique opportunity to feature four matches in "major venues" up north, Cox was unimpressed to see the Pies scheduled at "a showground for livestock".<\/p>\n

\ufeffReacting to the announcement on X, Cox was critical of the decision to play the Pies' first match of the season at the purpose-built venue for the Sydney Royal Easter Show.<\/p>\n

"Round one NRL goes to Las Vegas. AFL premiers go to\u2026. A showground for livestock\u2026," he wrote on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/masonsixtencox\/status\/1724684680492974127?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

Rival football code the NRL will open its 2024 campaign with a doubleheader in Las Vegas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So far, the \ufeffadventure seems to be building momentum with a reported steady stream of ticket sales with still four months to go until the marquee games.<\/p>\n

With the non-collegiate sport of cricket also experiencing a resurgence in the USA\ufeff, Cox encouraged the AFL to take a game to the States.<\/p>\n

"I would love to eventually see a game in the US like the NRL," he added.<\/p>\n

"There are now proper cricket stadiums located in the country that can host them and I don't think many teams would be opposed to a US trip."<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/masonsixtencox\/status\/1724687424926745030?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

Cox is currently in Vegas, which is rapidly asserting itself as the sports and entertainment capital of the world, to promote Formula 1's latest venture into the US market with the Las Vegas F1 Grand Prix<\/a>.<\/p>\n

"It's going to be the entertainment place of the world for that weekend," he told foxfooty.com.au<\/p>\n

"It's going to be one massive party and I'm excited to see exactly what Vegas has to offer for the weekend."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Collingwood's American ruck Mason Cox has called on the AFL to explore a move into the multibillion-dollar sports industry in the US. On Wednesday the […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":346848,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346846"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=346846"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":346849,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346846\/revisions\/346849"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/346848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=346846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=346846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=346846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}