{"id":354122,"date":"2023-12-16T23:42:52","date_gmt":"2023-12-17T00:42:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=354122"},"modified":"2023-12-17T03:03:31","modified_gmt":"2023-12-17T03:03:31","slug":"ufc-bosses-back-nrls-crucial-vegas-expansion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=354122","title":{"rendered":"UFC bosses back NRL's 'crucial' Vegas expansion"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NRL<\/a> and its Las Vegas<\/a> expansion have an ally in one of the biggest sporting franchises in the American market \u2013 the UFC<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The UFC's chief operating officer, Lawrence Epstein was in attendance at the NRL's official Vegas launch, held in Sin City last week as part of preparations for UFC 296.<\/p>\n

"Las Vegas was crucial for our sport, and the NRL is very smart in using that as their launching pad," Epstein told Nine's Danny Weidler<\/a> in his regular Sunday column for the Sydney Morning Herald<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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"There is no question Las Vegas can turbocharge your entry into the sports market. They are doing this the right way."<\/p>\n

\"UFC<\/p>\n

Weidler described Epstein as the "right-hand man" of UFC supremo Dana White.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He wrote the UFC's decision to host the NRL launch as a part of its fight week program was proof the league and the NFL were "genuinely excited" to have the NRL get their season underway in Vegas.<\/p>\n

Spencer Leniu, Billy Walters, Aaron Woods and Campbell Graham \u2013 representatives of each of the four clubs involved in the round one doubleheader \u2013 as well as NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo were also in Vegas for the launch.<\/p>\n

Woods and Graham even featured on Fox Sports' (US) half-time coverage<\/a> of a Las Vegas Raiders NFL match.<\/p>\n

As part of events during the NRL's Vegas venture, the codes are also expected to hold open trials<\/a> for former NFL and college players looking to switch codes.<\/p>\n

All 17 club bosses are expected to fly to the US to watch up to 60 male and female athletes are expected to attend.<\/p>\n

\"Aaron<\/p>\n

The code is open to \ufeffattracting someone like the late Manfred Moore, who was the highest-profile NFL athlete to make the switch to league when he was recruited by the Newtown Jets with the backing of John Singleton in 1977.<\/p>\n

The NRL has already sold more than 20,000 tickets for the 2024 Las Vegas venture, which will see the Sea Eagles take on the Rabbitohs before the Roosters clash with the Broncos.<\/p>\n

For Australian viewers, the double-header will take place from late morning on Sunday, March 3.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The NRL and its Las Vegas expansion have an ally in one of the biggest sporting franchises in the American market \u2013 the UFC. The […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":354124,"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\/354122"}],"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=354122"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":354127,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354122\/revisions\/354127"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/354124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=354122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=354122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=354122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}