Fox Sports has filled an aircraft flying into Las Vegas with a small army of Fox League talent and techs. The presenters, commentators and support army will be covering the NRL Round 1, 2024 Sunday games.
There will also be media from the FTA rights holder Channel Nine, plus broadcasters and reporters representing other TV channels and radio covering NRL games.
The first match on Sunday is Sea Eagles v Rabbitohs, Sunday 1.30pm (AEDT). That will be followed by Roosters v Broncos, Sunday 3.30pm (AEDT). The games will be played back-to-back Sunday night US Pacific Time at Allegiant Stadium.
Fox League in Las Vegas
Seats on flights out of Australia for the US West Coast have been hard to come by as fans dip into their savings or super to see the games live. The NRL has hardly taken over the US, but customs officials at LAX and taxi drivers in Las Vegas are well versed on the incoming League fans.
The team from Fox Sports’ Fox League channel includes Andrew Voss, Braith Anasta, Bryan Fletcher, Dan Ginnane, Gordon Tallis, Lara Pitt, Matty Johns, Mick Ennis, Nathan Hindmarsh, Paul Kent and Yvonne Sampson.
See also: Paul Kent back on TV, returning to NRL360 for Las Vegas opening round
In addition to Fox League being the only place to see both games, the channel will be broadcasting some of its analysis and entertaining programming from the gambling mecca.
Those programs live from Las Vegas include NRL 360, featuring the return to TV of co-host Paul Kent, plus The Matty Johns Show.
Matty Johns might start his prolific podcast machine while in town too. He co-hosts two of his three weekly podcasts with son Cooper Johns who is visiting this week too in his new role as a producer on The Kyle and Jackie O Show.
See also: NRL bets big on Las Vegas as the 2024 Telstra Premiership campaign launches
Jai Arrow and Cody Walker present a Souths jumper to The Kid Laroi
Fans get in on the action
Australian NRL supporters who didn’t make the the trip will be well looked after with coverage at home.
Kayo Sports will this year introduce 4K coverage on a higher tier for NRL and a handful of other sports.
The social media teams of the four clubs playing on the weekend have been pumping out the content.
Rabbitohs has created special Vlogs featuring the team in the USA ahead of the weekend game. Users need to sign-up for an account to view the content that is being sponsored by their principal partner MG Motor.
Sea Eagles has footage on their site of player Jason Saab who was a special guest on the local Las Vegas KLAS 8 News Now earlier in the week. They started the segment with a video of Russell Crowe explaining the rules of the game.
Sydney Roosters’ social team has been hard at work on a YouTube series called Roosters in Vegas which, so far, has run to six episodes. The episodes are also shared on the team website and other social platforms.
Brisbane Broncos has been posting on Instagram with videos of the team starting with the plane ride over to Southern California.
Mediaweek has partnered with Fox Sports to cover the Las Vegas visit this week.