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Is Global Round a viable option for the NRL?
Charles Goodsir • October 27th, 2025 3:01 pm
The NRL have announced audacious plans to kick off the 2027 season with nine games to all be held at international venues.
In the proposed concept, the season opener would be held in the South of France at 9pm local time and 6am in Sydney. The next matches would held in Miami, Hawaii, a double header in Las Vegas, Hong Kong, Dubai and then end with a double header in London.
The final match would kick off at midnight Sydney time which would equate to 18 hours of continuous rugby league to open the new NRL season.
“Are you excited? What are we looking at here?” SEN's Jimmy Smith said on SEN 1170.
“London. Dubai. Hong Kong. But why stop there?
“Hawaii. Miami. It’s all going to be happening.
“Nine games internationally to start the 2027 season.
“This is off the back of the success of the Las Vegas season opener over the last couple of years.
“This is from The Sydney Morning Herald. The NRL is hoping to strike a similar deal with tourism bodies in each region to ensure a profitable outcome for the game as has been the case for Las Vegas.
“That’s where I have to pull you up. The documentation from the Nevada Visitors association are paying the NRL US$600,000 a year. That’s not that much when they take US$80 million worth of value into the US economy.
“The NRL have said to themselves that they aren’t going to wait for their five-year Las Vegas deal to expire. Let’s double down on it.
“Let’s replicate it. Do we go to Las Vegas or London?
"The NRL have said "let's go to Vegas and London.”
The proposal has drawn criticism for an uncanny resemblance to breakaway rugby competition R360 which Australian rugby league chairman Peter V’landys said posed no threat to the NRL.
R360 will have teams based around the world in locations such as Dubai, London and Miami and will play around the world in a rugby 7’s format.
SEN’s Andrew Voss also believes the NRL will struggle to accommodate international time zones.
“The thing going against the UK is that time zones aren’t a ratings winner,” Voss said on SEN 1170 Breakfast.
“Even if we are just playing at night, kick off will be at six or seven in the morning in Sydney.
“Is the proposed London double header in trouble? Las Vegas is a must.
“Dubai? There’s really no atmosphere in Dubai and it’s too hot.
“What time could we play in Hawaii to get a game on?”
Global Round has not yet been confirmed. However, the NRL have confirmed that State of Origin will be held in New Zealand in 2027.
