Ashes update as ‘plan on shelf’ with reason for announcement delay explained
When will the Ashes be officially announced?
An announcement for this year’s Ashes series was originally planned for the Las Vegas weekend – as the CEO of RL Commercial admits they are desperate to ‘dust off’ the plan and put the games on sale.
With around seven months to go until the Kangaroos’ eagerly-anticipated tour of England, there are still no official announcements surrounding venues or dates.
Details have started to emerge recently unofficially; Love Rugby League revealed that the games were going to be played at Wembley, Everton’s new stadium and AMT Headingley.
And earlier this week, French publication L’Independent revealed the plan is for a warm-up game against France, with the three Tests set to be played on October 23, November 1 and November 8.
But there is still no confirmation from RL Commercial or the Rugby Football League. And Rhodri Jones has now admitted that they were hopeful going live with the plans earlier this month when Wigan and Warrington were in Las Vegas to maximise the impact.
However, that didn’t happen due to logistical reasons – but Jones stressed an Ashes update should finally be imminent in the coming days.
He said: “I’m expecting an update at the end of this week from an NRL colleague. We had hoped to announce across Vegas weekend but weren’t able to. We’ve got three venues to sell, we’ve got broadcast rights and commercial to sell so as soon as we can get them selling, the better for all of us.”
Jones also admitted that the current plan is ‘on the shelf’, and they are desperate to get on with selling the games once they have the go-ahead to do so.
He added: “The prospect of a home Ashes series is whetting the appetite but at the minute the plan is on the shelf. We want to dust it off and get it on sale.”
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