Rugby league in Singapore? NRL CEO launches plan for games in Asia
Brisbane Broncos lift the 2025 NRL title following their Grand Final triumph over Melbourne Storm
Could the NRL soon take games to Asia? They could if the CEO of the competition’s newest club has his way – with Singapore mooted as a possible destination.
Perth Bears enter the NRL in 2027, but they are already proposing plans to continue the rapid spread of the sport in the southern hemisphere. That would include a revolutionary idea to move games to Singapore – with Bears CEO Anthony De Ceglie insisting it could be ‘Perth’s version of Las Vegas’.
With Perth sitting in the exact same time zone as Singapore, De Ceglie believes it is an obvious and logical move for the sport to try and test the water in Asia, while also ensuring core supporters in Australia are not short changed.
De Ceglie told City AM: “We are in a very different time zone to Sydney and Melbourne. We are in the economic Asian powerhouse time zone and that’s really handy for us.
“I’d love to take the NRL to Singapore, it could be the Perth version of Las Vegas. There’s so many opportunities because of the time zone of Perth, not just into the east coast market, because it means we can play that late game, but also taking the game into Asia could be huge.”
The plans would be the latest associated with the NRL’s game to take rugby league worldwide, with De Ceglie insisting he is a big fan of what the likes of Peter V’landys have delivered thus far with trips like Vegas becoming hugely popular and successful.
He said: “They are very impressive. They always think about what’s good for the game and what’s good for the viewer. I can’t imagine them doing anything that isn’t going to, at its heart, maintain those two goals.
“We’re the most watched sporting code in Australia and we have a monopoly on it in Western Australia. It’s a pretty easy selling point, but we’re capitalising on the growth of the game. We’re very lucky to be doing that.”
