{"id":496686,"date":"2026-02-22T11:39:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T11:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/496686\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T11:39:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T11:39:16","slug":"why-the-wests-tigers-might-end-up-in-las-vegas-after-all-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/496686\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the Wests Tigers might end up in Las Vegas after all"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wests Tigers are sending two officials on a reconnaissance mission to Las Vegas this week after a leadership change at the club opened the door to a shift in their opposition to the US season opener \u2013 and could potentially see them take part in next year\u2019s double-header.<\/p>\n

With Canterbury, St George Illawarra, North Queensland and Newcastle in the US and preparing for this weekend\u2019s start to the NRL season, rival fans are already wondering who will be on the double bill in 2027.<\/p>\n

\"Shane<\/p>\n

Shane Richardson announced his departure as Tigers CEO in December.Credit: Dylan Coker<\/p>\n

Only five teams have yet to take part, including the Tigers \u2013 whose former CEO Shane Richardson made it clear he was no fan of the concept.<\/p>\n

\u201cLas Vegas was a f—ing disaster, and it was a party trip for everybody; I don\u2019t want to go,\u201d Richardson told the AFR in 2024. \u201cI\u2019m all about rugby league and \u2026 those little Christmas cakes don\u2019t make any difference to the game at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now Richardson is gone<\/a>, and his interim CEO successor Shaun Mielekamp has already said he is open about participating in Vegas. Coach Benji Marshall is settled as head coach and has some stability within the playing squad, which could sway opinion at the club further in favour.<\/p>\n

Sources with knowledge of the situation not authorised to speak publicly confirmed the Tigers would have at least two club officials at Allegiant Stadium to assess whether they should take part next year. The club has not yet lodged interest formally with the NRL.<\/p>\n

Should the Tigers nominate in the coming weeks, one team they won\u2019t play against is Parramatta, since the two western Sydney clubs traditionally draw huge crowds for their derbies.<\/p>\n

But having both clubs in America is likely to ensure a crowd of 50,000 at Allegiant Stadium is reached for the first time because of their popularity.<\/p>\n

The Eels, Dolphins, Titans and Storm have all lodged their interest for 2027, with only Parramatta prepared to head to Vegas as the home team, thereby giving up a regular-season home game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wests Tigers are sending two officials on a reconnaissance mission to Las Vegas this week after a leadership…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":496532,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-496686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=496686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/496532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}