Why Tottenham Hotspur and their current relegation battle is a problem for the NRL...
It may seem far-fetched, but Premier League powerhouse Tottenham Hotspur being in a relegation battle is actually proving to be a thorn in the side of the NRL.
The NRL are hoping to continue their goal of growing the game by hoping to host a round one game in 2027 in London, on the same weekend as the planned Las Vegas trip which has occurred for the past three seasons.
The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is said to be a leading candidate to host that game, but uncertainty around which division Spurs will be playing in next season is a problem for the Australian competition.
The NRL are hoping to make a swift decision in order to give fans and stakeholders as much time as possible to plan their trips, but with Spurs just two points out of the drop zone with two games remaining, they are being forced to wait longer than they anticipated.
With Premier league and EFL fixture schedules being released in mid-to-late June, NRL CEO Andrew Abdo and his team will have to wait until then to work out whether a game at Tottenham would be plausible, or whether they would have to shift their focus elsewhere.
The NRL are looking at bringing in a ‘Global Round’, which means games would be staged across the globe, with places such as Japan, Hong Kong and the Middle East also in contention, should that come to fruition.
“We’ve got to make sure that we do is sustainable,” Abdo said on the UNSCRIPTED podcast, hosted by former Penrith winger Josh Mansour.
“We’ve got to make sure that it is commercially viable and we’ve got to think about the high performance of the teams and we’ve got to think about what’s going to be attractive for fans and what’s going to win new fans.”