Peter V’landys brushed shoulders with US President, Joe Biden, on a night he hoped would result in a multimillion-dollar financial bonanza for the NRL.
V’landys, the Chairman of the Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC), was a guest of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at a state dinner at the White House on Thursday.
Albanese welcomed V’landys to the luxurious state dinner with some of America’s most powerful, ahead of the NRL’s drive to get into the United States for next year’s season premiere in Las Vegas.
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, V’landys believed the night of serious networking would have a huge influence on the future of rugby league.
“It was an honour to meet the President and the First Lady, but what it did for me was put me in a room with a lot of heavy hitters. You can’t get bigger than the people that were in that room,” V’landys told The Sydney Morning Herald after the event.
The NRL has a five-year plan to crack the US market, with plans to play double-headers in Las Vegas over that period.
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald
