This isn't South Sydney and Russell Crowe's first crack at trying to sell rugby league to the American market.
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Long before the NRL started dreaming up Las Vegas and the round-zero concept, the Rabbitohs were already on the ground in the USA.
It's now 16 years since Souths became the first Australian club side to venture to the US for a match, against Leeds in Jacksonville, Florida.
"You've got to give Russell the lion's share of the credit," former Souths owner Peter Holmes a Court told AAP.
"He had always had an ability to see rugby league through American eyes."
Some 12,500 turned up, prompting fears from local officials given the ground could only house 10,000.
In attendance included the American Chopper crew, the Wu Tang Clan, Dennis Rodman and Laine Beachley, while Greg Norman and Chris Evert flew in on a helicopter.
Jacksonville Jaguars linebacker Tom McManus joined Andrew Voss in commentary, while Rabbitohs players spent time training with the NFL side.
Crowe used his wide array of contacts to promote the game on nightly talk shows, Monday Night Football coverage and staged a press conference in Jacksonville.
His theory was simple, if you can buy a New York Yankees cap in Sydney, why couldn't the Rabbitohs be supported in the USA?
Crowe is again central to this weekend's Vegas double-header, with his video explaining the game to Americans having the best reach of any NRL marketing.
"I think he learnt how to unlock rugby league for an American audience," Holmes a Court continued.
"When you're getting someone to watch a sport, you've got to meet them where they are.
"You've got to meet what they know and then translate what they know, into this sport.
"He was always able to do that and therefore he is always able to see the potential for Americans to like rugby and to watch rugby league.
"And they were blown away by the by the intensity, the toughness and the athleticism."
Souths lost the Leeds match 26-24, but the venture was an undoubted success.
Fans travelled from almost 20 countries and 30 states, with the crowd almost three-times the one that watched Australia play the USA Tomahawks in Philadelphia four years earlier.
"It was the thing that most people came to see and were left wowing," co-organiser and a Jacksonville Axemen founder Daryl Howland said.
"'Wow, look at that. That's NFL without helmets and pads. That's fantastic'."
Talks after the match discussed a growing annual contest, with Leeds to face another NRL team in Jacksonville while Souths faced another English team elsewhere.
Ultimately that fell through and only the Rhinos returned in 2009 to play Salford.
But there are lessons in this for the NRL ahead of Saturday.
Most notably, it is possible to win over new fans with right mix of star power and promotion getting eyeballs to begin with.
And a long-term commitment is crucial.
"You look at that event and what it did for rugby league in the US. And it could have been more if it continued," Howland said.
"Most people say: 'contact sport, I'm sold, I will buy it.
"But you've got to find a way to sell it."
Australian Associated Press
