Almost 4000 Las Vegas tickets have been sold to Wigan and Warrington fans in just three days and the NBA’s LA Lakers have expressed a willingness to help promote the event, according to Wolves chief executive Karl Fitzpatrick.
The news comes as the Super League glamour clubs held their first dress rehearsal for the March 1 event, with Sam Burgess’s men putting in an astonishing performance to run out 40-4 winners.
The victory ended the world champion Warriors’ 17-match winning streak at home and catapulted Warrington to the top of the Super League ladder.
British fans have a long history of following their sports teams abroad, but the Vegas take-up has stunned officials. Wigan fans report only single tickets remain in their bays.
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“We’re absolutely flying - as of this morning UK ticket sales are heading towards 4000, which is incredible considering they went on sale Wednesday morning,” Fitzpatrick told NRL.com.
“I think there’s 2000 that went this year. We’ve almost doubled that already.
“With a long lead-in time it’s going to give supporters time to save up or utilise a payment plan to get over there.”
While NRL teams can spend a fortnight in the US acclimatising before taking to Allegiant Stadium, for Wigan and Warrington the 2025 Super League season will have already kicked off - and one of them might have to play in the World Club Challenge the previous weekend.
But a Warrington star or two could also be off to Los Angeles’ Staples Center on a reconnaissance mission at the end of the current season, Fitzpatrick revealed.
“I was on a call with the LA Lakers last week about doing a collaboration with them,” Fitzpatrick said.
“I’ve got a great relationship with the commercial director there. Their schedule comes out in August so we’ll have a better understanding of what we can do when the schedule’s announced.
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“If the stars align, we’ll look to do something at the end of the season, in October or November. We’ll get some of our players, or a player, at one of their home games.
“I think they will do something regardless. They’re really keen to support it one way or another.”
Warrington confirmed before kick-off on Friday night the signing of England and Great Britain international John Bateman from Wests Tigers for the rest of the season.
Fitzpatrick would not be drawn on whether Vegas might be the carrot to get Bateman to stay on beyond this year.
“Look, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” he said. “At the moment, it’s just until the end of the year. There have been no discussions or anything about 2025.
“He’s contracted to Wests. If that’s an opportunity that comes up, we’ll look at it at the time.”
Meanwhile, a point of contention between Burgess and his Wigan rival coach Matty Peet was highlighted in the television coverage of the match when footage was shown of the former South Sydney star remonstrating with his rival at full-time in this year’s Challenge Cup final between the clubs.
Sky Sports reported that Burgess took umbrage with how Peet had spoken to Warrington and former Wigan player Sam Powell earlier in the day.
Peet had reportedly been unhappy with Powell’s account in newspaper articles of his departure from the Warriors.
Sky showed the footage from Wembley on June 8 and reported Burgess had warned Peet off talking to any of his players, before the broadcaster questioned Burgess live on air about the exchange.
“We’re both pretty competitive blokes and emotions were high, I’d say, there,” Burgess said.
“I don’t know exactly what you’ve shown or what’s been seen but we were talking earlier (tonight), and everything was fine so let’s put it down to two competitive blokes after an intense day.”
Discussing the signing of Bateman, Burgess said: “We had an opportunity there where we thought it would add to our team.
“A lot of our players knew John personally as well. I’ve worked with him as a player and he’s such a really great competitor. It’s not about where [he plays], it’s about the person.”
